8 July 2017 - KEITH URBAN - AUSSIE COUNTRY SINGER

KEITH URBAN 

- AUSSIE COUNTRY SINGER -

G'day folks,

Welcome to the life of an Australian country singer. Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian country musician. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album and charted four singles in Australia before moving to the United States the following year.

Grammy-award winning country music singer, songwriter and guitarist Keith Urban was named the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year in 2006.

 

Synopsis

Keith Urban decided to pursue a solo career in the late 1990s. In 2000, he released his first, self-titled solo album. In 2001, he was named the CMA's "Top New Male Vocalist." He toured in 2004, and was named CMA's "Entertainer of the Year" the following year. Urban won his first Grammy Award in 2006, and went on to receive three more Grammys. In 2012, Urban was chosen as a new judge for season 12 of the popular singing-competition show American Idol, which premiered in 2013.

Early Life

Keith Lionel Urban was born on October 26, 1967, in Whangarei, North Island, New Zealand, and raised in Australia. The musician inherited a passion for American country music from his parents.

By the time he was a teenager, Keith Urban had won several talent shows and joined a country band. His signature style—a mix of rock guitar and country sound—emerged during those formative years. In 1988, he debuted his first album, which enjoyed success in his native Australia. It was time to cut his teeth in Nashville.

 Success in Nashville

 

Urban's first Nashville band, the Ranch, made a huge splash, and the group released a self-titled debut album in 1997 to commercial acclaim. Shortly thereafter, Urban decided to leave the band to pursue a solo career. His talents were quickly recruited by some of the biggest names in country music, including Garth Brooks and the Dixie Chicks.

Solo Career

In 2000, Urban released his first self-titled solo album, which featured the No. 1 hit "But for the Grace of God." His second album, 2002's Golden Road, included two more No. 1 singles: "Somebody Like You" and "Who Wouldn't Want to Be Me." In 2001, he was named "Top New Male Vocalist" at the Country Music Association Awards.

After touring with the likes of Brooks & Dunn and Kenny Chesney, Urban headlined his own tour in 2004. The following year, he was named the CMA's "Entertainer of the Year," "Male Vocalist of the Year" and "International Artist of the Year." In early 2006, Urban won his first Grammy Award (best male country vocal performance) for "You'll Think of Me." Also in 2006, he was received the CMA's "Male Vocalist of the Year" and the Academy of Country Music's "Top Male Vocalist" honors.

In June 2006, Urban married actress Nicole Kidman in their native Australia.

Personal Issues

Urban's next album, Love, Pain & The Whole Crazy Thing, was released in the fall of 2006. Around the same time, the musician voluntarily checked himself into a rehabilitation facility. "I deeply regret the hurt this has caused Nicole and the ones that love and support me," Urban said in a statement, according to People magazine. "One can never let one's guard down on recovery, and I'm afraid that I have. With the strength and unwavering support I am blessed to have from my wife, family and friends, I am determined and resolved to a positive outcome."

While struggling personally, Urban continued to thrive professionally. His 2006 album spawned several hits, including "Once in a Lifetime" and "Stupid Boy," which won a Grammy for best male country vocal performance in 2008.

Later in 2008, Urban released a greatest hits collection and toured extensively. That summer, however, he took a break from his hectic schedule to celebrate a joyous event: He and wife Nicole Kidman welcomed a baby girl on July 7, 2008, and named her Sunday Rose Kidman Urban. "We want to thank everybody that has kept us in their thoughts and prayers," Urban wrote on his website shortly after Sunday Rose's birth. "We feel very blessed and grateful that we can share this joy with all of you today."

 Continued Success

 

Urban continued his string of hits with another album, Defying Gravity, which was released in March 2009 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200—his first album to do so. The lead single off the album, "Sweet Thing," immediately hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts. The album's second single, "Kiss a Girl," was performed during the season 8 finale of the singing-competition show American Idol, as a duet with the show's winner, Kris Allen.

In the fall of 2009, Urban performed at the CMA Awards and received several honors for his collaborative effort with country artist Brad Paisely: "Start a Band." He was also named country music's "Favorite Male Artist" at the American Music Awards. In 2010, Urban received his third Grammy Award (best male country vocal performance), for the song "Sweet Thing." He nabbed his fourth Grammy (best male country vocal performance) the following year, for the single "'Til Summer Comes Around."

 In 2012, Urban was chosen as a new judge for season 12 of American Idol, premiering in January 2013. Urban starred alongside Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj in his debut season on the show. More recently, he has worked alongside Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr. to help find the country's best performers.

Away from American Idol, Urban has maintained his own career as one of country music's most popular stars. He released Fuse in 2013, which included "We Were Us," a duet with Miranda Lambert. "Cop Car" and "Somewhere In My Car" were two other successful songs from this album.

 Clancy's comment: Many of our stars were born in another country, but we happily claim them. Love ya work, Keith!

I'm ...

  

 

26 November 2016 - GARTH BROOKS

GARTH BROOKS

G'day folks,

I'm pleased to present a great country singer from the USA.  Troyal Garth Brooks, is an American country pop singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock and roll elements into the country genre through multi-platinum recordings and record-breaking live shows. 

Garth Brooks is as responsible as any one musician for the sound known as modern country. Never a favorite among discerning music snobs (and particularly not during the phase of his career when he inexplicably assumed the identity of glam rocker Chris Gaines), Brooks nonetheless achieved a level of mainstream commercial success theretofore unseen in his genre—or any other, for that matter. Taking country music from the pickup trucks and dirt roads south of the Mason-Dixon Line into the suburban living rooms of Yankees everywhere, his accessible themes, lovelorn honk, and lite-FM rock riffs nationalized country music.

The Tulsa-born Brooks excelled as an athlete in high school and earned a track scholarship to Oklahoma State University. He competed in javelin and graduated with a degree in advertising in 1984. Though Brooks enjoyed country music, his first love was sensitive singer-songwriter soft rock like James Taylor and Dan Fogelberg. This influence would serve him well when he moved to Nashville in search of fame.

He would find it quickly with his self-titled debut in 1989. The album reached #2 on the country charts and 13th on Billboard, launching the most successful country album career in history. The following year’s No Fences spent 23 consecutive weeks at #1 on the country charts and peaked at #3 on the pop charts. The next year, Ropin’ in the Wind became the first country album to debut at #1 on the country charts.

In three short years, Brooks was a household name. His trademark headset microphone and slickly produced stage show outfitted country music’s blue collar anthems and patriotism with arena rock panache and ambition. Brooks joined the storied Grand Ole Opry in 1990 and carried country music into a new stratosphere of sales, in the process driving the Nashville sound to something more closely resembling arena rock acts like Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel than Hank Williams.

Brooks is a Country Music Hall of Famer, winner of two Grammys, and recipient of 17 American Music Awards, including recognition as “Artist of the ‘90s.” This title is well-deserved, as nobody has sold more than Brooks’s 70 million records since 1989. He is only surpassed on the all-time list by the Beatles and Elvis Presley.

Clancy's comment: I'm not a fan of all country music, but I do like this guy.

I'm ...