Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is a singer, formerly famous for looking like a 15-year-old, and having the voice of a 300-pound, 50-year-old baritone. Now that he's in his 40s and has scruffed himself up a bit, he is largely now famous for the latter. He still has plenty of millennial fangirls, but the "Grobanites" are still seen as the grandmas of the aforementioned millennials.
Groban got his start thanks to a discovery by mega-producer David Foster, who is responsible for Whitney Houston, Céline Dion, and Groban's contemporary Michael Bublé. He got his start as a rehearsal stand-in; during the 1999 Grammy Awards, he subbed in for Andrea Bocelli and performed a duet with Céline Dion. Rosie O'Donnell just so happened to have witness his performance and invites him to her talk show. It wouldn’t be long before he was noticed by such big name personalities such as Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, and Ally McBeal producer David E. Kelley. The Grammy rehearsal led to California governor Gray Davis hiring the 17-year-old to perform for his inauguration, as well as David E. Kelley hiring him for a two-episode role on Ally McBeal.
He was offered a record contract by Warner (Bros.) Records after the inaguration, and WB's PR team hatched a plan to promote him as a boy band–type singer. Groban decided to decline the contract after WB had him do a series of fairly embarrassing photos for promotional purposes; Foster then backed the teenage Groban up, giving him a contract with his own division of WB records, 143 Records. His debut was redone as a mix of pop and opera, a formula that has given him platinum records ever since. His more recent albums, Illuminations, All That Echoes and Bridges, have departed from the Classical/Singing-in-Romance-Languages style of his previous albums, moving into pop, folk, Americana, as well as other genres, while Stages is entirely showtune covers.
Along with Ally McBeal, Groban has done a number of TV performances. Notable examples show his sense of humor, including the 60th Emmy Awards, where he performed a love-it-or-hate-it medley of famous TV show themes. He also did the "Panda Sex Song" [1]
, "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck" [2] (cameo starts at 4:12) and "Josh Groban sings the tweets of Kanye West" [3] for Jimmy Kimmel, and the Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! for [adult swim] [4]. He also parodied his own image on the Glee episode "Acafellas", making himself out to look like he Likes Older Women.
He is also famous for spearheading a revival of the musical Chess, appearing twice as protagonist Anatoly Sergievsky. The latest appearance was at the Royal Albert Hall, starring alongside Idina Menzel and Adam Pascal. He then went on to star in the Broadway debut of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 as Pierre in 2016. As of March 2023, he plays the title role in the Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
He dated Mad Men's January Jones for three years, and has been (falsely) linked several times to "I Kissed A Girl" singer and friend Katy Perry.
Discography
Studio:- Josh Groban (2001)
- Closer (2003)
- Awake (2006)
- With You (2007, compilation of songs from previous albums)
- Noël (2007, Christmas album)
- A Collection (2008, Greatest Hits Album)
- Illuminations (2010)
- All That Echoes (2013)
- Stages (2015)
- Bridges (2018)
- Harmony (2020)
- Josh Groban in Concert (2002, recorded for PBS' Great Performances in Pasadena)
- Live at the Greek (2004, recorded at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles)
- Awake Live (2008, recorded in Salt Lake City)
- Stages Live (2016, recorded in August 2015 at Los Angeles Theatre prior to leaving for fall tour)
- Bridges Live: Madison Square Garden (2019, recorded November 2018 at Madison Square Garden on the last night of the first leg of the year long world tour in support of Bridges).
Examples:
- Adam Westing:
- As mentioned above, his bit on Glee parodies his public image and notorious fangirls.
- His cameo on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has him singing a parody of the sort of sad ballad he's known for. (And a damn good ballad, at that.)We tell ourselves that we're in a movie
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Each one of us thinks we've got the starring role
Role, role, role
But the truth is, sometimes you're the lead
And sometimes you're an extra
Just walking by in the background
Like me, Josh Grobaaaaaaaan! - Shows up for a flashback gag in Kimmy vs. The Reverend where he laments that his famous smooth baritone singing voice is nothing like his high-pitched, squeaky speaking voice.
- Award-Bait Song: "You Raise Me Up".
- Break-Up Song: Groban's songs are generally split up into either love songs or this. Best examples: "Broken Vow", "Awake", "Now or Never" (done with Imogen Heap).
- Embarrassing Old Photo: Several from WB's attempt at making him look like he fit in with the Backstreet Boys. There's also a photo out there that will get you banned on the official forums within 5 minutes for posting. Reason? Drinking before a concert when you can't handle it + hot chicks in the front row + thin pants... Poor guy. Half the fandom erupted in "how dare the photographer," and the other half laughed their asses off.
- Mr. Fanservice
- Grief Song: "Broken Vow"
- Holy War: Easily started on his official forums.
- Incredibly Long Note: One of his specialties.
- Moral Guardians: Official forum Grobanites often act this way, invoking Think of the Children! when Groban makes any off-color jokes.
- Muppet Cameo: He appeared with the Muppets in a video where he sang "Pure Imagination", accompanied by Lindsey Stirling.
-
No-Hit Wonder: The only song he's been on that went Top 40 is "We Are The World 25", which is an ensemble song that he alone is not credited for.note - One-Woman Wail: Backs him up in the song "Remember Me", from the soundtrack to the movie Troy.
- Singing Voice Dissonance: His trademark baritone-tenor voice, which sounds absolutely nothing like how he talks.
- Think of the Children!: See Moral Guardians.
- What Could Have Been: Groban was a top contender to succeed Regis Philbin on Live!
