Keith Urban

Born in New Zealand Keith Urban learned to play guitar as a six-year-old in Australia, after a young woman asked 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. The boy had natural ability. By the time he was eight Keith was winning talent shows. He also was involved in a youth acting company which required him to sing, dance and memorize lines, all of which led to the ease on stage which would serve him well in his music career.

With his father deeply interested in American culture and country music, it was also natural that Keith would gravitate towards country music early on, when he was influenced by the singing of Glen Campbell, Dolly Parton and Don Williams, and the songwriting of Jimmy Webb ('Galveston'). Keith added his own dimension to those influences when he discovered Dire Straits, and became interested in the guitar playing of Mark Knopfler and Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham, embarking on in-depth study and endless practice of their techniques.

At the start of the '90s Australian country music was primed for a revolution. With America turning its back on traditionalists and outlaws alike in favour of a new 'glam' country, Australia's true-to-its-roots country music found itself in need of stimulus from elsewhere. It had to come from within, but it also had to come through an injection of new artists and songs. A singer named James Blundell broke the ice in 1990. With pin-up good looks, he sang and wrote heartfelt songs without any blatant hint of country trappings, musically or otherwise - a country boy not awkward in the city. The following year Australian country found Keith Urban, one step further - young, brash, blonde, rock-ish - a country boy daring to take on the city. Australian country embraced Keith, but the next year hit on the perfect compromise in the shape of Lee Kernaghan, one step forward, one step back - a country boy proud to be country - hands on his heart, in cowboy hat. Kerhaghan became a superstar and heralded in an exciting new era for Australian country. He needed James Blundell and Keith Urban to pave the way. For his part, Keith Urban always had his eye on Nashville, Tennessee, USA That's where the music in his heart was born and still lived. Almost from the beginning he made periodical pilgrimages to Nashville, forging valuable career bridges.

After one album Keith Urban decided to base himself in Nashville. Still too rocky to be country, too country to be rock, he put his solo career aside for leadership of a group, and with his Australian bandmate, drummer Peter Clarke, he formed the three-piece band, The Ranch (if his focus was Australia he would have had to call the group The Station). Their live shows. featuring Keith's standout lead guitar playing led to a record deal with Capitol Nashville and a management contract with I.R.S. Records founder/The Police manager Miles Copeland. Other artists also took notice, and when The Ranch disbanded, they called on Keith to add some of his fleet-fingered magic to their records. Matt Rollings, one of Nashville's top musicians, hired Urban 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 next record, another solo album. The result was American country hits for 'It's a Love Thing' and 'Your Everything' and a milestone Grammy award nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance for 'Rollercoaster'. Ten years on Keith Urban was doing to Nashville what he'd done to Tamworth.

Related artists
James Blundell
Lee Kernaghan