The gifted Josh Groban

Now a strapping 21-year-old, Josh Groban could be an ordinary guy looking forward to finding a nice job and getting his own place. But Josh is anything but ordinary. He is in fact, extraordinarily gifted and is now enjoying the time of his life, thanks to his angelic baritone and disarming mien.

" I feel like a kid in a candy store and I can get anything I want," he says on the phone from a hotel room in New York while getting ready for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. "Everything I ever dreamed of is happening right now and I just can’t believe it. It is very exciting and absolutely overwhelming."

As a kid, Josh wondered what it would be like to be at the Thanksgiving Day Parade and now, he will not only watch it at close range, he will be performing his hit song You’re Still You while riding the Maytag Float.

"I got to sing the National Anthem at the World Series. Can you imagine that? I was right there. Then I will be going to the Vatican to sing for the Pope. I am so excited about that too. I want to meet him. He is a great man. It will be like being part of history. I will also sing at the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center," he says proudly. "I will sing O Holy Night. The Christmas song is his latest recording and it is included in a video release of his live performances Warner is releasing this month.

Josh gave up a Carnegie-Mellon scholarship at an arts school when he was offered a recording contract by producer David Foster, the man behind hit recordings by Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, The Corrs, Chicago and many others. "I took a risk getting out of school but then I figured, I will also do the same thing after I graduate, look for gigs and go to auditions, because this is all I ever really wanted to do. I will just be doing it sooner. Then there is David, who is just fantastic. I didn’t know who he was, like I know all those songs he did but I didn’t know he did them when I met him. Wow, I couldn’t believe I will record for him when I found out. The guy has 14 Grammys!"

The gamble paid off. Foster’s blend of classical singing with pop arrangement turned Groban into a star. The album made the top ten of Billboard’s Hot 100 list and also became a success in other countries. "I got to sing songs I like, like Vincent, and the themes from Cinema Paradiso and Cirque du Soleil. Then they wrote all the new stuff for me like You’re Still You and To Where You Are. Of course, there is the duet with Charlotte Church, The Prayer which I first sang with Celine Dion, who is just great. Making the album was an incredible experience.

People were amazed to find out that the guy singing You’re Still You was very young and very lean. Critics termed him the "bulimic Bocelli," but Oprah, Rosie, Larry King absolutely adored him. TV producer David Kelly was so impressed that he wrote an Ally McBeal episode for Josh that went over well at the ratings that he was asked to do another one.

Two years later Josh is a hot pop star whom People Magazine included in its list of Sexiest Males. Thanks to his parents, he sees himself as very well grounded. "They have been bery supportive, but they do not treat me as special. I’m just Josh. Life at home is just normal." He will soon be moving out though to a great new place in LA, that is all his own and there is a nice new car in the garage that he bought recently.

Sad to say though, he barely has time to socialize. "I have to do a lot of traveling so there is not much time to hang out. I am not complaining but it can sometimes be very lonely." In order to join his family for Thanksgiving dinner, Josh had to leave New York after the parade and take the plane back to LA. Thanks to the time difference, he was home on time. Then after a round of promo events he will have to get ready for his trip to Rome.

"I have no party life. When I get together with my friends we just eat out or see a movie. I’ve quit school but there are the singing lessons. I have a very good coach and I train almost every single day. You can’t stop learinng. Eventually, maybe in five or six years, I might be good enough to sing the really serious classical stuff."

Meanwhile, the music stores have classified his album as pop, or classical or middle of the road or whatever. Josh Groban defies classification but that is no problem. "What is important is the music. If I can make kids aware of the kind of music I do then it will all be worth being lonely and busy and all that." Rocker or opera singer, his fans take Josh just for what he is, a nice, regular guy, who happens to be gifted with pipes of gold.