September 2018 30 • Keith Lionel Urban was born in Whangarei, New Zealand, on October 26, 1967, as the youngest son of Marienne and Robert "Bob" Urban. Keith was dubbed “Suburban” because he was the second of two sons. Get the family joke? Sub-Urban. He has an older brother, Shane. • Keith Urban learned to play guitar as a child and began entering local music competitions at a young age, as well as acting in a local theater company. He started performing at country music festivals at age 10. From the age of 13, he attended Sir Edmund Hillary College in Otara, South Auckland, New Zealand and by 17, he lived with his parents in Caboolture, Queensland, Australia. His father, who owned a convenience store, put an advertisement for a guitar teacher in his shop window. Urban took lessons from this teacher, Sue McCarthy (now Crealey and still a family friend) and began entering local competitions, in addition to acting in a local theater company. He left high school at age 15. Thank goodness he’s a guitar prodigy. • In 1983, Urban was a contestant on the Australian TV talent show New Faces. 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 McClellan's Music Program, and various other TV programs performing duets with local Brisbane girl Jenny Wilson. Urban also performed regularly on stage at the Northern Suburbs Country Music Club near Caboolture. • Keith sites his musical influences as Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb, Don Williams, Freddie Mercury, Fleetwood Mac, Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Ronnie Milsap and Dolly Parton. Urban has stated that his guitar playing was mostly influenced by Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) and Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac). Just the Facts KEITH URBAN His pet peeves are people who don’t look you in the eye when they shake your hand, people who leave lint in the lint filter of a dryer and people who show you a bunch of photographs and half of them are out of focus. Records Nashville and charted two singles on the Hot Country Songs charts that year with "Walkin' the Country" and "Just Some Love" at numbers 50 and 61. The title of Keith's song "My Last Name" from his The Ranch CD also appeared on a Dierks Bently album, although the lyrics are different. • Still signed to Capitol, Urban made his solo American debut in 1999 with the album Keith Urban under the production of session pianist Matt Rollings. Certified platinum in the US, it produced his first number one on Hot Country Songs with "But for the Grace of God." • In 2001, Keith Urban won "Top New Male Vocalist Award" at the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association's "Horizon Award," designating him a talented artist with a bright future. He is the first Horizon Award winner in history to go on to win the CMA's Male Vocalist of the Year, a title he's captured three times, and the coveted Entertainer of the Year. Tennessee. They have two daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret. • Keith has been in rehab twice, once in 2006 and before that in the early 90s. Urban became a frequent user of cocaine while living in Nashville. 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. In October 2006, Urban checked himself into the Betty Ford Center in California and 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." • In 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. In August of 2006, Keith Urban's hit "Once in a Lifetime" made history when it became the highest-debuting country single in the 62-year history of Billboard's country charts. It debuted at number 17. "Love Pain and the Whole Crazy World Tour" DVD was released in autumn 2008. • Urban has long supported numerous charities. He has endorsed the Music Makes Us program, which raises funds to buy musical instruments and other resources for public school music classes. He is an advisory board member at St. Jude's Children's Hospital and a longtime supporter of The Grammy Foundation. His annual "All 4 the Hall" benefit concert for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum© has raised nearly $2.5 million. • He earned $5 million for his stint as a judge on American Idol Season 13 – a paltry sum compared to Jennifer Lopez’s $17.5 million paycheck for the same gig! He's the first Country artist to be named an American Idol judge and is a four-time GRAMMY® Award winner who has also won a People's Choice, American Music Award and been nominated for a Golden Globe. • Keith Urban can play the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, twelve-string guitar, slide guitar, bass guitar, piano, banjo, drums, ganjo, E-bow, mandolin, bouzouki, papose, keys, drum machine, and poke. • Urban released his second American album Golden Road in 2002. Out of the 13 songs included on this album, Urban produced seven tracks himself and co-produced the other six with Dann Huff. "Somebody Like You", was named by Billboard as the biggest country hit of the 2000s decade. The album's fourth single, "You'll Think of Me", earned him his first Grammy. • 2004's Be Here, his third American album, produced three number 1 singles, and became his highest-selling album, earning 4× Platinum certification. • He met his wife of 12 years, actress Nicole Kidman, at G’Day LA, an event in Hollywood that celebrates Australians. They started dating six months after meeting and were married in St. Patrick's church in Manly, a suburb of Sydney, in June 2006. His wedding ceremony lasted 35 minutes. His brother, Shane, was his best man and Marlon Holden was his groomsman. 230 guests attended his wedding. Among them were Naomi Watts, Russell Crowe, Baz Luhrmann, Jane Campion, Hugh Jackman and Nicole's two children Isabella and Conor. Jim Carrey was also invited and greatly wanted to come, in fact, he booked plane tickets to Australia, but last minute scheduling conflicts stopped him from going. Keith serenaded his wife at their wedding reception with the song “Memories of Us.” • He is reported to have gifted Nicole a first edition of Emily Brontë's novel, "Wuthering Heights", purchased from Sotheby's for $200,000 as a wedding present. Kidman is an avid reader of the classics. He and Nicole honeymooned in Tahiti and then returned to the United States where they purchased a farm near Leipers Fork, • His favorite songs are “Wichita Lineman” and “Galveston” by Jimmy Webb; “Heart of the Matter” by Don Henley; “Sky Blue & Black” by Jackson Browne and “You Look So Good in Love” by George Strait. • Keith’s favorite creative session snack is a fried pimento cheese sandwich. • The singer always writes down his songs in ink pen. No pencil or typing for Mr. Urban. • Urban moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1992. After arriving in the United States, Keith wasn’t legally allowed to take a non-music job. He found work as a road guitarist for Brooks & Dunn, the Dixie Chicks, and Alan Jackson. Fans can spot a very young Urban featured in the music video for Jackson’s 1993 hit “Mercury Blues.” (He’s the one with crazy long hair…) • In 1997, he formed a band known as The Ranch that included drummer Peter Clarke and bassist Jerry Flowers. The Ranch released one self-titled album for Capitol His album Ripcord takes its name from a play and the title was suggested to him by his wife Nicole Kidman. Keith Urban was featured in People's 2005 "Sexiest Man Alive" issue. He was the 2005 CMA Male Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year. He was also the Male Vocalist of the Year for 2004 and won the ACM for top male vocalist in 2006. IN 2012, HE BECAME A MEMBER OF THE GRAND OLE OPRY. 96.3 Real Country Legends welcomes Keith Urban to Ak-Chin Pavilion on October 4, 2018. • In 2013, he introduced his new URBANTM Guitar Collection via HSN, proceeds of which went to benefit both the Grammy Foundation and Mr. Holland's Opus Fund. The offering, resulted in the largest guitar debut ever for the entertainment/lifestyle retailer. • Urban has released a total of ten studio albums, as well as one album with The Ranch. He has charted forty-one singles on the US country charts, of which twenty-two have reached number one. Those number-ones also include his third Grammy Award-winning single "Sweet Thing", from his album Defying Gravity.