Music Munday: Josh Groban

I had my Music Munday post all ready to go and was in the very act of posting it for Kailana's blog, when I suddenly realized that last week's guest post, which I somehow missed (not that surprising actually since it was a crazy week for me and I didn't get much blog hopping done,) was on the very same band, Muse! So I threw my post out the window and started over again.

Way back, when Kailana first asked me to do a Music Munday guest post, I teased her about gushing on my favorite musician, Josh Groban. But I decided no, I won't because I really should do something a little more unexpected. However, after I had to scrap that plan, I thought, hmmm.... maybe this is a sign I'm supposed to talk about Josh after all! Just know that I really did try to resist this inclination of mine spread the Josh joy. But then, of course, I gave in very easily!

Once upon a time, my sister said to me, "You should listen to this kid I've been hearing about. He is so young, but his voice is amazing!" I probably heard only one song or something, and I remember thinking, whatever... yeah... he sounds okay, but kind of opera-ish, and he's probably just getting attention because he's so young, and he won't last. Then, over that next year, I started seeing his CD every where. It was his second CD at the time. And after a year or so of resisting the curiosity I was feeling, I finally gave in bought it. As I listened to it on the way home, I thought... wow! I'm LOVING this! And so it began.

My fanaticism grew slowly over the next year or so after that, and by the time his next album came out, I was crazy excited. Then, another year went by, and I found out he was coming to my city for a concert, so I turned into Major Fangirl, and spent unheard of amounts of money to make sure I was there. That concert was two years ago, and since that time, I've truly given up the fight and have totally embraced the Josh love. When the audience heard that he was making his concert CD at OUR city, we went crazy, so here is the opening number, You Are Loved, filmed at "my" concert:


So what is it about him that I love so much? Firstly, that amazing voice. Yes, he did start at 17 years old. He was discovered by David Foster, and sang for the Grammy rehearsal with Celine Deon after Andrea Bocelli couldn't make it. But most people heard him for the first time when he appeared on Ally McBeal right after 9/11 singing a song that I guarantee if you listen to it while you think about someone you've lost, you WILL tear up and get chills. He was only about 18 or 19 at the time of this clip:


Secondly, his songs. Yes, many of them are in Italian, or Spanish, or even French, but the meaning comes through loud and clear. They are all uplifting, inspirational, and all happy-making. I listen to his songs often to pull myself out of a bad mood day, they never fail to make me feel better about life.

Thirdly, his personality. Once the obsession got going for real, of course I learned more and more about him, watched all his "making of" cd's, and saw that he is quite the character. He is funny, silly, goofy, smart, happy, friendly, a little irreverent, and he is so not afraid to make fun of himself as was proven in that recent Glee episode he was on and in this, one of my favorite clips EVER of him showing up at Michael Buble's concert.

Fourthly, he's stinkin' cute too! And he has the best smile that crinkles his eyes all up. Oh, yeah and he's a smokin' hot drummer besides. (I couldn't find the good clip of him drumming, but here's one that will give you an idea. He starts out on the synthesizer, and ends on the drums. Cool.)

There's so many songs I wish I could share. It's funny because I have a playlist on my Ipod labled "Josh's Best" which includes about half of his songs... then I made another list called "Josh's Second Best "which includes the other half. So yeah. They're ALL good. But just so I can share another one, here's one I love and it's actually a pretty good quality video too, filmed once again at "my" concert:


Josh has three main albums: Josh Groban, Closer and Awake, a Christmas album called Noel (which was the top selling album for 2007), and enough miscellaneous songs from movies and bonus tracks, etc. to make a playlist long enough for a whole other album. He is currently working on his next album, due out next spring. (Ah, what a long wait it's been!) You can learn tons about him here at his official site, or here at the best fan site, or here at a wonderful blog I follow, or here where he vlogs now and then, or here where he Twitters! Whew! So anyway, take a listen, especially if you only know him for You Raise Me Up.... there's so much more than just that song!

And since it's just about time for Christmas music (it's legal as soon as Halloween comes, right?) here's one to get you in the mood (besides, Kailana made a special request for it!)