In a little more than 10 months on MySpace, singer, songwriter and musician Josh Golden of Chesterfield has gained nearly 100,000 fans and 1.5 million plays. And on Aug. 16, he opened for Mitchel Musso at the Pageant in University City.

Not bad for somebody who's 15.

It wasn't long ago that rock-pop-acoustic artist Josh played soccer with a St. Louis Family Church team.

He's still being homeschooled, by his mom, Cathy. His dad, John, is a chiropractor.

Josh says he comes by his talent naturally. He sings and plays the guitar and a little bit of piano.

"My parents are big in music," he pointed out. "My dad has played classical guitar and wrote songs, and Mom, when she was younger, toured with a jazz band. My brother, John Jr., who's 20, sings rap, and my sister Liz, who's 18, sings folk music. Music runs in the family."

His first, self-published, self-titled album, called "Josh Golden," came out about a month ago after recording started in June.

"I can't imagine myself doing anything but music," said Josh, who said he loved opening for Musso. "I feel like I'm on top of the world when I'm doing it, and being on stage is one of the biggest rushes you could get."

He writes my own songs and recently recorded his first music video, to his song, "I Fall Down."

"It seems to be getting a lot of hits on YouTube," he said.

Josh loves living in Chesterfield.

"I really like Chesterfield Mall, which is a good place to chill," Josh said. "I need to do that. Music is hard work!"

Where to find Josh's music

To hear music and see video by singer-musician Josh Golden, of Chesterfield, visit the websites www.myspace.com/joshgoldenmusic, www.youtube.com/joshgoldenmusic, www.twitter.com/joshgoldenmusic,

and www.joshgoldenmusic.com.