Josh Groban's Rock Star Dreams Take Pop-Classical Route
He's been
on Rosie O'Donnell's talk show and "Ally McBeal," twice. He's sung
with Celine Dion, the Corrs and teen classical sensation Charlotte
Church.
He performed at the closing ceremonies of the Winter
Olympics for an audience of 2 billion, and his platinum debut
recently broke into the Billboard top 10.
But don't
feel bad if the name Josh Groban doesn't immediately ring a bell.
It's not like you're going to hear a Neptunes remix of his latest
hit. Not yet, anyway.
"Everybody has those dreams of being a
rock star when they stand in front of the mirror," the 20-year-old
Los Angeles native said of his unlikely ascent to pop stardom.
"My
parents exposed me to all kinds of music when I was a kid. I had
this love of telling a story with music. But when I realized that I
could sing I knew I had this kind of voice that was not a grunge-rock
voice."
Turns out his voice is better suited to
opera, though Groban prefers to call his self-titled CD, released in
November, a "pop album with classical influences." With the Richard Marx-penned power ballad
"To Where You Are" charting at adult radio,
a lush version of the Johann Sebastian Bach wedding staple "Jesu,
Joy of Man's Desiring" and a handful of contemporary and classical
pieces sung in Italian and Spanish, Groban might be the most
unlikely pop star since those chanting Benedictine monks. Certainly
the smoldering eyes, the carefully coifed head of curly dark hair
and a serious set of pipes haven't hurt.
The graduate of the
Los Angeles County High School for the Arts is just as comfortable
wrapping that polished, rich voice around the sweeping title theme
to "Cinema Paradiso" or a cover of one of his favorite songs from
childhood, Don "American Pie" McLean's "Vincent (Starry Starry Night)."
"I knew that I had to use my influences in all those
genres and incorporate that into the music I wanted to make," said
Groban, who was discovered by Grammy-winning "Popstars" Svengali
David Foster after performing at a 1999 inauguration party for
California governor Gray Davis. That gig led to Groban's career-making opportunity to fill in for famed Italian tenor Andrea
Bocelli when the opera star was unable to rehearse his 1999 Grammy
duet of "The Prayer" with Dion due to a delayed flight. Once
Rosie,
who was in the audience for the rehearsal, witnessed the singer she
would later dub "opera boy" (recently bumped up to Cruise-worthy
"cutie patootie" status, he noted), it was on.
"It's hard to
find edgy stuff that doesn't sound cheesy in English," Groban said
about the challenge of appealing to the Rosie-ites and young,
contemporary pop fans while not coming off like a Gen Y Michael
Bolton. "And as a new artist there's always outside influences
trying to tell you how to make a song better for radio, how to do
your hair."
Those attempts at molding him into a more
traditional pop star didn't last long. "I realized those things
weren't right for me," he said. "I'm not a good enough liar to look
comfortable when I'm not. And, while it's always flattering to be
compared to someone [like Michael Bolton] who has sold millions of
records, he's a rock blues singer, which I'm not. Being compared to
Andrea Bocelli is also flattering, but I'm really not going to touch
that classical stuff for now."
While everyone was trying to
make the well-rounded Groban fit into a square peg, a weird thing
happened — his audience found him. He said he's been amazed at the
breadth of ages and backgrounds of the thousands who've weighed in
on everything Josh at the forums on his Web site. Like him, they
listen to everything from System of a Down and Linkin Park to
classical pop singer Sarah Brightman and Luciano Pavarotti.
They range from a
58-year old Delaware housewife
to a 20-something-male Wal-Mart employee and a skateboarder from
rural New York. Recently, a 13-year-old Korean girl from the
Philippines, Veronica, waded into the land fans call "Grobania" for
the first time. She explained that while she loves hip-hop, she has
fallen for Groban's "cute surfer style" and has learned to love
opera, even though she used to "easily get headaches from loud opera
singers."
Working with the "pop, pop, pop"-leaning Foster
clearly helped Groban avoid some of the sticky pitfalls of being a
young man in middle-aged diva's game. From reprising the Dion/Bocelli duet on
"The Prayer" with Church to hooking up with
Rhys Fulber of techno duo Delirium for a pair of ambient pop ballads, Groban's album offers a little something for the entire
rainbow coalition of fans posting on his site.
"I was
completely shocked when it entered the top 10," Groban said shortly
after his ascent. "After the 'Ally McBeal' appearance it was peaking
around #41 for a while and I was getting a lot of pats on the back.
Then, it trickled back down and I thought, 'Okay, this is where it
probably belongs.' I mean, how do I compete with the Pink's and Goo
Goo Dolls of the world? Now, to be up there with them is incredible.
I guess that shows that there must be an audience for this music."
For now, despite Rosie's nickname, Groban said he will avoid
singing opera because it's not where his heart is. "I'm just really
interested in pushing the boundaries of what pop music is now."
—Gil Kaufman