1. Josh Groban First Hit
2. Josh Groban First Hit Song
3. Josh Groban Best Songs

For the first time in 14 years, Andrea Bocelli is releasing an album of new material, Si, a collection of 16 new songs, including duets with Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Josh Groban, and more.

Josh Groban First Hit

'You Raise Me Up' is a song originally composed by Irish-Norwegian duo Secret Garden. The music was written by Secret Garden's Rolf Løvland and the lyrics by Brendan Graham. After the song was performed early in 2002 by the Secret Garden and their invited lead singer, Brian Kennedy, the song only became a minor UK hit. The song has been recorded by more than a hundred other artists including Josh Groban, who popularized the song in 2003; his rendition became a hit in the United States. The Irish band Westlife then popularized the song in the UK two years later. On 29 November, 2018 Icelandic Composer Jóhann Helgason filed a lawsuit claiming that the song is a copy of the 1977 song Söknuður.^[1][2]

• 3Josh Groban version
• 4Westlife version
  • 4.1Tours performed at
  • 4.3Charts

Background[edit]

The song was originally composed as an instrumental piece and titled 'Silent Story'. Some have claimed there is a strong resemblance to the traditional Irish tune Londonderry Air, to which Løvland has commented: 'There are similarities but no plagiarism. When I made 'You Raise Me Up' I asked myself - what is the inner essence of Irish music?'^[3] Løvland later approached Irish novelist and songwriter Brendan Graham to write the lyrics to his melody, after reading Graham's novels.^[4]

The song was made by and for Løvland himself and performed for the very first time at the funeral of Løvland's mother. Here he noted 'there's something about the song people are embracing - which becomes emotionally strong. [..] I believe people think of it as a song they use for their own purposes.'.^[3][5] The original designated vocalist was Johnny Logan, himself also from Eurovision fame, who recorded a demo with an orchestra. However, a desire to distance the album from Eurovision Song Contest led to a change in vocalist.

In 2002, it was released on the Secret Garden album Once in a Red Moon, with the vocals sung by Irish singer Brian Kennedy, and sold well in both Ireland and Norway. Originally, Brian Kennedy was supposed to follow Secret Garden on their Asian tour in 2002, but Curb records couldn't come to an agreement with Universal to release Brian, and he reluctantly could not attend the tour. He was replaced by Norwegian singer Jan Werner Danielsen, who also later recorded the song together with Secret Garden. A demo version of this recording was released in 2010, on Danielsen's posthumous compilation album One More Time - The Very Best Of, which included several previously unpublished recordings.

Popularity[edit]

Although the original version did not chart internationally, the song has now been covered more than 125 times,^[6] with the most successful covers being by Josh Groban (#73 in the US and #1 on the US Adult Contemporary chart), Christian group Selah (#1 on Billboard's Christian charts), Westlife (#1 in the UK), Daniel O'Donnell (#22 in the UK) and Dutch Popstars winner Wesley Klein (#4 in the Netherlands). The song has also found success as part of a three-song EP entitled 'George Best - A Tribute' by Peter Corry and the song's original vocalist Brian Kennedy, which reached #4 in the UK.

In 2004, the song was played more than 500,000 times on American radio. In late 2005, there were over 80 versions available in US alone, and it has been nominated for Gospel Music Awards four times, including 'Song of the Year.'

On 21 September 2006, 'You Raise Me Up' became the first song to have sold over 76,000 copies of the score on the popular sheet music website musicnotes.com.^[7]

Josh Groban version[edit]

In 2003, David Foster decided to produce the song after being introduced to it by Frank Petrone of peermusic, the song's publisher. He chose the up-and-coming Josh Groban to record the song, which was accompanied by the tenor Craig Von Vennik of the Establishment. Groban's version made it to #1 on the Billboardadult contemporary chart in early 2004 and remained there for six weeks. This version also peaked at #73 on the Billboard Hot 100, his first single to do so, and was nominated for a 2005 Grammy award.

Performances[edit]

Josh Groban First Hit Song

Groban performed the song at Super Bowl XXXVIII, in a special NASA commemoration for the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. A special surprise performance by Groban, for Oprah Winfrey's 50th birthday, also gave 'You Raise Me Up' massive international prominence. On April 25, 2007, Groban also performed it at the first Idol Gives Back Concert, along with the African Children's Choir. This version was released as a single and peaked at #76 on the Billboard Hot 100. He performed this version with the African Children's Choir again on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on August 10, 2007.

On May 26, 2007, Josh Groban appeared on BBC's talent show Any Dream Will Do to select one of the remaining contestants (or 'Josephs') to perform the song with him. He chose show favourite and eventual winner Lee Mead, whilst the other four contestants (Lewis Bradley, Craig Chalmers, Ben Ellis, and Keith Jack) performed as backing singers. Following this, the solo version of 'You Raise Me Up' charted in the UK at #74, making it his first chart entry there.

Charts[edit]

Westlife version[edit]

'You Raise Me Up' was released as the lead single from Westlife's sixth studio album Face to Face. This version is one of the most successful covers of the song, peaking at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart,^[9] the only version to do so. This was the band's 13th number-one single as well as the first single to be released following Brian McFadden departure from the group. It debuted with 97,288 combined physical and download sales in the UK alone.^[10] The single has sold 540,000 copies in the UK so far.^[11] In South Korea, it entered the Official South Korean Year-end Downloads Singles Chart in 2010 with 130,759 sales.^[12] Later, it stayed in the top 75 of the Official International Karaoke Charts since the inception of the charts in December 2010 up to its recent chart released.^[13]

Westlife performed this song with Secret Garden at the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize concert. On December 11, 2009, they performed it again at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize concert celebrating US President Barack Obama. The backing track is re-used in the Spanish version of this song, 'Por Ti Sere', performed by Il Divo in their Siempre album. When Louis Walsh suggested the band to record it, Filan, Egan, Byrne, and Feehily were against it saying it was a church song, and would not be a success. They also said they did not want to record it. However, they have since claimed in 2011, six years after the single's release, that the song changed their careers and were glad they recorded it. It was composed in the traditional verse–chorus form in Eb major, with Filan and Feehily's vocal ranging from the chords of Bb₃ to Bb₅.^[14]

Westlife's official music video for 'You Raise Me Up' was shot in late-2005 and is directed by Alex Hemming. It is currently the most played 'You Raise Me Up' official music video version on Youtube with 73 million views as of January 2019.^[15] It is also their most-streamed single of all time with 19.7 million listens in the United Kingdom as of January 2019. It is the band's third best selling single of all-time on both paid-for and combined sales categories.^[16] While it is their eighth most streamed song of all time from their home country, the Republic of Ireland, as of 2 April 2019.

The song was reinstated in the live bonus disc album of the band's Greatest Hits in 2011. After the band broke up in 2012, the single was performed solo in many live instances by three of band members Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily.In 2018, the single was re-recorded by its member Shane Filan for his solo album Love Always - Deluxe Version. On 12 May 2018, the song was performed on South Korean music programme 'Immortal Songs 2' by Sohyang. Filan was the featured 'Legend' and judged the participants.

Tours performed at[edit]

as Westlife[edit]

• Face to Face Tour (2006)
• The Love Tour (2007)
• Back Home Tour (2008)
• Where We Are Tour (2010)
• Gravity Tour (2011)
• The Farewell Tour (2012)
• The Twenty Tour (2019)

Track listing[edit]

Josh Groban Best Songs

UK CD1

1. 'You Raise Me Up' – 4:00
2. 'World of Our Own' (Acoustic Version) – 3:30

UK CD2

1. 'You Raise Me Up' – 4:00
2. 'Flying Without Wings' (Acoustic Version) – 3:30
3. 'My Love' (Acoustic Version) – 3:48

Charts[edit]

Year-end charts[edit]

Certifications and sales[edit]

Wesley version[edit]

On the second season of Popstars in the Netherlands, 'You Raise Me Up' was recorded by each of the four finalists - Kim Stolker, Kristel Roulaux, Joshua Newton and Wesley Klein. When Klein won, his version was released as a single in the Netherlands under the mononym Wesley, peaking at #4 in the Dutch Top 40 and staying in the charts for eleven weeks,^[28] making it the first version of the song to reach the top 10 in the Netherlands. The song was subsequently released as the final track on his debut album Vandaag en morgen (meaning Today and Tomorrow in Dutch).

Other covers[edit]

• The song was recorded by Daniel O'Donnell in 2003 and was a hit in Ireland and the UK, charting at #22 in the UK.
• A version by Christian group Selah went to #1 on Billboard's Christian charts and was included on their 2004 album Hiding Place. This recording was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2005 Dove Awards.
• Brian Kennedy re-released the single after performing it at Northern Irish football player George Best's funeral on 3 December 2005. The song charted in the UK at #4 in January 2006 (as part of a three-song EP entitled 'George Best — A Tribute').
• Åsa Jinder has written lyrics in Swedish, 'Rör vid min själ' and was recorded by Sanna Nielsen and was released as a 2006 single^[29] and is included on her 2006 album 'Nära mej, nära dej'.^[30]
• In 2005, Celtic Woman cover this song, and it is used as the theme song of the Japanese TV drama Byakkotai.
• The song was covered in Japanese by Korean-American singer Lena Park as the opening theme to the Japanese anime television series Romeo x Juliet, which premiered in Japan on April 2007. Park also covered an English version of the song, which was featured in episodes 7 and 24 of the English version of the series, released in two sets in both June and August 2009.
• On November 16, 2008, the song Video on YouTube was performed by Michael Hirte from Potsdam in the show 'Das Supertalent' (the German version of 'Britain's Got Talent') using his harmonica. This version charted in Switzerland at #76.^[31]
• In 2009, Celtic Thunder released their cover of the song performed by Paul Byrom, then with the group, on their third studio album and second concert DVD, both titled Take Me Home.
• In 2011, the Swedish band Larz-Kristerz released a version with lyrics in Elfdalian, which is a ”heavy” dialect of Swedish or a separate language closely related to it.
• In 2013, Branden James covered the song in America's Got Talent performance during the season 8 quarterfinals.
• In 2014, Hong Kong singer Celine Tam, aged 6, covered 'You Raise Me Up'.
• In 2014, John Barrowman covered the song on the album You Raise Me Up.
• In 2015, Canadian singer Jeffrey Li, aged 10, and Сeline Tam, aged 7, performed at the Miss World final.
• In 2016, Chinese female group SNH48 along with their counterparts BEJ48 and GNZ48 issued a cover version of the song '比翼齐飞', with the lyrics re-written by several members of them, and performed by themselves.
• October, 2017 crooner Arthur Manuntag from the Philippines recorded his own version of the song. Arthur Manuntag is the Asian representative to the 100th Anniversary of Frank Sinatra on December 12, 2015 in Smetana Hall, Prague.
• December, 2017 Hong Kong singer Celine Tam, aged 9, performed cover of the song together with Helene Fischer on the annual 'Die Helene Fischer Show' Video on YouTube
• In May 2018, Sohyang performed the song on Immortal Songs: Singing The Legend on the Shane Filan special, receiving a standing ovation from Shane himself, who later commented how he preferred her version that he would listen to again and again.

Use in popular culture[edit]

• The Josh Groban version was played numerous times in television news during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
• Shizuka Arakawa, the 2006 Olympic gold medalist in figure skating, used the piece as an exhibition number for many shows and professional competitions during 2005–2010. Michelle Kwan skated to the song during the 2004 Champion on Ice Tour and other competitions in 2005. Caroline Zhang skated this song in her exhibitions in the 2006–2007 and 2007–2008 skating season.
• I.K. Start, a Norwegian football club, uses this song as a club anthem.

References[edit]

1. ^'Icelander sues for rights to Josh Groban song'. Iceland Monitor. Retrieved 17 March 2019. A beloved Icelandic songwriter and musician Jóhann Helgason has filed a lawsuit against one of Josh Groban's songwriters. He believes that his song Söknuður is almost identical to Groban's 2003 hit You Raise me Up. A new version of Helgason's song Söknuður has been released in English to underline the similarity between the two songs. Söknuður was written in 1977.
2. ^Thorne, Roger. 'You Raise Me Up Info'. Thornesmusic.freeserve.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2013-10-14. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
3. ^ ^ab'Løvland feirer at 'You Raise Me Up' er ti år' (in Norwegian). VG. Retrieved 2011-11-13.
4. ^'You Raise Me Up'. Secretgarden.no. Archived from the original on 2014-04-17. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
5. ^'Lydverket - Følelser' (in Norwegian). NRK. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
6. ^Brendan Graham. 'The Global Independent - Brendan Graham - Artist Details'. peermusic. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
7. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on September 1, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-01.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
8. ^'Josh Groban and The African Children's Choir - You Raise Me Up - Music Charts'. Acharts.us. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
9. ^Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 718. ISBN1-904994-10-5.
10. ^'CHART: CLUK Update 5.11.2005 (wk43) CHART LOG UK: NEW ENTRIES UPDATE'. zobbel.de. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
11. ^'Westlife Official Top 20 MTV UK'. Mtv.co.uk. 2009-10-28. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
12. ^http://www.gaonchart.co.kr/main/section/total/2010.list.gaon
13. ^'South Korea Album Chart'. Gaon. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
14. ^'You Raise Me Up BY WESTLIFE - DIGITAL SHEET MUSIC'.
15. ^westlifeVEVO (2009-10-03), Westlife - You Raise Me Up, retrieved 2017-07-16
16. ^Copsey, Rob (January 12, 2019). 'Westlife's Top 20 biggest songs on the Official Charts'. Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
17. ^'Ultratop.be – Westlife – You Raise Me Up' (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
18. ^'Euro Digital Song Sales - Westlife - Chart Search'. Billboard. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
19. ^ ^abBillboard - Google Books. 2005-12-17. Retrieved 2014-04-02 – via Google Books.
20. ^IFPI archive
21. ^ ^abhttp://www.musicchartheaven.com/westlife/westlifeface2face.htm
22. ^'Russia Airplay Chart for 2005-11-07.' Tophit.
23. ^http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/scottish-singles-chart/20051030/41/
24. ^'South Korea Album Chart'. Gaon. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
25. ^'Official Singles Downloads Chart Top 100'. Official Charts Company.
26. ^'ARIA Charts - End of Year Charts - Top 100 Singles 2006'. Aria.com.au. Archived from the original on 2013-11-06. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
27. ^'British single certifications – Westlife – You Raise Me Up'. British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 30 October 2016.Select singles in the Format field.Select Platinum in the Certification field.Type You Raise Me Up in the 'Search BPI Awards' field and then press Enter.
28. ^ ^ab'Wesley - You Raise Me Up - Music Charts'. Acharts.us. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
29. ^'Rör vid min själ' (in Swedish). Svensk mediedatabas. 2006. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
30. ^'Nära mej, nära dej' (in Swedish). Svensk mediedatabas. 2006. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
31. ^Chart performance for Michael Hirte version

Notes

External links[edit]

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics