Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967 in Whangarei, New Zealand) is an Australian country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban began his career in Brisbane having moved to Caboolture, 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, 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 . 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 (2002). This album also earned Urban his first Grammy Award win for "You'll Think of Me", its fourth single and the third 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 #17 country chart debut of "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 . Urban's latest work, Defying Gravity was released in March 2009. Urban has released a total of eight 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 ganjo, bass guitar, mandolin, piano, and bouzouki.

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Biography

Background

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

A few years later he started getting 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 Tamworth. He also performed regularly on stage at the Northern Suburbs Country Music Club.ref near Caboolture and offered to play backing guitar for Australian Actor Christopher Elliott who at the time was attempting to start a singing career.

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.

When asked about his nationality in an interview with the Max Sessions, Urban states: "I love New Zealand, but I wouldn't call myself a New Zealander... I'm an Aussie guy."'

In 1992, he moved to 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, 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 Nashville, Urban became a frequent user of cocaine. ^[1] 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, he has performed as a session musician on albums such as Charlie Daniels, Emerson Drive, Garth Brooks' Double Live , Dixie Chicks' Fly , and Paul Brandt's This Time Around .

Urban was also a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards. His contributions helped assist independent artists' careers across the globe. ^{[2] [3]}

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 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 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", both of which debuted at #18. "Good Ride Cowboy" was the highest in the BDS era (1990-present).

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, 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 July 7, 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 March 31, 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 will also be featured on Brad Paisley's upcoming instrumental album titled Play , on a song called "Start a Band."

Keith Urban is now on tour called Escape Together(2009). He has many big name opening acts including Taylor Swift, Sugarland, and Jason Aldean. On June 27 Keith filmed a video for his new song, only you can love this way, at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines,Iowa. Most of his concerts have already been sold out with some areanas seating over 13,000 fans. You can visit his site at Monkeyville.net to find tour dates, photos, merchandice, and ask Keith Urban your own personal question.

Defying Gravity

Urban recently announced that the lead single for his forthcoming 5th studio album will be titled "Sweet Thing". This song became the first #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 , was released on 31 March 2009, through Capitol Records. Its second single, "Kiss a Girl" ^[4]., 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 #1 on the Billboard 200. This was Urban's first #1 CD. His past two albums debuted at #3.

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 also was rumored to have been dating 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 didn't begin dating until 6 months later. They were emailing each other back and forth, addressing each other as Hank (Keith) and Evie (Nicole). Kidman and Urban were married on Sunday, June 25, 2006, at the Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel in the grounds of St Patrick's Estate, Manly in Sydney. "Hank & Evie" is now on the tag on the back of the shirts Urban sells at his concerts.

On Oct. 19, 2006, Urban checked himself into the Betty Ford Center in California. On Oct. 20, 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 Jan. 18, 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 . ^[5].

On Feb. 2, 2007, Urban filed a lawsuit against a New Jersey painter by the same name, who has a web site http://www.keithurban.com. The singer wants to acquire the rights to the URL ^[6]. Keith Urban the singer's URL is http://www.keithurban.net. The painter has countersued. ^[7]

On 1 October 2007, while headed to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Urban skid off of his motorbike when a 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 that she and Urban were expecting their first child together. Kidman's publicist said that "the couple are thrilled and can not wait." A July due date was announced. Kidman gave birth to their first child, a daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, on July 7, 2008, in Nashville, Tennessee. She weighed 2.93 kg (6 lbs. 7.5 oz). On his website Keith 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." ^[8]

^[9]

Popular Culture

Australian radio host Ed Kavalee was one of many to ask the question "What songs does Keith Urban actually sing?" and to this day that question remains unanswered. To prove his point Kavalee introduced a segment on his show Get This "Keith Urban Lyrics or Children's Poetry" ^[10] which resulted in many memorable Kavalee musical moments. During the game Kavalee would sing Children's poetry or Urban's lyrics in the style he imagined Urban would sing. Kavalee famously created a handful of new songs from this segments combining the lyrical magic of 3 and 4 year old children and his unique vocal styles. The songs included "Taste of Wild Honey" and "Flowers, Flowers".

Discography

Tours (past/current)

• Escape Together World Tour 2009 (2009) - supporting his sixth U.S. studio album, Defying Gravity, to be released on March 31, 2009
• Love, Pain & the whole crazy Carnival Ride (2008) - supporting his fifth U.S. 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 U.S. studio album, Love, Pain & the whole crazy thing
• Still Alive in 06 (2006) - supporting his fourth U.S. studio album, Be Here
• Alive In 05 (2005) - supporting his fourth U.S. studio album, Be Here

Band

Touring Band

2005 - Present

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 - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Bass Guitar, Bouzouki, E-Bow
• Chris McHugh - Drums, Percussion
• Chris Rodriguez - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Ganjo, Mandolin, Bass Guitar, Background Vocals
• Brian Nutter - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Keyboards, Ganjo, Mandolin, Bass Guitar, Background Vocals, Drums
• Jerry Flowers - Bass Guitar, Piano, Acoustic Guitar, Background Vocals
• Brad Rice - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Ganjo, Mandolin, Background Vocals

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, Ganjo, Mandolin, Dobro
• Chris Rodriguez - Instruments above
• Chris McHugh - Instruments above

Pre-2004

The following band was used before 2004

• Jason Mowery Fiddle, Mandolin
• Scotty Huff Acoustic Guitar, Banjo, Electric guitar
• Tim Horsely Drums
• Robbie Harrington Bass
• Randall Waller
• Jimmy Mattingly
• Millard Powers

Awards & honors

Year	Award Program	Award
1977	Country Music Awards of Australia	Best Solo Act (junior)
1978		Special Encouragement Award (10 years & under)[dubiousdiscuss]
1980		Best Junior Guitarist
1981		Best Gospel Singer
1982		Best Duet
		Best Junior Guitarist
1983		Junior Male Vocalist
1990		Star Maker Award
1991		Golden Guitar Award
		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 Awards	Outstanding Achievement award
	VMA Awards	Male Vocalist award
2003	ARIA Awards	Country album of the year; 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
	FCMA Awards	Best Foreign Music
2005	Academy of Country Music Awards	Album of the Year; Be Here
		Top Male Vocalist
	French Association of Country Music	Artist of the Year
	ARIA 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 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)
	CMT Music Awards	Collaborative Video of the Year; "Start A Band" (w/ Brad Paisley)

Notes

1. "Up from Down Under" by Stephanie Mansfield, ''USA WEEKEND'', 4 November 2001
2. PRLog
3. Independent Music Awards - 8th Annual IMA Judges
4. Keith Urban AOL Sessions Performance
5. BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Singer Urban ends rehab treatment
6. Keith Urban sues Keith Urban over web site
7. Keel, Beverly, "Keith Urban countersues Keith Urban", ''The Tennessean''
8. Keith Urban.net | Keith Welcomes Sunday Rose Kidman Urban!
9. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7497137.stm
10. http://austereo.castmetrix.net/podcast/378302368699141049/1/GETTHISPodcast140October192007.mp3