You Raise Me Up by Rolf Løvland (Secret Garden) Piano solo (Josh Groban version) with sheet music

Secret Garden

Secret Garden is an Irish–Norwegian band specialised in new instrumental music, led by the duo consisting of Irish violinist and singer Fionnuala Sherry and Norwegian composer, arranger and pianist Rolf Løvland.

The group has sold over 3 million albums since having won the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest, representing Norway with the composition “Nocturne“.

Rolf Løvland

Rolf Undsæt Løvland (born 19 April 1955) is a Norwegian composer, lyricist, arranger, and pianist. Together with Fionnuala Sherry, he formed the Celtic-Nordic group Secret Garden, in which he was the composer, producer, and keyboardist. He began composing at an early age (he formed a band at the age of nine) and grew up studying at the Kristiansand Music Conservatory, later receiving his master’s degree from the Norwegian Institute of Music in Oslo. Løvland has won the Eurovision Song Contest twice, composing the songs “La det swinge” in 1985 and “Nocturne” in 1995 alongside Secret Garden, resulting in Norway’s first two titles.

He also composed the song “You Raise Me Up“, which, according to Rolf Løvland in an interview with Radio Norge in February 2010, has been covered more than 500 times thus far.

You Raise Me Up

“You Raise Me Up” is a song originally composed by the Norwegian-Irish duo Secret Garden. The music was written by Secret Garden’s Rolf Løvland, and the lyrics by Brendan Graham. After the song was performed early in 2002 by the Secret Garden and their invited lead singer, Brian Kennedy, the song only became a minor UK hit. The song has been recorded by more than a hundred other artists including American songwriter Josh Groban in 2003 and Irish boy band Westlife in 2005 whose versions were hits in their countries. Welsh singer Aled Jones and all-female Irish ensemble Celtic Woman have also recorded successful covers.

Løvland composed an instrumental piece in 2002 and titled it “Silent Story”. He later approached Irish novelist and songwriter Brendan Graham to write the lyrics to his melody, after reading Graham’s novels. The song was performed for the very first time at the funeral of Løvland’s mother.

The original designated vocalist was Johnny Logan, who recorded a demo with an orchestra. However, the vocalist was changed due to a desire to distance the album from the Eurovision Song Contest, in which all three men were known for their success: Logan had won twice as a performer and twice as a composer; Løvland had won once as a performer and twice as a composer: and Graham had won twice as a composer.

In 2002, it was released on the Secret Garden album Once in a Red Moon, with the vocals sung by Irish singer Brian Kennedy, and sold well in both Ireland and Norway. Originally, Brian Kennedy was supposed to follow Secret Garden on their Asian tour in 2002, but Curb records couldn’t come to an agreement with Universal to release Brian, and he reluctantly could not attend the tour. He was replaced by Norwegian singer Jan Werner Danielsen, who also later recorded the song together with Secret Garden. A demo version of this recording was released in 2010, on Danielsen’s posthumous compilation album One More Time – The Very Best Of, which included several previously unpublished recordings.

Although the original version did not chart internationally, the song has now been covered more than 125 times. Irish singer Daniel O’Donnell‘s version debuted at its peak position, number twenty-two, in the UK Singles Chart on the week of December 7–13, 2003. It fell to number 35 the following week. It fell off the top 100 three weeks afterwards. Christian group Selah‘s version, included in their 2004 album Hiding Place, peaked number two on Billboard‘s Hot Christian Songs and Christian Airplay on the week ending June 25, 2004. This recording was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2005 Dove Awards and appeared on WOW Hits 2005.

The Josh Groban peaked #73 in the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, Westlife #1 in the UK Singles Chart, and Dutch Popstars winner Wesley Klein #4 in the Netherlands. The song has also found success as part of a three-song EP entitled “George Best – A Tribute” by Peter Corry and the song’s original vocalist Brian Kennedy, which reached #4 in the UK.

In 2004, the song was played more than 500,000 times on American radio. In late 2005, there were over 80 versions available in US alone, and it has been nominated for Gospel Music Awards four times, including “Song of the Year.”

On 21 September 2006, “You Raise Me Up” became the first song to have sold over 76,000 copies of the score on the popular sheet music website musicnotes.com

Josh Groban version

In 2003, David Foster decided to produce the song after being introduced to it by Frank Petrone of peermusic, the song’s publisher. He chose the up-and-coming Josh Groban to record the song, which was accompanied by the tenor Craig Von Vennik of the Establishment. Groban’s version made it to #1 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart in early 2004 and remained there for six weeks. This version also peaked at #73 on the Billboard Hot 100, his first single to do so, and was nominated for a 2005 Grammy award.

Josh Groban – You Raise Me Up (Official Music Video)

Lyrics

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary
When troubles come and my heart burdened be
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence
Until You come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up to more than I can be

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up to more than I can be.

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