“Mr Mandela has taken a number that holds great personal heartache, and the memory of a tragic time in his country’s history, and has turned it into a beacon of hope for the entire world. I am proud to be an ambassador and eager to help him realise his vision of a world without HIV/AIDS.”
With his flawless lyrical baritone, Josh Groban is known around the world as a classically influenced pop singer.
Over the past five years, the Los Angeles native has become an international superstar, selling more than 23-million albums and filling every arena on his 81-city world tour, which visited North America, Europe, Australia, and the Philippines between February and October in 2007.
He was also the best-selling recording artist of 2007 thanks to sales of his double-platinum 2006 CD Awake and his blockbuster Christmas album, Noel.
Recorded in June 2007 with the London Philharmonic, the stunning collection of holiday classics sold 4-million copies in the US alone — making it the best-selling album of last year — ad spent five consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard album chart, breaking a holiday album record previously held by Elvis Presley.
But for all of his success, Groban remains intent on staying connected: not only to his voice and to his songs, but also to his fans. The result of this connection has never been more evident than on his new CD/DVD, Awake Live, which was released by Reprise/143 Records on May 6, 2008.
“The DVD takes the Awake album where it needed to be — on to the stage,” Groban says. “Singing these songs live allowed me to connect with my audience in a way I never had before.”
His third live DVD (following 2002’s Josh Groban in Concert and 2004’s Live at the Greek), Awake Live gives listeners a sense of Groban’s astonishing body of work, as well as why his legions of dedicated fans refer to themselves as “Grobanites”.
While the majority of the songs are drawn from Awake, the package features favourites from Groban’s three multi-platinum albums.
“The studio process for Awake was very exciting and a little scary because we explored new creative territory,” Groban says. “I knew the songs would really come to life on stage and blossom into what they were meant to be. The energy of the audience and the element of the unknown were the ingredients needed to complete the album.”
In September 2006, Groban released Awake and proved his versatility as an artist by co-writing and co-producing several songs on the album. Featuring collaborations with Dave Matthews, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Herbie Hancock, Imogen Heap, Glen Ballard, and John Ondrasik’s Five for Fighting, Awake represented a creative leap forward for Groban, which paid off when the album debuted at number two on the Billboard album chart. It has now sold more than 2-million copies in the US.
His career began to take flight after being cast on Ally McBeal by the show’s creator David E Kelley, who asked him to perform You’re Still You for the show’s 2001 season finale.
Inundated with thousands of emails from fans, Kelley asked Groban to return the following season to reprise his role and perform To Where You Are. Warner Bros Records soon offered Groban an exclusive recording contract with renowned producer David Foster at the production helm. Six months after its release, his debut album, Josh Groban, went double platinum and has now sold nearly 5-million copies in the US.
Groban continued building momentum and recognition through a series of high-profile concert appearances, including the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, and a Christmas performance at the Vatican in Rome. In 2003, he performed the closing number at the concert for World Children’s Day. Later that year, Groban released his second album, Closer, which sold 375 000 copies in its first week and skyrocketed to number one two months later, thanks to the single You Raise Me Up – a track that earned Groban a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
Closer went on to spend an astonishing 62 weeks on the Billboard Pop chart. That year, nearly 40-million people saw Groban perform as part of the AOL Broadband Rocks concert series.
In 2004, inspired by a visit with Nelson Mandela during a trip to South Africa, Groban established the Josh Groban Foundation to help children in need through education, healthcare, and the arts.
Mr Mandela appointed Groban an official ambassador for 46664, a campaign to help raise global awareness of HIV/AIDS. Over the years, Groban’s devoted fans have raised more than a million dollars for the Josh Groban Foundation.
Groban’s commitment to help better the world around him includes his participation in many charity events including VH1 Save the Music, Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope, and Live 8.
Though just 27, Groban has performed with some of the most celebrated recording artists in history, including Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli (in a tribute to the late Luciano Pavarotti at the 2008 Grammy Awards), and Sarah Brightman (at Princes William and Harry’s Concert for Diana in London in 2007).
Groban also sang at the closing ceremony for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, a performance that was seen by more than 2-billion people.
Groban and his recordings have been nominated for more than a dozen awards including the American Music Award, World Music Award, a Grammy Award, and an Academy Award for his performance of Believe from the 2005 DreamWorks film, Polar Express starring Tom Hanks.