Keith Urban

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Biography

Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album, and charted four singles in Australia before moving to the United States in 1992. Eventually, Urban found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch (band)|The Ranch , which recorded one studio album on Capitol Records and charted two singles on the Billboard country charts.

Still signed to Capitol, he made his solo American debut in 1999 with the album Keith Urban (album)|Keith Urban . Certified platinum in the U.S., it also produced his first American Number One in " But for the Grace of God ". His breakthrough hit was the Number One "Somebody Like You", from his second Capitol album Golden Road (album)|Golden Road (2002). This album also earned Urban his first Grammy Award win for "You'll Think of Me", its fourth single and the fourth Billboard Number One of his career. 2004's Be Here , his third American album, produced three more Number Ones, and became his highest-selling album, earning 4× Multi-Platinum certification. Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing was released in 2006, producing the record-setting No.17 country chart debut of " Once in a Lifetime (Keith Urban song)|Once in a Lifetime ", as well as Urban's second Grammy for the song " Stupid Boy ", while a Greatest Hits package entitled Greatest Hits: 18 Kids followed in late 2007. This album was re-released a year later as Greatest Hits: 19 Kids with one track added: the number one "You Look Good in My Shirt", which he had previously recorded on Golden Road . Additional albums Defying Gravity (Keith Urban album)|Defying Gravity and Get Closer (Keith Urban album)|Get Closer were released on 31 March 2009 and 16 November 2010, respectively.

Urban has released a total of nine studio albums (one of which was released only in the United Kingdom), as well as one album in The Ranch. He has charted more than fifteen singles on the U.S. country charts, including ten Number Ones. Urban plays acoustic and electric guitar, as well as banjo, bass guitar, mandolin, piano, sitar , bouzouki and drums.

Life and career

Background

Keith Lionel Urban was born in Whangarei , New Zealand but later moved and lived with his parents in Caboolture, Queensland|Caboolture , Queensland, Australia. By age six, Urban was already thinking about getting into the music business. He began learning the techniques at age seven and began winning young singing contests by age eight.

A few years later he began to make inroads into the Australian country music scene with regular appearances on the Reg Lindsay Country Homestead TV Program, Mike McClellands Music Program and various other TV Programs performing in duet with Jenny Wilson, local Brisbane girl with whom he won a golden guitar award at the Tamworth Country Music Festival . He also performed regularly on stage at the Northern Suburbs Country Music Club near Caboolture.

In 1990, Urban signed with EMI in Australia and recorded his first solo album, which charted four No. 1 country hits in Australia, New Zealand, and Germany. Urban toured as a back-up to Slim Dusty in 1993-4. In the mid 1990s, Dusty and Urban recorded a re-worked duet of Dusty's classic " Lights on the Hill " and Urban appeared for the first time at the Grand Ole Opry backing Dusty.Keith Urban on Saturday Night Country , Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC Radio , 7 June 2007

In 1992, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville , Tennessee, where he found work as a guitarist for Brooks & Dunn and can be seen backing Alan Jackson in his music video for "Mercury Blues". Later, Urban formed The Ranch (band)|The Ranch , a three-piece group that released one album in 1997. Originally the front man for The Ranch, Urban disbanded the group to pursue a solo career in 1998. In 1999, Urban found "Vocal Coach to the Stars" Brett Manning , and worked with him up until 2001.

In August 2000, Urban was the first male Australian performer to reach the top 10 on the U.S. country chart with "Your Everything". At the time he was spelling his name "keith urban".Mark Price, "Carolina Country Music," The Charlotte Observer , August 13, 2000.

In Nashville, Urban became a frequent user of cocaine. by Stephanie Mansfield, USA WEEKEND , 4 November 2001 After reaching a personal nadir in 1998, he became determined to give up the habit and checked into Cumberland Heights, a treatment center in Nashville. After cleaning up, Urban released his self-titled American debut in 1999, which produced three top 5 hits and secured for him the Top New Male Vocalist Award at the 2001 Academy of Country Music Awards and the 2001 Country Music Association's Horizon Award. Widely regarded for his guitar skills, has performed as a session musician on albums such as Garth Brooks ' Double Live (Garth Brooks album)|Double Live , Dixie Chicks ' Fly (Dixie Chicks album)|Fly , and Paul Brandt 's This Time Around (Paul Brandt album)|This Time Around .
Urban performed " Lights on the Hill " for Tamworth, New South Wales|Tamworth 's 2004 tribute concert following the death of Australia's Slim Dusty , an artist whom Urban had both written for and covered.

Urban was also a judge for the 8th annual The Independent Music Awards|Independent Music Awards .

Golden Road & Be Here

Urban released Golden Road in 2002, and the success of the single "Somebody Like You" sent his career into high gear. Touring as a supporting act for renowned country acts Brooks & Dunn , Martina McBride and Kenny Chesney honed Urban's skills and stage-craft. Country video channel Country Music Television|CMT signed on as the title sponsor of Urban's first headlining arena tour titled ''Keith Urban Be Here '04 with opening act Katrina Elam . Urban continued his meteoric rise to fame in 2005 with a very successful tour with Elam called Alive in '05''. He performed in the Live 8 Philadelphia concert on 2 July 2005 and had been chosen by Gap (clothing retailer)|The Gap to appear alongside seven other musical stars in their "Favorites" campaign. He was named the 2005 CMA's Male Vocalist of the Year. He released a DVD in late September 2005 entitled ''Livin' Right Now , recorded in at the Wiltern Theater in California in December 2004.

In 2005 Urban played in front of European audiences for the first time. In May Urban supported Bryan Adams on his UK and Ireland tour, which included dates in Earls Court, London, SECC, Glasgow and The Point, Dublin. On 6 June a UK only album, Days Go By was released, this album contained songs from both Be Here and Golden Road .

In October Urban returned for a headlining tour with Nerina Pallot and Richard Winsland as support acts.

Urban has recently performed " Better Life " on the CMA Awards and "You'll Think of Me" on the American Music Awards . He also performed at the Grammys playing "You'll Think of Me" and "The Lucky One" with Faith Hill . At the 2006 ACM Awards Urban performed "Tonight I Wanna Cry" and played guitar for Brooks & Dunn's song "Believe."

Love, Pain, & The Whole Crazy Thing

On Monday 21 August 2006, Urban made history when his new single "Once in a Lifetime" debuted at #17, setting a new record for the highest-debuting country single in the 62-year history of Billboard's country charts. The record was formerly held by Garth Brooks' " Good Ride Cowboy " and Eddie Rabbitt's " Every Which Way But Loose (song)|Every Which Way But Loose ", both of which debuted at #18. "Good Ride Cowboy" was the highest in the Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems|BDS era (1990–present). The song however would soon be beaten by Kenny Chesney's '' Don't Blink '', which debuted at #16, and later Garth Brooks' " More Than A Memory ", which debuted at #1.

Urban is also a winner of numerous "Golden Guitars", which are presented annually during the Tamworth Country Music Festival at "The Country Music Association of Australia's Annual Awards" in Tamworth, New South Wales|Tamworth , Australia. He is also a former winner of the Toyota Starmaker Contest, which is held each year in conjunction with the CMAA Awards and the Tamworth Country Music Festival .

Keith was named artist of the month for July 2007 on the television network GAC ( Great American Country ). He answered a question of the day every day that month, and did multiple interviews about love, life, his new album and his stay in rehab.

On 7 July 2007, Keith performed with Alicia Keys at one of Al Gore 's Live Earth concerts held around the world. The concerts were held to raise awareness of global warming. Keith performed at the concert held in New York City and said in an interview that global warming is not a political issue, and what he is doing to help the environment is running all bio-diesel buses in his Love, Pain and The Whole Crazy World Tour.

Urban released his first greatest hits collection, Greatest Hits: 18 Kids , on 20 November 2007. The CD contains all of his top 10 hits, along with two new songs, "Romeo's Tune" and "Got It Right This Time (The Celebration)."

In January 2008, Urban embarked on the Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour with fellow country singer Carrie Underwood . In early May 2008, Urban debuted a new song at the Grand Ole Opry titled "A New Sunshine". And in late May 2008, Urban re-recorded a song from his sophomore CD, " You Look Good in My Shirt ". The song was released on the radio at the end of May. "Over the years it ("You Look Good In My Shirt") has always played like a hit song," said Keith. "That, combined with numerous requests from both fans and radio about why it was never a single, inspired us to get back into the studio and re-record the song."(keithurban.net) The single was a pre-cursor to the "Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy World Tour" concert DVD release in the Fall of '08. Urban's newest release "Defying Gravity" was released 31 March 2009.

"You Look Good in My Shirt" was the first single from Keith Urban's re-recorded 2007 album, Greatest Hits: 18 Kids . The album was released under a different title, Greatest Hits: 19 Kids on 19 August 2008. Keith Urban was also featured on Brad Paisley 's instrumental album titled Play (Brad Paisley album)|Play , on a song called " Start a Band ."

Defying Gravity

Urban recently announced that the lead single for his forthcoming 5th studio album will be titled " Sweet Thing (Keith Urban song)|Sweet Thing ". This song became the first No.1 single off the album. The song was co-written with Monty Powell, who wrote some of Urban's past hits, and co-produced with his longtime producer Dann Huff. The album, Defying Gravity (Keith Urban album)|Defying Gravity , was released on 31 March 2009, through Capitol Records. Its second single, " Kiss a Girl ", debuted in March 2009. Urban performed this song on American Idol , during the season 8 finale, as a duet with eventual winner Kris Allen . Its third single, "Only You Can Love Me This Way", is another chart-topping song, co-written by Steve McEwan and John Reid. Defying Gravity debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200. This was Urban's first No.1 CD. His past two albums debuted at #3.

Keith Urban has received four nominations on the 2009 CMA Awards, including Entertainer Of The Year and Male Vocalist Of The Year for a fourth consecutive year in a row. He also earned a nomination for Album Of The Year for Defying Gravity and shares a nomination with Brad Paisley for Music Video Of The Year for "Start A Band".

A video for "Hit The Ground Runnin'" premiered on 2 October on CMT and CMT.com.

Urban's 2009 Escape Together tour, supporting the album, Defying Gravity (Keith Urban album)|Defying Gravity , featured many big name opening acts, including Taylor Swift , Sugarland , and Jason Aldean . On 27 June 2009 Keith filmed a video for the song, "Only You Can Love Me This Way", at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.

On 5 May 2010, whilst being interviwed by CNN about the flooding in Nashville, Urban stated that he was about to begin recording a new album, but all his guitars were now underwater.

Urban's 2010 Summer Lovin' tour consisted of mostly festival shows.

Get Closer

In May 2010, Urban entered the studio to begin work on a new album. The recording process was documented in a blog on his official website. At the beginning of September, it was announced that the album would be titled Get Closer (Keith Urban album)|Get Closer and would see release on 16 November. At the same time, " Put You in a Song " was revealed to be the first single and was released digitally and to radio on 13 September.

Keith Urban appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on 10 November 2010.

To promote the new album, Keith played surprise concerts at New York City's Penn Station as well as a train station in Philadelphia. The impromptu concerts included a 4-song set list mixing in new and old hits.

On 30 November, Keith played a free concert at The Ice Palace of the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Fans lined up days in advance to hear him play the first single (Put You in a Song) from "Get Closer" and a short collection of past hits. He also played a tribute to Johnny Cash with "Folsom Prison Blues" and Steve Miller's "The Joker"

On 15 December, After appearing on Oprah's Australian special, Keith decided to play an acoustic set in Pitt St Mall in Sydney Australia. There he played in front of 2500+ people. He also called up a young fan to play his single Put You In a Song.

Urban announced the "Get Closer – World Tour 2011", an Australian, American and Canadian tour in support of the album. His American tour features country artist Jake Owen supporting. The Canadian leg features The Band Perry as the opening act.

Personal life

Starting in 1992, Urban dated veterinary technician Laura Sigler for eight years. Urban proposed to Sigler in 2001, but the pair eventually split in 2002.

Urban dated supermodel Niki Taylor on and off from 2002 to 2004.

Urban met Australian actress Nicole Kidman at ''G'Day LA'', a Hollywood event honoring Australians, in January 2005, but they reportedly didn't begin dating until 6 months later. Kidman and Urban were married on Sunday, 25 June 2006, at the Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel on the grounds of St Patrick's Estate, Manly, New South Wales|Manly in Sydney.

On 19 October 2006, Urban checked himself into the Betty Ford Center in California. 20 October, Urban issued a statement saying: ''"I deeply regret the hurt this has caused Nicole and the ones who love and support me. One can never let one's guard down on recovery, and I'm afraid that I have." On 18 January 2007, Urban announced his completion of rehab and his plans to go on tour to promote his new album, Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing .

On 2 February 2007, Urban filed a lawsuit against a New Jersey painter by the same name, who has a web site KeithUrban.com. The singer wanted to acquire the rights to the URL. Keith Urban the singer's URL is KeithUrban.NET. The painter counter sued. The lawsuit was settled in the painter's favor.

On 1 October 2007, while riding, Urban skidded off his motorbike when a Paparazzi|paparazzo followed him near his home in Sydney; Urban was not hurt. In a statement released by his publicists, Urban says the incident was "the result of one person's desire to do his job and my desire to maintain my privacy." Urban says he tried to avoid an oncoming car and dropped his bike. He says the photographer came to his assistance without taking photos.

On 7 January 2008, Nicole Kidman confirmed she and Urban were expecting their first child together. Kidman's publicist said "the couple are thrilled and cannot wait." Kidman gave birth to their first child, a daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, on 7 July 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee. She weighed 2.93& nbsp;kg (6& nbsp;lbs, 7.5 oz). On his website, Urban stated,

"Earlier this morning Nic gave birth to our beautiful baby girl, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban. We want to thank everybody that has kept us in their thoughts and prayers. We feel very blessed and grateful that we can share this joy with all of you today."dead link|date=June 2011

On 28 December 2010, Urban and Kidman welcomed a second daughter, Faith Margaret Kidman Urban, via surrogate at Nashville's Centennial Women's Hospital. The baby is biologically Urban and Kidman's. On 17 January 2011, Keith posted this statement on his website:
"Our family is truly blessed, and just so thankful, to have been given the gift of baby Faith Margaret. No words can adequately convey the incredible gratitude that we feel for everyone who was so supportive throughout this process, in particular our gestational carrier." Faith's middle name is after Kidman's late grandmother.

Discography

Studio albums

Keith Urban (1991 album)|Keith Urban (1991)^A

The Ranch (album)|Keith Urban in The Ranch (1997)

Keith Urban (album)|Keith Urban (1999)

Golden Road (album)|Golden Road (2002)

Be Here (2004)

Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing (2006)

Defying Gravity (Keith Urban album)|Defying Gravity (2009)

Get Closer (Keith Urban album)|Get Closer (2010)

Compilation albums

Days Go By (Keith Urban album)|Days Go By (2005)

Greatest Hits: 18 Kids (2007)^B

Number one singles

" But for the Grace of God " (2001)

" Somebody Like You " (2002)

" Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me " (2003)

" You'll Think of Me " (2004)

" Days Go By (Keith Urban song)|Days Go By " (2004)

" Making Memories of Us " (2005)

" Better Life " (2005)

" You Look Good in My Shirt " (2008)

" Start a Band " (with Brad Paisley ) (2009)

" Sweet Thing (Keith Urban song)|Sweet Thing " (2009)

" Only You Can Love Me This Way " (2009)

" Without You (Keith Urban song)|Without You " (2011)

" Long Hot Summer (Keith Urban song)|Long Hot Summer "(2011)

^A Released only in Australia, but later re-released independently in 2005.
^B Re-released in 2008 as Greatest Hits: 19 Kids , with one track added.

Tours

Official Tours

Get Closer 2011 World Tour (2011) – supporting his seventh studio album, Get Closer, released on 16 November 2010

Summer Lovin' 2010 (2010) – supporting his sixth studio album, Defying Gravity, released on 31 March 2009

Escape Together World Tour 2009 (2009) – supporting his sixth studio album, Defying Gravity, released on 31 March 2009

Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride (2008) – supporting his fifth studio album, Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing touring with Carrie Underwood supporting her album Carnival Ride

Love, Pain & the Whole crazy World Tour (2007) – supporting his fifth studio album, Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing

Still Alive in 06 (2006) – supporting his fourth studio album, Be Here

Alive In 05 (2005) – supporting his fourth studio album, Be Here

Livin' Right Now Tour (2004) – supporting his fourth studio album, Be Here

Supporting Tours

Eagles Summer 2010 Tour (2010) – touring with The Eagles and The Dixie Chicks . It was announced on 16 March 2010 that Keith will be hitting the road with The Eagles and The Dixie Chicks for a North American stadium concert tour. 5 concert dates have been announced so far, which include Boston , and Chicago .

Brooks & Dunn's Neon Circus & Wild West Show 2001

Band

Touring Band

2010–2011

Danny Rader (guitar, ganjo, mandolin, bazouki, piano, organ) has recently been added to Urban's touring band.

2010

After four years with the band, Chris Rodriguez and Brad Rice departed. Coming off the Escape Together World Tour, the two were told Urban would not be mounting big tours for awhile, and that a smaller band was all that was needed. The following band was from 2010 onwards for the CMT Crossroads and the Summerlovin Tour, as well as the current tour with The Eagles :

Keith Urban – lead vocals, lead guitar, acoustic guitar , piano, bass guitar, bouzouki , e-bow , drums

Chris McHugh – drums, percussion

Brian Nutter – acoustic guitar , rhythm guitar, keyboards, guitjo (six-string)|ganjo , mandolin , bass guitar, background vocals , drums

Jerry Flowers – bass guitar, piano, acoustic guitar , background vocals

2007–2009

The following band was used for Keith's Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour (2008), Love, Pain & the whole crazy World Tour (2007) and soon for the Escape Together World Tour (2009):

Keith Urban – lead vocals, lead guitar, acoustic guitar , piano, bass guitar, bouzouki , e-bow , drums

Chris McHugh – drums, percussion

Chris Rodriguez – acoustic guitar , rhythm guitar, guitjo (six-string)|ganjo , mandolin , bass guitar, background vocals

Brian Nutter – acoustic guitar , rhythm guitar, keyboards, guitjo (six-string)|ganjo , mandolin , bass guitar, background vocals , drums

Jerry Flowers – bass guitar, piano, acoustic guitar , background vocals

Brad Rice – rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar , guitjo (six-string)|ganjo , mandolin , background vocals

2005–2006

Jerry Flowers replaced Mark Hill as the bass player. Jerry was a member of The Ranch in 1997 and 1998.

2004

The following band was used for Keith's Be Here 2004 Tour:

Mark Hill – bass guitar

Steven King – piano, keyboards

Chad Jeffers – acoustic guitar , guitjo (six-string)|ganjo , mandolin , dobro

Chris Rodriguez – acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar, ganjo, mandolin, bass guitar, background vocals

Chris McHugh – drums, percussion

Pre-2004

The following band was used before 2004

Peter Clarke – drums

Jason Mowery – fiddle , mandolin

Scotty Huff – acoustic guitar , banjo , rhythm guitar

Tim Horsely – drums

Robbie Harrington – bass guitar

Randall Waller

Jimmy Mattingly

Millard Powers

Awards & honors

Year	Awards	Category
1977	Country Music Awards of Australia	Best Solo Act (junior)
1978		(10 years & under)Dubious>date=December 2008
1980		Best Junior Guitarist
1981		Best Gospel Singer
1982		Best Duet
1982		Best Junior Guitarist
1983		Junior Male Vocalist
1990		Star Maker Award
1991		Golden Guitar Award
1991		Best New Talent
1992		Golden Guitar Award
		Male Vocalist of the Year
		Golden Guitar Award (instrumentalist)
1997
1998
2001	Academy of Country Music Awards	Top New Male Vocalist
	Country Music Association Awards	Horizon Award
	ARIA Music Awards	Outstanding Achievement award
	VMA Awards	Male Vocalist award
2003	ARIA Music Awards	Golden Road
	BMI Awards	Song of the Year; " Somebody Like You "
	TCMA Awards	Video Clip of the Year; "Somebody Like You"
2004	Country Music Association Awards	Male Vocalist of the Year
2004	FCMA Awards	Best Foreign Music
2005	Academy of Country Music Awards	Album of the Year; Be Here
	Academy of Country Music Awards	Top Male Vocalist
	French Association of Country Music	Artist of the Year
	ARIA Music Awards	Country Album of the Year; Be Here
	Country Music Association Awards	Male Vocalist of the Year
		Entertainer of the Year
		International Artist of the Year
	Billboard Awards	Top-selling Pop Catalog Album of the Year; Golden Road
2006	Grammy Awards	Best Male Country Vocal Performance ; " You'll Think of Me "
	Academy of Country Music Awards	Top Male Vocalist
	French Association of Country Music	Best Live Performance
	Country Music Association Awards	Male Vocalist of the Year
2007	ARIA Music Awards	Best Country Album; Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing
2008	Grammy Awards	Best Male Country Vocal Performance ; " Stupid Boy "
2009	Academy of Country Music Awards	Vocal Event of the Year; "Start A Band" (w/ Brad Paisley )
	Country Music Association Awards	Musical Event of the Year; "Start A Band" (w/ Brad Paisley )
	CMT Music Awards	Collaborative Video of the Year; "Start A Band" (w/ Brad Paisley )
	American Music Awards	Country – Favorite Male Artist
2010	Grammy Awards	Sweet Thing "
	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Male Artist
	CMT Music Awards	Best Male Video
2011	Grammy Awards	Best Male Country Vocal Performance; ' Til Summer Comes Around
2011	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Music: Male Country Artist

Notes

Copyright Citations

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Keith Urban Photo by: www.indianranch.com


1. Brooks and Dunn 2. Dixie Chicks 3. Glen Campbell 4. Katrina Elam 5. Kenny Chesney 6. LeAnn Rimes 7. Brad Paisley 8. Paul Brandt 9. Rodney Crowell 10. Pat Green 11. Carolyn Dawn Johnson 12. Carrie Underwood 13. Sugarland 14. Miranda Lambert 15. Eddie Rabbitt 16. Lady Antebellum

Country Music Artists

Keith Urban

Biography

Life and career

Background

Golden Road & Be Here

Love, Pain, & The Whole Crazy Thing

Defying Gravity

Get Closer

Personal life

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Number one singles

Tours

Official Tours

Supporting Tours

Band

Touring Band

2010–2011

2010

2007–2009

2005–2006

2004

Pre-2004

Awards & honors

Notes

External links

Copyright Citations