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[Melodie]

Josh Groban's voice is rising

By Richard Dyer, Globe Staff, 8/1/2003

Last year, Josh Groban missed his Tanglewood debut with John Williams and the Boston Pops. He had his tonsils out instead.

Tomorrow the 22-year-old singing sensation, whose debut disc sold more than 2 million copies, makes up for lost time when he joins Williams and the Pops for ''Film Night'' at Tanglewood -- the second hottest event of this season in advance sales, coming in just after James Taylor.

Speaking from his home in California last week, the curly-haired singer said the ''last straw'' before surgery was an appearance on Oprah Winfrey's TV show. ''My tonsils looked like Swiss cheese, and it took so many meds to get me through that that I flew home afterwards and said to the doctor, `Take 'em out.' I haven't had a sore throat since, and my voice teacher says my breathing has opened up.''

Groban has been in the public eye since he was ''discovered'' at 17 by producer David Foster, who has worked with Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Garth Brooks, and other celebrity vocalists. He was still appearing in high school productions then -- he was, he said, a ''very skinny'' Tevye in ''Fiddler on the Roof.''

He had also spent two summers at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Mich. His parents had taken him to musicals and concerts all his life, and he knew he wanted to make people feel the way he felt after he had seen ''Sweeney Todd.'' When he was 16, he learned the show would be Interlochen's annual musical. ''Here we go,'' he thought, and sent in an audition video. ''I wanted to be Sweeney, but . . . the part I got was Broomsweep Number Seven. Still, it was a great experience. I felt as if I were an important part of the show, even if I was sitting on the sidelines most of the time.''

The next year, Groban's voice teacher asked him (and several other students) to make an audition tape for a friend of his, Foster, who was coordinating an event for the inaugural of California Governor Gray Davis. ''Michael Crawford was supposed to sing `All I Ask of You' from `Phantom of the Opera,' but he couldn't make it, so David was looking for a young singer to do the song. He chose me, and I had no idea of what I was getting myself into -- I had never sung to anything more than an audience of family and friends, and there I was, singing for 20,000 people. Afterwards I was on cloud nine, but soon enough I landed back in LA.''

Within two weeks, Groban was back on cloud nine. An emergency came up in rehearsals for the Grammy telecast -- Andrea Bocelli was stranded in a European airport, and Celine Dion needed a stand-in with whom to rehearse their duet. Foster called Groban; Groban at first refused, thinking the song was too high for him. Foster told him there was nothing to worry about -- only a few people would be present.

Groban looked out into an auditorium full of press, stars, and power brokers. Dion was running late, and Groban was standing around, terrified, as people kept asking, ''Where's this Josh kid?''

Eventually the diva arrived and did a double take -- Josh really was a kid. People told him to stand on the X taped to the floor, so he did, and then he started to sing.

''That song goes up to an A, and at that point my voice was a husky bass -- the highest note I had ever sung in public was an F. What happened was a good lesson. I just got up there and did it. I will always be grateful to Celine, because of her warmth and her willingness to take my hand and see me through.'' Dion supplied a sticker quote for Groban's debut album -- ''This kid is simply incredible.''

Among the people who heard Groban in that rehearsal was Rosie O'Donnell. The TV star came up to him, addressed him as ''opera boy,'' and invited him onto her show. The ball was rolling.

For the next couple of years Groban became a regular performer at big-ticket charity events and benefits in California. At one of them, the producers of ''Ally McBeal'' were present. They needed a guest star for the closing show of the season and found him in Groban, who played a high school nerd who became a romantic hero after he sang at the prom.

It was around then that John Williams became aware of the young singer. ''I was very taken by him,'' Williams recalled last week. ''He has such a beautiful natural instrument and such a musical nature. So I asked him to come and sing with me at the Pops in Symphony Hall, which he did, and later I appeared briefly on his first PBS special. He has so much promise that I hope that the fates will work out a destiny for him that is commensurate with the gifts he is endowed with.'' Groban has a voice that the microphone loves and that says ''listen to me.'' He harks back to an earlier era of American popular singing; Frank Sinatra, who sang popular songs with a classical technique, is an obvious role model. Groban is asked all the time why he doesn't sing rock music and sensibly replies, ''I have to sing with the kind of voice that I have. I am a rock drummer, but I am not a rock singer.''

Williams, like many other observers, comments on what a ''sweet kid'' Groban is. ''He's lovely, intelligent, and graceful, and he has beautiful manners, which sets him apart from some of the pop artists we know.''

''I would love to be able to record an album with him and the Pops,'' Williams continues. ''He's got the kind of voice that ought to be recorded with a classical orchestra in an all-acoustic setting.'' The rapid ascent of Groban's career as a pop star has deflected him a little from his intention to pursue a career in music theater -- he was accepted into the music-theater program at Carnegie Mellon University but dropped out after a semester. ''It was happening for me,'' Groban says, ''so I had to put school on hold.''

Groban will return to musical theater in the fall -- in New York there will be a one-night production of ''Chess'' to benefit the Actor's Fund, and Groban will play the Russian chess player. He also plans a tour in January to support his second album, which is scheduled for release Nov. 11; he is certain that the tour will bring him to Boston, though he doesn't know the venue yet.

Groban, who has an exciting vibrato in his voice, knows tenors make the big bucks. ''Since the tonsillectomy I have been able to experiment a little with my range. I sing up to high C in scales, but I choose not to do that in performance yet -- I don't sing above A, and I don't sing opera arias yet. I'm only 22, so I am content to sing what is comfortable for me. It's nice to know that I could sing higher if I wanted to, but there's no rush. Maybe I could be full tenor in a few years, maybe not. Some baritones ought to be tenors, and some tenors ought to be baritones!''

What interests Groban is the emotional wallop of music and singing. He listens to African music, jazz, classical music, and Linkin Park -- he's interested in how all the genres work. '' `Tommy' and `Sweeney Todd' are in totally different styles, but they are both powerful. And that's what I want to do through my singing.''

The ''Film Night'' performance featuring Josh Groban, the Boston Pops, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus begins at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow at Tanglewood. For more information, call 617-266-1200 or 413-733-2500, or visit www.bso.org.

[Bocellifan4ever]

Josh,Groban. Aw! yes. He certainly isn't sitting in the side lines now. He is a marvelous singer,and he will go places. I like his voice very much. I just wonder if he will ever sing with Andrea,Bocelli in a duet.

They would sound Fantastic together,and Andrea,knows how to Harmonize. I would just love to hear them sing together.

I am so happy now that Josh's voice is fine after his Tonsillectomy.
Wonderful. Thank,"God"

Friend,Claire.
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Claire B Berlendy