Keith Lionel Urban was born in New Zealand on October 26, 1967 and grew up in Australia.
Keith says he knew when he was just seven years old that he would
go to Nashville and play country music for a living.
Keith's first musical instrument was a ukulele, bought for him when he was 4 by his dad, a drummer. Keith used to strum along on it in time to the radio. One of the first songs he learned was by the Stylistics.
He first picked up a guitar at age 6. A young woman wanted to place an ad in his dad's shop window offering guitar lessons. His parents made a deal with her that they would advertise in return for lessons for their young son. He had a natural ability and young Keith was winning talent shows by the time he was 8.
He also was involved in a youth acting company which required him to sing, dance and memorize lines, all of which led to an ease on stage that would serve him well in his music career.
At fourteen, he had steady club gigs with a band.
During that time he bought a Dire Straits album. He heard something in
Mark Knofler's
guitar playing that he had never heard before.
The style of the album fused with his own onstage solos,
creating a signature style Urban likes to call "funktry."
In his early twenties, he made trips to Nashville
to find songs and collaborate with such
noted songwriters as
Gary Burr, Trey Bruce, and Dave Loggins.
Keith found growing stardom in Australia with #1 country singles.
He realized that his moment had come to leave for Nashville.
It wasn't long before the live shows of The Ranch led to a record deal with Capitol Nashville.
Keith's first album "Keith Urban" was released in 1991 and re-released in 1997.
"The Ranch" self-titled debut album also released in 1997.
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Matt Rollings, one of Nashville's top musicians, hired keith as a session player on an album he was producing and the two immediately clicked. Impressed by Matt's knowledge of Nashville's session players, Keith asked him to produce his solo record. Rollings, wowed by Keith's talent, jumped at the chance.
keith does a couple Glen Campbell songs in his live show to show his appreciation and love of his music.
Hometown: Caboolture, Queensland in Australia (suburb of Brisbane)
Birthdate: October 26, 1967
Current home: Nashville, Tennessee (since 1992)
Musical Influences: Don Williams, Elton John, Glen Campbell, Dire Straits, Jackson Browne, Fleetwood Mac
Instruments Played: Guitar, Bass, Banjo, Ganjo (guitar/banjo), Keyboards, Drums
Marital Status: single, never been married, was engaged to long-time love, Laura.
Many artists have asked keith to play on their cds:
*Garth Brooks asked keith to play guitar on his Double Live album. keith was thrilled and complimented, saying that he knew Garth could have gotten many guitarists to play on that album.
Steve Wariner wrote "Where The Blacktop Ends" and offered it to keith. He also plays guitar and sings on the track.
*The Dixie Chicks invited him to play on their second album, Fly after they heard The Ranch's version of "Some Days You Gotta Dance". He plays guitar on that same song.
He returned the favor by asking Emily and Martie to sing background on his song, I Wanna Be Your Man (Forever).
* keith contributed background vocals on Inxs' "Live Baby Live" cd in 1991.
* keith and Stewart Copeland did a cover of "Dance On" on a tribute album to Hank Marvin.
