Born and raised in Westland, Michigan, about 30 minutes west of Detroit, he grew up listening to his parents' favorites--Elvis, the Beatles, and the vintage rock and pop on a favorite local station. Then, when he was 11, the station changed formats. "They decided they were going to switch to country," Josh says, "and at first they literally played 'Friends In Low Places' over and over, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." Josh liked the song and, he says, "In the weeks and months after that, I really fell in love with country music. Listening to Garth Brooks, Joe Diffie, George Strait, and Randy Travis, I really started getting into it."
His first public appearance was at an 8th grade talent competition where he sang Brooks' 1993 hit "Standing Outside The Fire" and managed to win over an audience full of dance music-loving peers.
Growing up as the only boy among four sisters, Josh found his parents unwilling to sign a release for him to play sports. "I wish I could have played football," he says, "but I believe there's a reason for everything you do in life, even if you don't want to do it. I was in marching band and I applaud my parents now for making me stick with it, because it gave me a sense of loyalty and of stick-to-itiveness, of doing something to reach a goal." He describes his years with the band and his 11 years as a saxophone player as "very challenging mentally and physically, and I'm really glad I did that rather than play sports because--who knows?--if I hadn't, I might not be here today."
Josh also had experience singing everything from opera as a member of his school choir to Motown as the only male singer in a review called the Fairlane Youth Pop Orchestra. Through it all, his love of country persisted, and while he was still in school he was part of a talent competition that took him to the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, a memory he still treasures. "Just knowing I was on a stage where so many stars and country legends had performed made me glad for the experience," he says.
For all he accomplished, though, Josh came to the conclusion that he had some growing up to do. "I was never in trouble or anything," he says, "but I had a very hard time with responsibility, with doing what I said I would. I had just broken up with my girlfriend, and my music career wasn't going the way I wanted it to. I knew I had to do something. I had talked about going into the Marine Corps and finally I just walked into the office and signed up."
His stint in the Corps--he is stationed at Camp Pendleton in southern California--changed him. "By the time I graduated boot camp," he says, "the experience had helped define who I wanted to be and who I was going to be for the rest of my life. It's really helped prepare me for the rest of my life mentally, physically, and emotionally."
He reunited with his girlfriend Ann Marie and they were married soon afterward. "When I went in," he says, "I was having problems just holding down one job and an apartment and a girlfriend. In a couple of years I was able to have a wife and take care of a daughter (their daughter Briana), go to school full-time, work my everyday Marine job and work a second job at a local department store. There's no way in a thousand years I was going to be able to do that before the Marine Corps."
About two years into his four-year term, Josh happened to see the first American Idol show. "I hadn't sung in a couple of years because I was in the Marines, and I thought it might be a good chance for me to get back out there and sing." His superiors approved, his first audition went well, and he was off and running.
Well after he became part of the show, the U.S. invaded Iraq and the military's world changed. Although he had no control over his deployment or that of his unit, he did some soul-searching nonetheless. "The toughest moment through all of this was when we were doing the show and I was staying up until four or five in the morning just watching the news and trying to keep track of how the Marines were doing over there. I felt guilty because I was singing on this show and there were fellow Marines over there in foxholes."
It was ultimately fan mail that convinced him he was doing just what he should be. "I got a letter from a mother who said, 'My son and a friend's daughter are in Iraq now, and it gives us great comfort watching you, seeing how you carry yourself on stage, how you act and how respectful you are toward other people. It reminds me what kind of people Marines are, and even though they're in harm's way, I feel like they're going to be alright."