Joshua Engel

Joshua Engel (born in Grand Prairie, Texas) is an American Country music singer-songwriter.

Joshua Engel is the winner of the "Yahoo Bix Capitol Records "Road to Nashville" Contest held on August 22, 2007 in the country music capital; Nashville, Tennessee.

Contest

Not much is known from the web about the 26 year old Joshua Engel, from Grand Prairie, Texas who placed ninth out of the top 10 but ultimately won the "Road to Nashville" Contest Round 2; beating out over 1300 other contestants vying for a spot in the top 10. A quick listen to his round one entries Old Enough To Know Better, All My Ex's Live In Texas, and Smoke Rings In The Dark reveals a very smooth, very controlled country voice. Singing since the age of 3, Joshua has sung other genres of music, but country is where he is at home. Earning him his spot in the top 10, and a trip to Nashville for the finals, was his performance via WebCam of Trace Adkins' Every Light in the House.

The finals of the Yahoo! Bix Capitol Records "Road to Nashville" Contest was packed with talent and the live performances were excellent. There were great singers, but none proved better than Joshua Engel. Josh sang "Red Dirt Road" in the finals, and was asked to come back for another encore performance along with Elisha Jordan and Chris Potter. Josh performed "Making Memories of Us" for his encore. The judges, a panel of the best in the business, which included A&R folks, the President of Capitol Records and recording artist Jamie O'Neal made their decision. "Joshua was the winner."

Experience

Joshua won the Male Vocalist of the Year Award in 1998 for a local competition sponsored by the Farm Bureau of Texas. He has sung 3 times on "The Johnny High Show", where Leann Rimes got her start.

Not unlike a lot of aspiring singers, Joshua has made the rounds at local karaoke contests. One of Joshua's favorite moments with Karaoke happened when he joined a random karaoke contest at a Ft. Worth, Texas bar and won $75, which he was happy to use to cover drinks and parking that evening.

In addition to his karaoke outings, Joshua was in a rock band for 3 years, covering such groups as Fuel, Audioslave, Three Doors Down, Shinedown and Oleander, in addition to performing their own original tunes. His band, Marcellus, often records their authentic tracks in guitarist Joe Eggleston's in home studio; fondly referred to as the "Studio 717 Sessions." One of this garag-band's local claims to fame is that they didn't meet for practice in a garage, they practiced in an airplane hangar.

Quote

"All I know is I love to sing and whatever God's will is for my life, it's worth waiting for." says the always humble Josh.

Photos

Newspaper

After four and half months of online voting, Capitol Records Nashville and Yahoo! have announced that Joshua Engel, a Grand Prairie, Texas resident is the winner of The Road to Nashville, an innovative, online country music talent search. Over two million people voted on the contest."The auditions were very impressive with our top 10 delivering extremely strong performances, singing with a four-piece band live in front of a panel of judges and audience members," said a spokeman with the Bix Team. "After 10 outstanding performances, 3 of the 10 were called back for a second performance - Joshua, Elisha B., and Chris P. Soon after, Joshua was declared the grand prize winner by our panel of judges to a standing ovation."The contest also consisted of a $50,000 cash prize and a demo deal with Capitol Records Nashville.The contest started with 1,300 contestants and wittled down to 10 finalists, which were flown to Nashville to perform a final, live audition at the Country Music Hall of Fame on August 22 in front of an audience and panel of expert judges including singer Jamie O’Neal, Capitol Records Nashville CEO and President Mike Dungan, and Vice President of A&R for Capitol Records Nashville, Larry Willoughby.Josh was one of three finalists out of the 10 contestants who were called back for a second performance. The judges unanimously declared Joshua Engel the grand prize winner.

Congratulations, Joshua on being the grand prize winner!

www.gptimes.com