 Growing up, he participated in school eisteddfods and, at his own estimate, he had already written several songs by his early teens.Joseph began recording in 1983, releasing five albums over the 1980s, culminating in his 1989 self-financed "An Aching and a Longing" (Myrrh Records), which sold 30,000 copies and gained him a large enough following that he was subsequently signed to Sony Records.He made his major label debut with "Being There" in 1992.