During the past two years I have had the opportunity to introduce many young singers on this site. In almost every case, the youngster seemed to express their singing talent at a very young age. In fact some were barely walking when they discovered that they had a special musical ability. However, in the case of 14 year old Josh Bernstein from the Washington DC area, his self discovery came much later; however that’s not to say that it went totally unnoticed!
When Josh was three years old, he really took to the show Barney. But unlike most other Barney fanatics, Josh felt the need to reenact the whole show. He would line up the Barney characters and then regal the family with each song from the show. Josh’s grandfather, who discovered his own singing talent later in life, commented that Josh had an amazing singing voice and that he hit every note. Years later, when Josh started demonstrating serious talent, Josh’s grandfather would claim that it was he who discovered Josh’s talent when Josh was a toddler. He claimed that Josh owed him 40% of his future proceeds.
Joshua went silent after the Barney years. In early childhood performances with his class, Josh would mumble the words while his more enthusiastic classmates carried the tune. He loved music and began to collect songs on his iPod, but showed no interest in singing or musical pursuits. When his grandfather pushed Josh and his parents for Josh to take up a musical instrument, Josh didn’t seem to have much of an interest. Finally, Josh took up the drums. He liked drumming but didn’t have a strong passion for it. (This is ironic because after Josh discovered his singing talent and joined a rock band, he began to wish he was the drummer and would spend 10 minutes on the drums after every vocal lesson). But then six months later, Josh gave up the drums. Continue reading “Joshua Bernstein DC’s New Promising Performer”