50 facts about talented singer Josh Groban

Josh Groban and 50 things from his life and career.

1. Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer.

2. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, with over 22.3 million records in the nation.

3. To date, he has sold over 25 million records worldwide.

4. Josh Groban originally studied acting, but moved to singing as his voice developed.

5. Josh Groban attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, a free public school on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles, where students receive a conservatory-style education.

6. His vocal coach, Seth Riggs, submitted a tape of Groban singing "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera to Riggs' friend, David Foster.

7. Foster called Groban to stand-in for an ailing Andrea Bocelli to rehearse a duet, "The Prayer", with Celine Dion at the rehearsal for the 1998 Grammy Awards.

8. Rosie O'Donnell immediately invited him to appear on her talk show.

9. Foster asked him to sing at the California Governor's Gray Davis' 1999 inauguration.

10. He was cast on Ally McBeal by the show's creator, David E. Kelley, performing "You're Still You" for the 2001 season finale.

11. Groban was born in Los Angeles, California, to Lindy (née Johnston), a school teacher, and Jack Groban, a businessman.

12. Groban's younger brother, Chris, was born on Groban's fourth birthday.

13. Groban's father is a descendant of immigrants from Poland and Russia and converted from Judaism to Christianity when he married Groban's mother.

14. Groban's mother's ancestry includes English, German, and Norwegian; one of her own grandfathers was Jewish.

15. His parents are Episcopalians.

16. Josh Groban first sang in public when he was in the seventh grade.

17. His music teacher chose him to sing a solo of "S'wonderful" at the school's cabaret night, where he sang alone on stage for the first time.

18. In the summers of 1997 and 1998, he also attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts Camp in Michigan, majoring in music theater, and began taking vocal lessons.

19. Josh Groban went on to attend the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a theater major and graduated in 1999.

20. Josh Groban was admitted to Carnegie Mellon University, intending to study drama, but he left four months into his first semester after being offered a recording contract and deciding to pursue his singing career.

21. In late 1998, the 17-year-old Groban was introduced by his vocal coach, Seth Riggs, to Grammy-winning producer and arranger David Foster and future manager Brian Avnet. At the time, Groban had no recording experience and was preparing to begin studying at Carnegie Mellon University.

22. Groban worked for David Foster as a rehearsal singer on a series of high-profile events, including the January 1999 inauguration of Gray Davis as Governor of California and the 1999 Grammy Awards where-as a stand-in for Andrea Bocelli-he rehearsed Foster's "The Prayer" with Céline Dion. According to manager Avnet, Groban was very nervous about standing in for Bocelli and had to be talked into it, but his performance prompted the show hostess, Rosie O'Donnell, to ask him to appear on her show the following week, which then led to an appearance on Ally McBeal.

23. Creator David E. Kelley, created character Malcolm Wyatt for Groban in the season finale aired in May 2001. The character of Malcolm Wyatt was so popular, prompting 8,000 emails from viewers, that Groban was asked to return the next season to reprise his role and perform "To Where You Are." Avnet claims this sequence of events effectively got Groban's career off the ground.

24. Groban was offered a recording contract at Warner Bros. Records through Foster's 143 Records imprint.

25. Avnet told HitQuarters that Warner initially proved resistant to the deal because "They were afraid they wouldn't be able to get a voice like that on radio." Explaining his reasons for signing the artist, Foster said: "I love his natural ability in the pop and rock arena, but I love his sense of classics even more. He's a true musical force to be reckoned with."

26. Under Foster's influence, Groban's first album focused more on classics such as "Gira Con Me Questa Notte" and "Alla Luce Del Sole."

27. Josh Groban performed "There For Me" with Sarah Brightman on her 2000-01 La Luna World Tour, and was featured on her "La Luna" concert DVD.

28. He recorded "For Always" with Lara Fabian on the movie soundtrack to A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001).

29. Josh Groban performed in many benefit shows, including: "The Andre Agassi Grand Slam Event For Children," singing alongside Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Don Henley, and Robin Williams; "Muhammad Ali's Fight Night Foundation" which honored Michael J. Fox and others; "The Family Celebration" (2001), which was co-hosted by President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and David E. Kelley and his wife, Michelle Pfeiffer; and Michael Milken's CapCure event, which raises funds for cancer research.

30. The singer's self-titled debut album Josh Groban was released on November 20, 2001. Over the next year, it went from gold to double-platinum.

31. On February 24, 2002, Groban performed "The Prayer" with Charlotte Church at the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and by November, he had his own PBS special, "Josh Groban In Concert" (2002).

32. Various music critics have described Groban's voice in different ways, with some referring to him as a tenor and others as a baritone. In performance, Groban's music goes as low as G2 (as in the songs "To Where You Are" and "Higher Window") and extends up to at least B♭4 (as heard in "You Raise Me Up" or in "February Song"). This places his voice lower than the tenor range on the low end, and just short of tenor C, and therefore above the baritone range, on the high end.

33. He mentioned during his appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman in December 2013 that he is a high lyric baritone.

34. Under the guidance of his mentor David Foster, Groban performed for many charity events that included VH1 Save the Music Foundation (2005), Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope (2005), Fifth Annual Adopt-A-Minefield concert (2005), 2nd Annual Grammy Jam (2005), Live 8 (2005), The Heart Foundation Gala (2005), and David Foster and Friends Charity Gala (2006).

35. He also sang a solo on the recording of We Are The World 25 for Haiti (2010).

36. Inspired by a visit with Nelson Mandela during a 2004 trip to South Africa, he established the Josh Groban Foundation to help children in need through education, healthcare and the arts.

37. Mandela appointed Groban as an Official Ambassador for Mandela's Project 46664, a campaign to help raise Global awareness of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

38. On April 25, 2007, Josh Groban performed with the African Children's Choir on American Idol's "Idol Gives Back" episode.

39. Also on September 2, 2007, Groban donated $150,000 to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to fund music education.

40. On February 28, 2008, he appeared in One Night Live at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada with Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Jann Arden and RyanDan in aid of the Sunnybrook Hospital Women and Babies Program.

41. In honor of his 27th birthday, his fans set out to raise $27,000 in a project called "Raise 27". They ended up raising a total of $44,227 for the Josh Groban Foundation, to benefit the Noah's Ark children's orphanage called Siyawela in South Africa. Groban has since referred to this donation as "the best birthday present ever".

42. In April 2013 and the previous year, Groban took part in Global Poverty Project's "Live Below the Line" campaign, which consists in living on $1.50 a day to raise awareness of extreme poverty around the world. He also wrote a song inspired by the campaign.

43. On October 30, 2013, Groban met with Little Kids Rock students in Newark, NJ before his concert at the Prudential Center. His Find Your Light Foundation also made a donation to Little Kids Rock to support their mission of keeping music education in our public schools. An active arts education philanthropist and advocate, Groban is a currently a member of Americans for the Arts Artists Committee.

44. Some of Groban's musical influences have been Radiohead, Steve Perry, Paul Simon, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Freddie Mercury and Björk.

45. He cites as vocal influences "anyone who told a story with their songs," including Mandy Patinkin, Klaus Nomi, George Hearn, and Luciano Pavarotti.

46. He was named the #1 Best Selling Artist of All Time on Barnes & Noble in 2007.

47. In 2008, he became one of People's "100 Most Beautiful People".

48. Groban dated actress January Jones from 2003 to 2006.

49. After that relationship ended, he moved his primary residence to Manhattan, where he said "dating can be very easy or very tough."

50. He has been dating Kat Dennings since October 2014.

Source: Wikipedia.org