Keith Urban

The Energy…..Infectious. The Voice….Intoxicating. The Performance….Electrifying.
Tina Lovell

Born: Keith Lionel Urban
October 26, 1967
Whangarei, New Zealand

I am speaking of none other than the “thunder from down under” Keith Urban. I first took notice of this fantastic performer one day while channel surfing. Country Music Television was running a documentary titled The Road to Be Here; a behind the scenes look at the making of Keith Urban’s soon to be released album Be Here. I was familiar with Somebody Like You and Where the Blacktop Ends, but he hadn’t really quite caught my attention before this.

The nifty little documentary not only gave an insight into the upcoming album, but into Urban himself. Urban is charming, goofy and open-hearted about his music and his life. The personal insight combined with his musical talent made him down right irresistible.

About a month later, I got a chance to see him in concert at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. To be honest, it was the first concert I ever attended…ever! My mom, a fellow fan, joined me. We got our T-shirts, drinks, and found our seats. Fortunately in a small venue, there really aren’t any bad seats.

When Keith hit the stage the energy level exploded in the room. I observed a crowd who was in love with the music and the energy, then I got swept-up in it, too. Before you knew it everyone was clapping, singing, and stomping to the music. Everyone was having a fantastic time.

Above all else, I observed a man who loves what he does. Urban gives one-hundred and ten percent in his show. He goes above and beyond what most performers do and he shows a genuine love for his fans. Each moment is pure and it’s all about the music.

Every time I see him play I can’t imagine a show being any better and every time I see him, he exceeds my expectations. Needless to say, after that first show I was hooked on Mr. Urban.

A Guitar

Urban was born in Whangarei, New Zealand, but eventually his family moved and settled in Caboolture, Queensland, Australia. Keith’s father had a great love of music, all varieties; but particularly country music and he passed his
love for music to his son.

The Urban’s owned a store in town and one day a woman walked into the store simply asking to place an advertisement for guitar lessons she was giving. His parents agreed under the condition she give their son free guitar lessons. So it was, at the tender age of six-years-old Urban got his hands on his first guitar. A guitar that was almost as big as he was.

A Walkin The Country

Throughout his childhood years Keith competed in and won various musical competitions. In 1991 he signed his first contract with EMI in Australia and released a self-titled album which charted four singles. However, Urban knew to make it in country music, there was only one place to go…Nashville, Tenn.

So, in 1992 Keith moved to Nashville. For a time, Keith found work as a session guitarist playing for numerous country artists, including Alan Jackson. In 1997 he formed a band, The Ranch, and signed with Capitol Records. The band consisted of Jerry Flowers on bass, Peter Clarke on drums with Urban doing lead vocals, guitar, banjo and keyboard.

William Ruhlmann writer for All Music Guide wrote, “Urban is a triple threat: he writes songs steeped in country traditions (yet, not really traditionalist), he sings them with confidence, and, most impressively, picks a guitar authoritatively.”

Authoritatively? It’s true, he certainly owns that guitar. Basically, it boils down to–the man plays one mean guitar.

The Ranch

The album, The Ranch, charted two singles, including the infectious Walkin The Country. Unfortunately, the album didn’t achieve the commercial success they had hoped for. Some years later, after Keith achieved success with his solo albums, Capital Records re-released the album and titled it Keith Urban in The Ranch.

Now personally, I happen to love this album. It has a lot of catchy tunes and also includes the instrumental Rollercoaster. One only need listen to this song to experience the genius of Urban’s guitar playing. A true treat for guitar fans.

The Ranch broke up and Urban pursued a solo career. Still signed under Capital Records, he released his self-titled album in 1999. The song But For The Grace of God provided Urban with his first U.S. number one country hit. While this was certainly a wonderful accomplishment for him, it was in 2002 he started his journey down the golden road.

The Golden Road

Capitol released Golden Road with Somebody Like You, which was written by Urban and John Shanks. The song reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart Oct. 19, 2002 and stayed there for six weeks, also reaching number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Somebody Like You is a song about overcoming dark times and then finding ones-self opening up to love. It still remains a staple song in his concerts.

Other notable hits from the album include Who Wouldn’t Want to Be Me and the ever so sexy and sultry Raining On Sunday. To all the women who have heard this song or seen the music video for it, you KNOW what I am talking about.

However, it was the fourth single on the album that gave Urban his biggest hit. The ballad about the heartbreak of being dumped by your lover You’ll Think of Me, not only went to number one on the country charts, but it also gave him his first cross over hit on the adult contemporary radio stations. Plus, it earned him his first Grammy.

I have every CD this artist has put out and to me Golden Road is the quintessential Keith Urban album. It speaks of overcoming inner demons, opening up to love, and not just in love for someone else, but also in accepting and loving ourselves. Every song on the album warrants listening too over and over again. Believe me I know. With some number one hits and a Grammy under his belt, Urban knew it was time to kick it up a notch and kick it up he did.

Be Here

In 2004 CMT got behind Urban in a big way by signing-up as sponsor of his first headlining arena tour, Be Here 04, and by making the music documentary The Road to Be Here. The album was produced by Dan Huff, who produced Golden Road.

Urban also collaborated in his writing with Shanks and Monty Powell again and co-wrote the song Better Life with pop singer/songwriter Richard Marx. The first single released Days Go By became Urban’s fifth number one single.
The video won Best Music Video Award at the CMT Music Videos Awards show in 2005.

He also did a cover song, Making Memories of Us, a song written and originally performed by Rodney Crowell, and it became a number one hit. It stayed number one for five weeks on the Billboard Country Charts.

In November, 2004 Keith was awarded Country Music Association’s Male Vocalist of the Year Award. I had a streak of fortune that year too, as I had won a trip to the awards show and got to see him perform Days Go By and watch him accept his award.

Urban’s meteoric rise continued in 2005, the tour raged on successfully. In early 2005 Urban filmed a CMT Crossroads episode with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty. It was a wonderful blend of rock, folk, and country music. It also gifted viewers with a heartbreaking rendition of You’ll Think of Me.

I have seen him perform this song many times and the one in that show was amazing. The heart and soul which poured out through the guitar and vocals was a show-stopper. Even Fogarty who had been playing and singing, sat back and took it all in; just like the rest of us.

Continuing to ride the wave of success, that summer, Urban performed in the Live 8 Philadelphia Concert, a part of coordinated concerts over the world to coincide with the G8 summits. He was also chosen by Gap to appear along with several other musician in an ad campaign.

Also, the Country Music Association honored Urban with another award, this time it was the highly coveted Entertainer of the Year. Urban released a DVD titled Livin’ Right Now that was filmed the year before at the 2004 concert at Los Angeles’s Wiltern Theatre.

I have to say right here, if you are a Keith Urban fan and you do not have this DVD, you need to get it. Livin’ Right Now features many songs from Golden Road and Be Here. Plus, a wonderful version of his song You Won. It reminds you, not only can he play the guitar like there’s no tomorrow, but the man can sing. Be Here is his highest selling album, earning 4X Multi-platinum Certification.

Urban got to experience a taste of European touring in 2005 as well, when he opened for rocker Bryan Adams in England and Ireland. The fact that Urban, a country musician, was opening for a rock musician speaks to his appeal across music genres.

2005 was a banner year for his career. Something else also happened in this year and it changed his life; this time on a personal level.

Love, Pain and…Love

Up to this point Urban was completely focused on his career. His star was soaring, but between touring and making albums, he wasn’t spending a whole lot of time on the personal aspect of his life. Urban mentioned in an interview that you get to a point where you don’t know who you are off-stage.

In January of 2005 at G’Day LA, a Hollywood event honoring Australians, Urban met actress Nicole Kidman. They started dating six months later and were married in June, 2006. Urban now had the best of both worlds. A soaring career and the love of his life.

With a new love and a renewed zest for his work, he completed and released the album Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing. The first track titled Once In A Lifetime, a song written on inspiration of his relationship with Kidman, debuted at number 17, making it the highest debuting country single in the 62-year-history of Billboard Country Music charts at the time. The album charted three other singles, Everybody, I Told You So and the Grammy winning Stupid Boy (written by country artist Sarah Buxton).

Urban hit a speed bump that year in his personal life. In October of 2006 he checked himself into The Betty Ford Center to deal with an addiction problem. Urban had struggled in the past with similar problems, with the strength and love of his wife, friends, and family he made it through rehab and hit the road to promote the new album.

This show was even bigger and better than before. The first couple of times I saw Urban was in small venues, but when he played in the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Penn., it was easy to see just how far he had come in a short period of time.

My seats were definitely further away this time. Gone was the chance for fourth row seats without spending a fortune. Once the show started the seats didn’t matter. The stage had a Jumbotron screen on it, so one could view the band members super-sized. A long runway ran down the middle of the crowd with a smaller round stage, which he played on, as well. It is amazing, despite the increase in the size of the audience, he manages to make sure each and every fan (even those of us in the cheap seats) got a great show.

Another part of the show that was amazing, different, and totally unexpected was during I Told You So, a local high-school band came onto the stage playing their hearts out. He entertained the crowd, and I believe himself, by having everyone do the wave with their cell phone lights on. The band did a fantastic version of Steve Miller’s The Joker, where each of his band members got a shot at singing their own solos. Urban shares every inch of that stage with his band members, so it’s not just the ‘Keith Urban show.’

Monkeyville

Another aspect, reflective of Urban’s love for his fans is his official fan club, Monkeyville. I signed up with the fan club in October of 2004, the day after seeing him in concert. At that time it was run by a fairly small group of women. Each year Keith would give a performance in Nashville for fan club members only. Unfortunately, as Keith’s fan base grew, it became impractical to continue the small venue effort. Nonetheless, they have constructed a fantastic website for the fans. It’s a great place to find information on this talented artist, but more importantly, it’s a place to go to talk to fellow fans about his music, videos, tour schedule, etc.

Charity

Urban has been a supporter and contributor of St. Judes for Children for years. And, he and his wife donated a half-million dollars to the Red Cross to help families devastated by the brush-fires in Victoria, Australia in February of 2009.

He’s found balance in his life. Adding to that joy, the happy couple welcomed their first child last year. Daughter, Sunday Rose, was born July 7, 2008. Kidman commented their daughter looks a lot like Urban. We all know, that’s certainly not a bad thing.

March 31, 2009 Defying Gravity will be released. Defying Gravity comes from the lyrics of a song on the album, a phrase, in Urban’s words, that “really defined the joyous, optimistic and uplifting spirit that seemed to show itself while making the album.”

Urban will also be hitting the road in March for his Escape Together World Tour. The tour will visit 58 cities across North America.

Sweet Thing, the first track, is all ready a number one hit. Jim Malec, a reviewer for The 9513, gave Sweet Thing a ‘thumbs up’ rating. Although, he considered the song ‘not really country’ he added, “If this is country-pop, it is hard to imagine anyone ever doing it with more passion, more intensity, and more effectiveness.” I couldn’t agree more.

Tagged concert review, country, Keith Urban, music, Nicole Kidman, rock