Early life Dubovie, from
Laindon, performed with StageAbility, an after-school stage club, from age nine. At age 15, he played
Enjolras in a school production of
Les Misérables with the Essex Group. For this role he saw a
vocal coach as he had no previous experience of singing. He attended
The Billericay School and studied for A levels in
Music Technology,
Drama and
English Literature. In 2008 he won the Blues Idol competition, and has also won Voice of St Lukes contest and
Billericay's Got Talent. Prior to auditioning for
Your Country Needs You, he applied for a part on
E4 TV series
Skins 3rd series and was short-listed for the role of Freddie Mclair. When Dubovie left school, his father, Richard, decided to manage him and has got him the majority of his professional work.
Eurovision On 12 March 2010, Dubovie won
Eurovision: Your Country Needs You! with "
That Sounds Good to Me". He said, "The minute I heard the song I thought it was a definite winner, I'm so happy I'm going to sing it in Oslo." and "I really believe I can go on to win the Eurovision Song Contest for us." He sang "
Too Many Broken Hearts" by
Jason Donovan to get into the final three chosen by Waterman, and he also took part in the
ABBA medley with the others. After that performance Waterman described his voice as "perfect" while suggesting more "excitement" should be added to his dancing and Tonioli told him he had "an incredible talent". As he represented a "big four" country, Dubovie automatically qualified for the final of the
Eurovision Song Contest 2010 on 29 May. Accumulating a total of 10 points during the voting process, Dubovie finished last in the competition.
2010–2011: After Eurovision Dubovie appeared with the 'Proms in the Park' show at
Billericay on 24 July 2010. On 18 September, Josh performed alongside
Camilla Dallerup and
Mark Foster in a fundraising event for St. Francis' Hospice. Supporting local charities, Dubovie was later made celebrity patron of St. Lukes Hospice in
Basildon. Shortly after, he appeared as Aladdin in the pantomime
Aladdin, alongside
David Van Day,
Nikki Grahame and
Frazer Hines at
Lighthouse Theatre,
Kettering in December 2010. In 2011, Dubovie was made a member of the
OGAE performing for them in Munich on the weekend of 21 January at their Annual Eurovision party. He released his first album
Carpe Diem under Pure Music LTD on 11 February 2011. The album included cover tracks that Dubovie had performed. Shortly after, on 26 February, he entertained the
Queen's Royal Lancers at their 'Corporal Mess' at the Catterick Garrison. In the same month, Dubovie guest spotted at the Brentwood Center alongside
X factor's
Austin Drage, raising over £10,000 for the
Essex Air Ambulance. In March, he performed at the Birmingham Gay Pride Ball, with other guest stars including
Jonathan Ansell, Loose Woman
Zoe Tyler, Eurovision winners
Bucks Fizz and
X Factor's
Rachel Adedeji. In August, Dubovie flew to Sweden to perform at the Stockholm Pride Gala, performing with
Anders Berglund's 14 piece Orchestra – an orchestrated version of
Pete Waterman penned Eurovision song, That sounds good to me. Later that month, Dubovie appeared at the Havering Festival with
Stacey Solomon. September 2011 saw Dubovie headlining at Towngate Theatre in a
Help for Heroes charity concert. In November 2011, Dubovie was recruited by
Channel 4 to interview their leading commissioners in front of live audiences as part of an 'Entrepreneurship week'. Dubovie headlined at the
Swindon Arts Center in December 2011 as part of a fundraising event.
2012 In April 2012 he appeared at
The Sage,
Gateshead at a 'Eurovision Reunited' concert with other past competitors in the competition such as
Brotherhood of Man,
Bobbysocks!,
Black Lace,
Johnny Logan and
Nicki French.
2013 In March 2013 Dubovie's solo act was rebranded 'Josh James', with his musical style shifting towards
RnB and Dance to be more in-line with the current mainstream music trends. In an October 2013 interview he explained that Internet searches for "Josh Dubovie" produced countless references to Eurovision, so a name change was needed to help him move beyond the contest. "I wanted people to know what I'm doing now," he said. His debut song as Josh James, titled "Game Over", was made available via free download in March 2013. An accompanying music video was released in July 2013. Dubovie hosted the
ESC News 2013 'Heart Campaign', which was broadcast live via
online radio. The event saw the première of "Game Over", and featured other performers associated with Eurovision such as
Emmelie de Forest (who won the Heart Campaign), plus
Annsofi Pettersen &
Lys Assia as part of the show's jury. ==Discography==