Josh Ross Canadian Singer From Waterdown

Joshua "Josh" Ross is a Canadian country singer and songwriter. He was born on 27 May 1996 in Waterdown, Ontario. After a short athletic career and a job in construction management, he moved to Nashville and signed with Universal Music Canada and Mercury Nashville. By 2025 he had a number one country single on United States radio, and his awards include a Juno Award and several Canadian Country Music Awards.

Early life

Ross grew up in Waterdown and later moved to nearby Burlington to attend Nelson High School. As a youth he took part in hockey, football, soccer and motocross. His listening at home covered both country and rock, and he names Steve Earle as one of his main musical influences.

He went on to study at Western University, where he played varsity football as a defensive back and hoped to reach the Canadian Football League. A series of injuries and two surgeries ended that plan, and he decided to build a career in music instead.

Career

While working in construction management, Ross entered music competitions, including the Magna Hoedown in Aurora and the Boots and Hearts Emerging Artists Showcase. With encouragement from the Canadian country artist Aaron Goodvin he began visiting Nashville in 2018, and he moved there permanently in 2019. That year he put out his first radio single, "If You Were a Song", as an independent artist, and in 2020 he followed it with the five-song EP Do What You Love.

His breakthrough came in 2022. He released "First Taste of Gone", co-written with Mason Thornley, reached the final eight of SiriusXM's Top of the Country contest and in April signed a joint recording and management agreement with The Core Entertainment and Universal Music Canada. Once Universal took over promotion, the song climbed into the top five of the Canada Country chart and entered the Canadian Hot 100. "On a Different Night" arrived in July and became a radio single in September. Ross also performed at the halftime show of the 109th Grey Cup in Regina, appearing with Tyler Hubbard and Jordan Davis.

In 2023 he released "Trouble" in January and opened for Bailey Zimmerman on the closing dates of a United States tour. Universal Music Group Nashville signed him in partnership with its Canadian division and The Core in March, and he later added a publishing agreement with Warner Chappell Music. opened for Nickelback on a North American tour in the summer and made his Grand Ole Opry debut in July, the same month he issued "Ain't Doin' Jack".

In 2024 he released "Single Again" and "Truck Girl", headlined his first tour, The Trouble Tour, in Canada, and joined Zimmerman again on a tour across the United States, Great Britain and Ireland. His EP Complicated came out on 29 March 2024, followed by "New Me" in May and "Want This Beer", a duet with Julia Michaels, in July. From August to November he led his first American headlining run, the Single Again Tour.

The following year brought the single "Leave Me Too" in February and "Hate How You Look" in April. In May he teamed up with Akon on "Drunk Right Now (Na Na Na)", a reworking of Akon's song "Right Now (Na Na Na)". In July "Single Again" topped the Mediabase Country chart, making Ross the third Canadian man, after Hank Snow and Paul Brandt, to have a number one country single on United States radio. His debut album, Later Tonight, was released on 19 September 2025, and he took it across Canada on the Later Tonight Tour in early 2026.

In June 2025 he apologized online after a video circulated of him describing the United States as the best country in the world at a festival in Indiana, which drew criticism from Canadian fans during a period of trade tension between the two countries. Weeks later he played at the Canada Day concert in Ottawa.

Recognition

Ross was nominated for Rising Star at the 2022 Canadian Country Music Awards and won the same title at the 2023 Country Music Association of Ontario Awards. At the 2023 Canadian Country Music Awards he received nominations in six categories and won Breakthrough Artist or Group of the Year. In 2024 he took five awards at the same ceremony, among them Entertainer of the Year and Single of the Year, and he received the Jeff Walker Global Country Artist Award at the 58th Annual Country Music Association Awards.

At the Juno Awards of 2025 he shared the most nominations with Tate McRae and won Country Album of the Year for Complicated. He received four nominations at the Juno Awards of 2026.