''Awake'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter

Josh Groban Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, ...

. Announced on September 13, 2006, it is his third studio album, and a follow-up to his multi-platinum album '' Closer''. ''Awake'' was released on November 7, 2006. The album was certified 2× platinum in the US by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on January 31, 2008, and has sold 2.3 million albums as of October 2015. It is the third top selling classical album of the 2000s in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Album information

The album's first single is " You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)". The album features producers

Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap ( ; born 9 December 1977) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and entrepreneur. She is considered a pioneer in pop music, particularly electropop, and in music technology. While attending the ...

Marius De Vries Marius de Vries (born 1961) is an English record producer and composer. He has won a Grammy Award from four nominations, two BAFTA Awards, and an Ivor Novello Award. Education Marius de Vries was educated at St Paul's Cathedral School, Bedfor ...

Guy Sigsworth Allan Arthur Guy Sigsworth (born May 1960) is an English record producer and songwriter. He has worked with many artists, including Seal, Björk, Goldie, Madonna, Britney Spears, Kate Havnevik, Imogen Heap, Bebel Gilberto, Mozez, David Sylvian ...

, Eric Mouquet,

Glen Ballard Basil Glen Ballard Jr. (born May 1, 1953) is an American songwriter, lyricist, and record producer. He is best known for co-writing and producing on Wilson Phillips' debut and sophomore albums, '' Wilson Phillips'' and '' Shadows and Light'', ...

, and

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

(who also worked on previous Groban works). As with all Josh Groban albums, songs on ''Awake'' are performed in English, Italian and Spanish. The album offered a more modern vibe to his voice by using more instruments aside from the occasional classic piano accompaniment in his previous albums. The album also featured Groban's head voice technique as evident in most of the tracks in the album. Awake additionally features tracks that credit Groban's recent movements in South Africa. "Lullaby" and "Weeping" (album tracks 11 and 12) are sung by him in conjunction with the renowned South African musical group

Ladysmith Black Mambazo Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a South African male choral group singing in the local vocal styles of ''isicathamiya'' and ''mbube (genre), mbube''. They became known internationally after singing with American Paul Simon on his 1986 album ''Grace ...

, with further contributions from Vusi Mahlasela and

Dave Matthews David John Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is an American musician and the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band (DMB). Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and moved frequently between South Africa, ...

. "Weeping", a pop song originally composed in South Africa, is thematically oriented with the country's history of Apartheid. "Lullaby" is a track included in the album as a supplement to "Weeping", considered one of the album's major highlights. "Lullaby" is meant to flow gaplessly into "Weeping", but the rest of the album uses gaps. The song "Now or Never" was produced and co-written with English singer-songwriter Imogen Heap. "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" peaked at No. 9 on the

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by stat ...

chart, while "February Song" and "Awake" each peaked at No. 13 on the same chart.

Track listing

Notes * signifies a vocal producer * signifies a co-producer

Bonus track listing

You Raise Me Up "You Raise Me Up" is a song composed by Rolf Løvland with lyrics by Brendan Graham. It was first recorded by Secret Garden, in collaboration with Brian Kennedy. Although the original version was not a major hit, the song has since been rec ...

" (

Brendan Graham Brendan Graham (born 12 February 1945) is an Irish songwriter and novelist. Among songs he has written are " Rock 'n' Roll Kids" (1994) and " The Voice" (1996), both of which won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland in their respective year ...

, Rolf Løvland) (European bonus track) – 4:50 #"Verità" (Richard Page, Per Magnusson, David Kreuger) (Special edition bonus track) – 4:01 #"Awake" (Groban, Mouquet, Salter) (Special edition bonus track) – 5:11 #" Smile" (

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

, Geoffrey Parsons,

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposit ...

) (Website exclusiveAwake Exclusive Edition in the Internet Archive
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Personnel

* Josh Groban – vocals, drums, keyboards, piano, backing vocals *

Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer known for his technical mastery who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drumme ...

– drums * Joel Shearer – guitar * Frank Ricotti – percussion, vibraphone * Jochem van der Saag – synthesizer, programming *

– keyboards * Blair Sinta – percussion * Michael Thompson – guitar * Ian Thomas – drums * Eric Mouquet – keyboards *

Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass guitarist and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts ...

– bass guitar * Chris Elliott – piano, dulcimer * Vincent Nguini – guitar * Sean Hurley – drums * Bakithi Kumalo – bass guitar, backing vocals *

– keyboards * Marius de Vries – keyboards, programming, piano * Ramon Stagnaro – guitar *

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session drummer, record producer and songwriter. He has played with various artists, including Pearl Jam, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, David Bowie, Tori Amos, Morrissey, The Wallflow ...

– drums *

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

– electric piano *

Tim Pierce Tim Pierce (born 1958 in Albuquerque) is an American session guitarist. He has worked for artists such as Joe Cocker, Crowded House, Goo Goo Dolls, Michael Jackson, Beth Hart, Roger Waters, Alice Cooper, Johnny Hallyday, Phil Collins, and th ...

– guitar * Jason Boshoff – programming *

Anton Fig Anton Fig (born 8 August 1952) is a South African session drummer perhaps best known as the drummer and second-in-command for Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band. David Letterman, for whom the band served as house band on his lat ...

– drums * Trevor Barry – bass guitar * Kaitlyn Barton – tambourine * Zac Rae – keyboards * Alexis Smith – additional programming *

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Parks has one Grammy nomination. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los A ...

– guitar * Fiona Hibbert – harp *

– piano, programming, kalimba * Anna Ross – backing vocals * Ladysmith Black Mambazo – backing vocals * Vusi Mahlasela – backing vocals * Susie Suh – backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

;General references
Press release
;Specific references

External links

* * {{Authority control 2006 albums Josh Groban albums Albums produced by Glen Ballard Albums produced by David Foster Albums produced by Marius de Vries Albums produced by Imogen Heap 143 Records albums Reprise Records albums