With U.S. sales in excess of 2 million units, popular music phenomenon Josh Groban (22) has stormed to the No. 1 position on the prestigious Billboard Top 100 album charts, and Irish composer and novelist Brendan Graham is partly responsible for getting him there. Closer, Groban’s second album, produced by David Foster, features the hit single “You Raise Me Up,” with lyrics by Graham and music by Norway’s Rolf Lovland. The song has captured the hearts of millions of music fans in America, through Groban’s performance at the Superbowl XXXVIII in Houston, Texas. In a special tribute to the crew of the Space Shuttle, Columbia. Groban was joined on the field, by the crew of the next Space Shuttle, STS-114.
Groban, who has watched his popularity soar since an appearance on the TV show Ally McBeal and the release of his extraordinarily successful 2001 debut album Josh Groban, will visit Ireland in March.
Meanwhile, Brendan Graham, whose other compositions include “Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears” and “The Fairhaired Boy” — the single from Dervish’s current album Spirit — has also found success as a writer. His novels, The Whitest Flower and The Element of Fire, are published by HarperCollins. He is currently working to deadline on The Brightest Day, The Darkest Night — a novel of the Irish in the American Civil War — set for an October 2004 publication. ♦
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