Keith Urban Biography
When one thinks of a Keith Urban Biography, one has to ask the question, how did this relatively unknown singer Keith Urban come out of nowhere to take the American Music Industry by storm? Well, let the story begin.
Keith Lionel Urban was born on 26 October 1967
in Whangarei, New Zealand, and not in Australia, as many people
believe. But he did move to Australia with his parents around
the age of 2 and from that point onward, grew up as an Aussie.
Keith began guitar lessons at age 6 from a lady who agreed to teach Keith in exchange for Keith's Dad putting up an ad in his shop window. Keith had already began acting lessons, dreaming of Nashville by the age of 7 and started winning contests at age 8.
As a teenager, Keith was a full fledged musician, playing numerous gigs all over Australia. Birth Of The Keith Urban Style
Believe it or not, things really changed after Keith bought a Dire Straits album (there was no such thing as CD's back then folks). He practiced until he knew every note that Mark Knopfler had laid down and then began molding that style of playing with his own.
Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham was also a huge influence on Keith. From that point onward, the Keith Urban sound was born.
We are familiar with Keith's success in country music here in North America, but he actually had four No.1 hits in Australia with a three piece band in 1990 before he ever set foot in Nashville.
So what may appear as someone who just suddenly appeared and broke through onto the country music scene, Keith had been paying his dues at home. That was just the warm up for what was to become part of the Keith Urban biography.
Keith Works For The Stars
Keith had made several trips to Nasville to collaborate with a few well known songwriters in the late 80's. Men such as Gary Burr, Trey Bruce and Dave Loggins. Keith finally moved to Music City in 1992.
While quietly paying his dues, in 1997 Keith formed a trio called "The Ranch" and they released their first record of the same name with Capitol Nashville. After only limited success, the trio disbanded in 1998 and Keith went to work as a backup musician.
Alcohol and cocaine demons began to haunt Keith in 1998. He eventually checked himself into Nashville's Cumberland Heights Treatment Center to get himself cleaned up.
His wild guitar playing abilities and flaming hot finger talents on the fretboard could not be extinguished. Matt Rollings hired Keith to do studio work for other artists such as Garth Brooks (Double Live) , The Dixie Chicks (Fly), Paul Brandt (This Time Around) and for Charlie Daniels.
Many people don't know this, but Keith also played in Alan Jackson's video, "Mercury Blues", laying down some wicked guitar licks and lead work on that number.
Solo & Semi Nude
So with all that experience now bottled up inside, Keith decided to release his own self titled CD in Nashville on Capitol Records in 2000. With the help of Matt Rollings, who helped produced the CD.
Several cuts got airplay, in particular "It's A Love Thing", "Your Everything" and Keith's first #1 here, "But For The Grace Of God".
The Keith Urban biography continued in 2001 as he toured with Brooks & Dunn and captured the 2001 CMA Horizon Award. As we all know, once you win that award, the doors and opportunities fly open. Check out the numerous Keith Urban Awards (link opens new browser window).
Keith also gained a lot of publicity in Apr 01 when Playgirl magazine came calling for an interview, and to shoot some raunchy semi-nude photo's. It worked like a charm. The No. 1's Keep Coming
When Keith's second CD was released in 2002, several songs went to No.1:
These last two made it to the top in 2003.
Not bad for his second CD to produce three #1's ... not many artists can get one #1 let alone three. And "Raining On Sunday" from that same CD made it to #3.
In 2004, Keith began doing Arena Tours, thanks to CMT signing him as their title sponsor for the Keith Urban Be Here 04 arena tour.
When "Be Here" was released in 2004, it racked up three more No. 1's, including:
Keiths Famous Friends
Keith continued touring with Katrina Elam in 05 on their Alive in 05 tour. He also opened Bryan Adams in May of 05 in the UK then made an appearance in the Live 8 concert in Jul 05 in Philadelphia.
In Sept, Keith released his "Livin' Right Now" DVD, which was recorded in Dec 04. Another huge award followed in 05 when Keith won CMA's Entertainer of the Year. Keith was back in the UK in Oct 05 with Nerina Pallot and Richard Winsland.
After lots of very hard work, Keith Urban began getting his rewards. Opening for big names in the business such as Brooks & Dunn, Dwight Yoakam, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban has proved he can play and perform with the best.
With the release of "Love Pain And The Whole Crazy Thing" in 2006, Keith broke a 62 year Billboard record. "Once In A Lifetime" debuted at #17 on the charts in Aug 06, beating out the previous holders Garth Brooks for "Good Ride Cowboy", and Eddie Rabbit's "Every Which Way But Loose." The Women In Keith Urbans Life
Keith dated a Nashville veterinary technician by the name of Laura Sigler back in 2001, but that only lasted until 2002.
When supermodel Niki Taylor and Keith met during the making of his music video "Somebody Like You", they dated off and on until 2004.
Then finally in Jan 05, at an event for Aussie's in LA, Keith met Nicole Kidman. But no serious dating occurred until later in the summer of 05, and resulted in marriage on 25 Jun 06 in Sydney. Past Demons and Keith vs Keith
Rumours of course flew during the summer of 06 about Nicole being pregnant, which turned out to be false. Not that the couple were not trying. Nicole has two adopted children from her previous marriage to Tom Cruise.
But late in Oct 06, while Nicole was away attending a film festival, an old demon from the past moved in on Keith once more and forced him to seek help for an alcohol addiction.
Keith checked into the Betty Ford Center in California for treatment and was released for the holidays. He checked back in to complete his treatment in Jan 07 and announced on Jan 18th he was finished, clean and ready to get back on tour to promote his Love, Pain & The Whole Crazy Thing album.
As Feb 07 began, Keith Urban the singer and Keith Urban the painter got into a lawsuit battle over the domain name www.keithurban.com (owned by the painter). Keith's official music site is of course www.keithurban.net, but he'd love to have the .com domain ... and the court battle continues.
Awards & A Close Call For Keith
Keith began a World Tour in Mar 07 Keith began a World Tour in Mar 07, and in Jul 07, the Great American Country (GAC) channel named Keith Urban their artist of the month. Keith answered a question a day for fans during the entire month.
He also made an appearance at Al Gore's Live Earth concert, performing in New York with Alicia Keys. Keith did his environmental part as well, running all of his buses and power supply equipment on bio-diesel during his 07 tour.
Enroute to an AA meeting in Oct 07, Keith had a spill on his motor bike as he was being pursued by a photographer. No serious injuires occured. Imagine the complications if Keith had of injured those valuable guitar picking hands of his!
As 07 winds to a close, there is no doubt that this artist we know as Keith Urban has just begun to write several more chapters to add to the Keith Urban Biography. We can hardly wait to read more about this extremely talented and gifted performer.
Keith Urban's Grestest Hits is now in stores, as of 20 Nov 07. Ask for the special addition, which includes a DVD of 12 Keith Urban Music videos.
You'll find throughout this site, various facts in additional to this the Keith Urban biography page in a Q & A format. The Keith Urban Facts page has the details.
Check the Keith Urban News page to stay on top of the latest happenings with Keith Urban.
page to the Homepage. |
