Keith Urban The Speed Of Now (CD)

Keith Urban

Keith Urban was born on October 26, 1967 in Whangarei, New Zealand. The New Zealand-Australian singer, songwriter and guitarist is a crossover musician in the fields of country and pop music.

Childhood

He grew up in Caboolture, part of the Greater Metropolitan Region of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, where he lived on a farm with his parents, who had immigrated from New Zealand. He came into contact with country music early and won a talent show at the age of eight. At the age of twelve he already played with a band in clubs.

Recording contract

In 1990 Keith Urban signed a record deal in his home country and released his first solo album. In 1992 the musician moved to Nashville, Tennessee and made connections to the music industry. He produced an album with the band The Ranch in 1997. His breakthrough came in 2000 with the solo album Keith Urban. In 2001 he won the Horizon Award (Young Talent Award) of the Country Music Association and the Top New Male Vocalist Award (Best New Singer Award) of the Academy of Country Music and was nominated for the Grammy for his guitar playing. Keith Urban's style of music is a mixture of country, rock and pop music. To traditional country melodies he plays acoustic guitar, rock solos on the electric guitar or banjo. The album Golden Road was released in 2002 and sold two million copies in the USA. Be Here followed in 2004.

Privacy and Awards

On June 25, 2006 Urban married the American-Australian actress Nicole Kidman in a suburb of Sydney. Their first child was born in Nashville on July 7, 2008. A second daughter was born in Nashville on December 28, 2010. It had been carried out with the help of a surrogate mother. Because of alcohol problems Urban went to a voluntary withdrawal treatment in October 2006. In 2007 he went on tour again, where he performed with Alicia Keys at the Live Earth concert in New York City on July 7, 2007. On May 15, 2011 Keith Urban received a star on Nashville's Music City Walk of Fame and on April 21, 2012 he became a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

The Voice and American Idol

Urban was a jury member and coach in the first season from April to June 2012 on the Australian vocal casting show The Voice, which will be broadcast on Nine Network. Urban joined Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Randall Darius Jackson as jurors in the twelfth season of American Idol. In 2014, alongside Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick junior, he also took part as a juror in the 13th season of American Idol.