Joshua Todd Gruber (born April 4, 1970), known professionally as Josh Todd, is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor, best known as the lead singer of the American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Buckcherry
Buckcherry is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1995. The band released two albums, ''Buckcherry'' (1999) and ''Time Bomb'' (2001), before dissolving in 2002. Buckcherry's first album ''Buckcherry'' was DreamWorks first a ...
.
Background
Josh Todd grew up in
Anaheim Hills, California
Anaheim Hills is a planned community encompassing the eastern portions of the city of Anaheim, in Orange County, California.
History
Prior to the development, a few scattered low-density neighborhoods existed in the area, including Peralta Hills ...
, and later moved to
Lake Forest, California
Lake Forest is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 85,858 at the 2020 census.
Lake Forest incorporated as a city on December 20, 1991. Prior to incorporation, the community had been known as El Toro. Following a vote in 20 ...
. He attended high school at
Trabuco Hills High School
Trabuco Hills High School is a high school in Mission Viejo, California, United States. It is in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District.
Awards
THHS has received:
*2002 National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.
Demographics
The demogra ...
in
Orange County, California
Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...
, and graduated in 1989. Prior to his days in
Buckcherry
Buckcherry is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1995. The band released two albums, ''Buckcherry'' (1999) and ''Time Bomb'' (2001), before dissolving in 2002. Buckcherry's first album ''Buckcherry'' was DreamWorks first a ...
, Todd fronted the Hollywood
glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...
band Slamhound. Slamhound was signed to Skydoor Records, an independent record company that was unsuccessful in releasing a Slamhound album even though the band recorded over a dozen songs with Todd as the lead singer. While in Slamhound, Todd honed his musical style, moving away from glam and more towards punk. In 1995, Todd met guitarist Keith Nelson through his tattoo artist. The two agreed to meet because of their shared love of
AC/DC
AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...
. They soon formed the band Sparrow, which later changed its name to Buckcherry. He later married Jasmine Lawson, an American actress and model. He is currently married to actress/model
Mitzi Martin
Mitzi Martin (born December 27, 1967) is an American actress and model, most notable for her roles in the films ''Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man'', ''Joe Dirt'', ''Dude, Where's My Car?'', and ''The Island (2005 film), The Island''. Her l ...
. They have two children. Todd became a certified phlebotomist during the COVID pandemi
Career
In 1999, even before the debut Buckcherry album had ever been released, Todd was featured in one of ''Rolling Stones last issues of 1999 as "What's Hot in the New Millennium," which included a center-fold photograph of him.
In 1999, Buckcherry released their debut
Buckcherry (album), self-titled album, featuring the hit "
Lit Up". The album had a very commercial sound, far away from the glam punk music of his earlier bands.
In 2001, the band released their second album ''
Time Bomb
A time bomb (or a timebomb, time-bomb) is a bomb whose detonation is triggered by a timer. The use (or attempted use) of time bombs has been for various purposes including insurance fraud, terrorism, assassination, sabotage and warfare. They ar ...
''. Todd and Nelson went on to play a tribute to
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...
/
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums ...
drummer,
Randy Castillo
Randolpho Francisco Castillo (December 18, 1950 – March 26, 2002) was an American musician. He was Ozzy Osbourne's drummer during the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, and later as drummer for Mötley Crüe, from 1999 to his death in 2002.
Ea ...
, alongside former
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...
members
Slash
Slash may refer to:
* Slash (punctuation), the "/" character
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Slash (Marvel Comics)
* Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'')
Music
* Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band
* Nash ...
,
Duff McKagan
Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964), sometimes credited as Duff "Rose" McKagan, is an American musician. He played bass for twelve years in the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late ...
, and
Matt Sorum
Matthew William Sorum (born November 19, 1960) is an American drummer. He is best known as both a former member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and as a member of the supergroup Velvet Revolver. S ...
. The band, for that show, was named Cherry Roses. The band went on to record about ten songs under the name "The Project" before the others decided to replace Todd and Nelson with
Scott Weiland
Scott Richard Weiland (; né Kline, October 27, 1967 – December 3, 2015) was an American singer and songwriter. During a career spanning three decades, Weiland was best known as the lead singer of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots from 1 ...
and
Dave Kushner
David Kushner (born November 16, 1966) is an American musician perhaps best known as the rhythm guitarist for the hard rock supergroup Velvet Revolver. Kushner has also been a member of Wasted Youth, Electric Love Hogs, Loaded, Danzig, Jane' ...
, respectively. The band went on to become
Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of punk b ...
. One song, "
Dirty Little Thing", was written during the time with Todd and Nelson and gives the latter co-writing credits.
The band Josh Todd
In 2003, Josh Todd released the album ''You Made Me'' under the band name Josh Todd The band consisted of Josh Todd (Vocals), Jesse Logan (Guitars), Mike Hewitt (Guitars), Mark Lettig (Bass) and Kent Ross (Drums). The bands guitar tech was Stevie D. The album was distributed in the US by
DRT Entertainment
DRT Entertainment was a New York City based independent record label founded in 2003 by Derek Shulman, Ron Urban, and Theodore "Ted" Green. The label is defunct.
The label advertised itself as an "artist friendly hard rock music company for band ...
in the US, and by
JVCKenwood Victor Entertainment
, also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Ent ...
in Japan. After returning from Japan supporting the ''You Made Me'' album, which included dates with Aerosmith and the Who, Josh Todd decided to return to the band Buckcherry. The Josh Todd band was disbanded, and TODD Entertainment was dissolved.
In 2012, JVC/Victor Entertainment re-issued and re-released the ''You Made Me'' album in Japan.
In 2022, the album was released for the first time worldwide through music streaming services and included the songs "Collide" and "Catastrophe".
The return to Buckcherry
In 2005, Josh Todd reformed Buckcherry with Keith Nelson and new members Stevie D.,
Jimmy Ashhurst, and Xavier Muriel.
In 2006, he appeared as the character Hutch in the film ''
The Still Life''.
In 2008, Todd was one of the four backing vocalists for the
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
band
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums ...
for the gang vocal version of "
Saints of Los Angeles
''Saints of Los Angeles'' is the ninth and final studio album by the American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, released on June 24, 2008. It was the first full-length studio album with the band's original lineup since 1997's ''Generation Swine'' ...
".
Todd has released nine albums with Buckcherry and one solo album. He also performed at the Canadian Live8 venue in Barrie, Ontario in 2005. He first joined
Darryl McDaniels
Darryl Matthews McDaniels (born May 31, 1964), better known by his stage name DMC, is an American rapper. He is a founding member of the hip hop group Run-DMC, and is considered one of the pioneers of hip hop culture.
Early life
McDaniels grew ...
,
Tom Hamilton and
Joey Kramer
Joseph Michael Kramer (born June 21, 1950) is an American musician best known as the drummer of the hard rock band Aerosmith, which was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.
Life and career
Kramer was born in the Bronx, New ...
of
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...
, and others on stage for a rendition of Aerosmith's "
Walk This Way
"Walk This Way" is a song by the American rock band Aerosmith. Written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, the song was originally released as the second single from the album '' Toys in the Attic'' (1975). It peaked at number 10 on the ''Billboa ...
" and then later joined all other performers on stage for a version of
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...
's "
Rockin' in the Free World
"Rockin' in the Free World" is a song by Canadian-American singer, musician and songwriter Neil Young, released on Young's seventeenth studio album ''Freedom'' (1989).Buckley, 1206 Two versions of the song bookend the album, similarly to "Hey Hey, ...
".
He has appeared in several films in both credited and uncredited roles including playing the part of "Rudy" in the 2002 teen comedy ''
The New Guy
''The New Guy'' is a 2002 American teen comedy film directed by Ed Decter, written by David Kendall and starring DJ Qualls and Eliza Dushku.
The film tells the story of high school loser Dizzy Harrison (Qualls) who gets himself expelled so that ...
'' and several small parts in ''
XXX
XXX may refer to:
Codes and symbols
* 30 (number), Roman numeral XXX
* XXX, designating pornography
** XXX, an X rating#United_States, X rating
** .xxx, an internet top-level domain intended for pornographic sites
* XXX, a symbol of the straight ...
'' and ''
The Salton Sea''. He has also appeared in the 2008 thriller ''
Eagle Eye
''Eagle Eye'' is a 2008 American action-thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso and with a screenplay by John Glenn (screenwriter), John Glenn, Travis Adam Wright, Hillary Seitz and Dan McDermott from a story by McDermott. The film stars Shia LaB ...
''.
In 2008 Todd appeared on
Escape the Fate
Escape the Fate is an American rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2004 and originally from Pahrump, Nevada. They are signed to Eleven Seven Music. The group consists of Robert Ortiz (drummer), Craig Mabbitt (lead vocalist), TJ Bell (rhy ...
's album ''
This War Is Ours
''This War Is Ours'' is the second album by American rock band Escape the Fate. It is the first Escape the Fate album to feature former Blessthefall singer Craig Mabbitt on vocals. The album received mixed reviews from critics. It was produced by ...
'' in the songs ''10 Miles Wide'' and "Harder Than You Know". He was featured in the music video for "10 Miles Wide" in 2009.
Todd has been ranked in the ''Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists'' by ''
Hit Parader
''Hit Parader'' was an American music magazine that operated between 1942 and 2008. A monthly publication, it focused on rock and pop music in general until the 1970s, when its focus began turning to hard rock and heavy metal. By the early 1980s ...
'' (#98).
Following Keith Nelson's departure from Buckcherry in 2017, Todd is now the only original member in the band.
Discography
Slamhound
* ''
Chaos Personified'' (1995)
Buckcherry
Josh Todd
*''
You Made Me'' (2003)
Spraygun War
* ''Into the Blackness'' EP (2016)
Josh Todd and The Conflict
* ''
Year of the Tiger
The Tiger ( 虎) is the third of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Tiger is associated with the Earthly Branch symbol 寅.
Years and the Five Elements
People born ...
'' (2017)
Guest appearances
* 2002 – ''
The New Guy
''The New Guy'' is a 2002 American teen comedy film directed by Ed Decter, written by David Kendall and starring DJ Qualls and Eliza Dushku.
The film tells the story of high school loser Dizzy Harrison (Qualls) who gets himself expelled so that ...
'' the movie. He played the character Rudy.
* 2002 – ''
The Shield
''The Shield'' is an American crime drama television series starring Michael Chiklis that premiered on March 12, 2002, on FX in the United States, and concluded on November 25, 2008, after seven seasons. Known for its portrayal of corrupt poli ...
'' series. Episode 1.6: "Cherrypoppers".
* 2002 – ''
The Banger Sisters
''The Banger Sisters'' is a 2002 American comedy film written and directed by Bob Dolman, and produced by Fox Searchlight Pictures. The film stars Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon as two middle-aged women who used to be friends and groupies when ...
'' Movie
* 2003 – "Rain" –
DJ Muggs
Lawrence Muggerud (born January 28, 1968), professionally known by his stage name DJ Muggs, is an American DJ, audio engineer and record producer. He is a member of Cypress Hill, a member of the trip hop band Cross My Heart Hope To Die and the l ...
– ''
Dust
Dust is made of fine particles of solid matter. On Earth, it generally consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources such as soil lifted by wind (an aeolian process), volcanic eruptions, and pollution. Dust in homes ...
''
* 2006 – "Watchtower" –
DMC – ''
Checks Thugs and Rock N Roll
''Checks Thugs and Rock n Roll'' is the debut solo studio album by American musician Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels from hip hop group Run-DMC. It was released on March 14, 2006, through Romen Mpire/Rags 2 Riches Records. He was inspired to put out t ...
''
* 2007 – "Blow" –
Atreyu
Atreyu is an American metalcore band from Yorba Linda, California, formed in 1998. The band currently consists of clean vocalist Brandon Saller, guitarists Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel, bassist and unclean vocals, unclean vocalist Marc "Porter ...
– ''
Lead Sails Paper Anchor
''Lead Sails Paper Anchor'' is the fourth studio album by American metalcore band Atreyu. It is the band's first release with Hollywood Records, and the album had a significantly different sound to it than their previous albums, moving away from ...
''
* 2008 – "
Saints of Los Angeles
''Saints of Los Angeles'' is the ninth and final studio album by the American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, released on June 24, 2008. It was the first full-length studio album with the band's original lineup since 1997's ''Generation Swine'' ...
" –
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums ...
– ''
Saints of Los Angeles
''Saints of Los Angeles'' is the ninth and final studio album by the American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, released on June 24, 2008. It was the first full-length studio album with the band's original lineup since 1997's ''Generation Swine'' ...
''
* 2008 – "10 Miles Wide" –
Escape the Fate
Escape the Fate is an American rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2004 and originally from Pahrump, Nevada. They are signed to Eleven Seven Music. The group consists of Robert Ortiz (drummer), Craig Mabbitt (lead vocalist), TJ Bell (rhy ...
– ''
This War Is Ours
''This War Is Ours'' is the second album by American rock band Escape the Fate. It is the first Escape the Fate album to feature former Blessthefall singer Craig Mabbitt on vocals. The album received mixed reviews from critics. It was produced by ...
''
* 2010 – ''
Bones (TV series)
''Bones'' is an American crime procedural comedy-drama television series created by Hart Hanson for Fox. It premiered on September 13, 2005, and concluded on March 28, 2017, airing for 246 episodes over 12 seasons. The show is based on forensi ...
''. Episode 5.19: "The Rocker in the Rinse Cycle"
* 2019 – "Back From the Dead" –
Mark Morton – ''Anesthetic''
References
You Made Me on Last.FM
External links
Official website for Josh Todd band
Josh Todd
Official Website
''You Made Me''
on Spotify
''You Made Me''
on iTunes
''You Made Me''
on Amazon Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Todd, Josh
Living people
Singers from Los Angeles
American heavy metal singers
People from Anaheim Hills, California
Male actors from Lake Forest, California
1970 births
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers