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Joshua David Bell is an American violinist.

Early life
Joshua Bell was born into a Jewish-American family in Bloomington, Indiana. His father was the late Alan P. Bell, a former psychology professor at Indiana University, and a researcher on homosexuality at the Kinsey Institute. In an interview, Bell said that "music was very important in my family"; however, none of his family members were professional musicians. Bell began learning the violin at age four, after his parents noticed that he had stretched rubber bands around the handles of dresser drawers, and was plucking classical tunes. He took to the instrument quickly, but otherwise led a normal childhood, enjoying video games, pinball, and tennis: he was an Indiana tennis champion at the age of 10.

Bell began his musical instruction with Mimi Zweig, and made his debut as a soloist with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra at age seven. His playing caught the intrest of Josef Gingold's, a member of Indiana University's music faculty, who took Bell as a pupil by age 12.