Keith Urban: Difference between revisions

Keith Lionel Urban, born 26 October 1967, is a New Zealand-born, Australian-raised country music singer.

Biography

Urban was born in Whangarei, North Island, New Zealand. Before he turned two years old his family moved to Australia. By age seven, Urban was already thinking about emigrating to America and making his mark in Nashville. He began learning guitar at age six and began winning talent contests by age eight. By 12 he was booking his band in local clubs, and at 15 he quit school to hit the road. In 1990, Urban signed with EMI in Australia and recorded his first solo album, which charted four No. 1 country hits in Australia. In 1992, he moved to Nashville to pursue the largest country music market in the world. Originally the front man for The Ranch, a three-piece group that released one album in 1997 to critical acclaim, Urban disbanded the group to pursue a solo career.

In the late 90s Urban battled cocaine addiction.^[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 2000, which produced three top 5 hits and secured for him the Top New Male Vocalist Award at the 2001 Academy of Country Music Awards. Widely regarded for his guitar skills, he has performed as a session musician on albums such as Garth Brooks' Double Live and the Dixie Chicks' Fly.

In a bid for publicity, he appeared semi-nude in photos accompanying an interview for Playgirl magazine and on the cover of the April 2001 issue. This became the magazine's readers' most requested issue.

Urban released Golden Road in 2002, and the success of the single "Somebody Like You" sent his career into high gear. The single spent nine consecutive weeks at the top of the charts, remaining at No. 1 longer than any other country artist in 2002. Three other singles were released: two went to No. 1 and the third was No. 3. The album went platinum in every country where it was released and is triple platinum in the United States. In 2004 Be Here was released and nominated for best country album at the Grammy Awards and at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Out of the five singles released from Be Here, three went No. 1, and two to No. 2. In 2006 the album went triple platinum in the U.S. Urban has also released Days Go By, a greatest hits collection, in Europe. With a career total of 15 singles released, seven singles went to No. 1, two to No.2, two to No.3, one to No. 4, one to No. 6, one to No.18 and his current single "Stupid Boy" is at #18.

Touring as a supporting act for renowned country acts Brooks & Dunn 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. Urban continued his meteoric rise to fame in 2005 with a very successful tour with Katrina Elam called Alive in '05. He performed in the Live 8 Philadelphia concert on July 2 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 Entertainer 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. 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."

On Monday August 21 2006 he made history when his new single "Once in a Lifetime" became the highest-debuting country single (#17) in the 62-year history of Billboard's country charts. The record was formerly held by Garth Brooks' "Good Ride Cowboy", which debuted at #18 and Eddie Rabbitt's "Every Which Way But Loose". "Good Ride Cowboy" was the highest in the BDS era (1991-present). "Once in a Lifetime" also set another record - it was Keith's first single in six years that didn't break into the Billboard Country Top 5.

On 19 October 2006 Urban checked himself into a rehabilitation center for alcohol abuse. He issued a press release about addressing his challenge, noting his gratitude for the "support and the unwavering strength of my wife, family and friends" and adding that he felt "calm and optimistic about the future and with finally coming to terms with the reality of my condition." ^[2] Due to this fact, he had cancelled his appearances on Rove Live, the 2006 ARIA Awards and the 2006 CMA Awards.

Personal life

In 1992, Urban dated veterinary technician Laura Sigler. The pair shared an on and off relationship for eight years. He proposed to Sigler in 2001 after his resolved his alcohol problems and release of his first successful album, but the pair broke up in 2002 in light of his return to drinking.

Urban then dated former supermodel Niki Taylor on and off for three years until they broke up in 2005.

Urban met Australian actress Nicole Kidman at a Hollywood event honouring Australians in January 2005. Urban then broke up with Taylor, and the couple started dating. 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. On 6 October while Kidman was away filming, Urban, who did rehab for drink and cocaine addiction in 1998, was on a break from a US tour when he visited "Losers Bar", and met up with former love, blonde Amanda Wyatt, 23. Urban invited a group of women including Wyatt back to his house where Kidman's children were staying, to continue partying. 12days later, Urban checked himself into the Betty Ford Clinic in California. On 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." Kidman visited Urban at the clinic on 12 November, and in early December the couple were together for lunch at the Polo Lounge in Los Angeles, while Urban got a short release from rehab. On 16 December Kidman and her children flew to Sydney to Christmas with her family, while Urban remains in America for rehab^[3]

Discography

For a complete discography see Keith Urban discography

Albums

• 1991 Keith Urban (1991)
• 1997 The Ranch (with The Ranch)
• 1999 Keith Urban #145 U.S., #17 U.S. Country
• 2002 Golden Road #11 U.S., #2 U.S. County (108 wks on chart), #29 AUS
• 2004 In the Ranch (reissue) #34 U.S. Country
• 2004 Be Here #3 U.S., #1 U.S. Country (111 wks on chart), #11 AUS, #3 AUS Country
• 2005 Days Go By (UK only release) #40 UK
• 2006 Love, Pain & the whole crazy thing #3 U.S., #1 (3 wks) U.S. Country, #1 U.S. Digital, #73 UK, #5 AUS, #1 AUS Country

Awards and achievements

Awards

• 1983 - CCMA Junior Male Vocalist
• 1990 - CMAA Star Maker Award
• 1991 - CMAA Golden Guitar/Best New Talent
• 1992 - CMAA Golden Guitar Male Vocalist
• 1992 - CMAA Golden Guitar Instrumentalist
• 1997 - CMAA Golden Guitar Instrumentalist
• 1998 - CMAA Golden Guitar Instrumentalist
• 2001 - CMAA Golden Guitar Instrumentalist
• 2001 - ACM Top New Male Vocalist
• 2001 - CMA Horizon Award (first non-American)
• 2001 - ARIA Outstanding Achievement Award
• 2001 - VMA Male Vocalist Award
• 2001 - Mo Australian Show Business Ambassador of the Year
• 2003 - ARIA Country Album of the Year (Golden Road)
• 2003 - Country Weekly Fan Favorite Award for Favorite New Artist
• 2003 - BMI Song of the Year Category for "Somebody Like You"
• 2003 - TCMA Video Clip of the Year - "Somebody Like You"
• 2004 - CMA Male Vocalist of the Year (first non-American)
• 2004 - FCMA Best Foreign Music
• 2005 - Voted Country Music's Hottest Bachelor by Country Weekly
• 2005 - #6 on OK! Magazine's Hollywood's Hottest Bachelor list
• 2005 - CMT Music Awards Video of the Year - "Days Go By"
• 2005 - ACM Album of the Year - "Be Here"
• 2005 - ACM Top Male Vocalist
• 2005 - French Association of County Music Artist of the Year
• 2005 - ARIA Country Album of the Year (Be Here)
• 2005 - CMA International Artist of the Year!
• 2005 - CMA Male Vocalist of the Year (Second year in a row)
• 2005 - CMA Entertainer of the Year (first non-American male. First non-American was Shania Twain in 1999)
• 2005 - XM Country Artist of the Year
• 2005 - XM "So You Wanna Be a Movie Star?" Artists We'd Like to See Crossover to Films
• 2005 - Radio Music Awards Artist of the Year
• 2005 - Billboard Music Award: Top-selling Pop Catalog Album of the Year "Golden Road"
• 2006 - Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for "You'll Think Of Me"
• 2006 - CMT Music Awards Video of The Year - "Better Life"
• 2006 - ACM Top Male Vocalist of the Year (Second year in a row)
• 2006 - Voted Country Music's Sexiest Man by Country Weekly.
• 2006 - ASCAP'S Most-Performed Country Songs of 2006 "Better Life" written by Richard Marx and Keith Urban, "Tonight I Wanna Cry" written by Monty Powell and Keith Urban and "Making Memories of Us" written by Rodney Crowell (3 out of 56)
• 2006 - CMA Male Vocalist of the Year (Third year in a row - matching George Strait who won in 1996 through 1998)
• 2006 - Voted #1 on CMT's 20 Sexist Men

Gold/Platinum singles, videos and albums

• 1999 - Self-Titled Keith Urban 1999 certified Platinum in 2003
• 2002 - Golden Road certified Triple Platinum in 2005
• 2002 - Somebody Like You (single) certified Gold in 2005.
• 2004 - Be Here certified Quadruple Platinum in U.S., Double Platinum in Canada & Australia in 2006.
• 2004 - You'll Think of Me certified Platinum in 2005.
• 2005 - Days Go By : Anthology (Import) certified Gold (Ireland)
• 2005 - Video Hits DVD certified Platinum
• 2005 - Livin' Right Now DVD certified Platinum in U.S. and Australia
• 2005 - Making Memories of Us (single) certified Gold in 2005.
• 2005 - Days Go By (single) certified Gold in 2005.
• 2006 - Love, Pain and the whole crazy thing certified Gold in the U.S.

Notes

External links

• Keith Urban at IMDb
• Template:MySpace (Unofficial Fan Site)
• Keith Urban fan site
• Learn Keith Urban songs on the acoustic guitar