Keith Urban is the long-haired guitarist from Australia that has conquered the country world in the U.S. after years of struggle. His latest tour, the Escape Together World Tour 2009, will take the talented singer-songwriter around the world, with concert dates scheduled for shows in Canada, the U.S., and his Australia. Keith Urban tickets will find a performer promoting his sixth album, Defying Gravity.
As far as most country fans know, Keith Urban is from Australia. They think this because he began singing for local music television programs there after winning a singing competition at the age of eight. They think that because he signed his first record contract there in 1990 with EMI and released his eponymous named debut album there in 1992. They think that because of his Aussie accent. They that, but they are wrong. Urban was born on October 26, 1967 in Whangarei, New Zealand, but his family soon moved to Caboolture, Queensland, Australia.
By the age of seven, he had dreams of getting into the music business and selling Keith Urban concert tickets around the world. He starting learning to play the guitar at the age of six and entered and won local and regional singing contests by the age of eight. Urban then began to make appearances on television shows like Reg Lindsey Country Homestead, Mike McClellands Music Program, and many other shows. Keith sang in a duet with Jenny Wilson, a local Brisbane girl, around that time and earned his first award, a golden guitar award from Tamworth.
Then, there were cheap Keith Urban tickets as he played second and third billings on stages like the Northern Suburbs Country Music Club. After signing a deal with EMI in Australia at the age of 23 he worked on his self-titled solo album. The album, released in Australia and Germany showed a lot of promise, but failed spur a huge Keith Urban tour.
Eventually, to make it as a country musician, he had to make the long trip across the Pacific and traverse the country until he arrived in Nashville, the country capital of the world, in 1992. There he found work not thanks to his voice, but for his guitar play. He worked as a session musician for Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson, and many other artists. Keith Urban would not wait for fate to kindly bestow upon him a record contract by some producer that saw him in the studio.
No, Urban formed a band of his own, The Ranch. The group, a three-piece band with Urban as the front man, released an album in 1997, but the group would quickly disband as Keith began to once again pursue a solo career.
The late 1990s were a dark period in his life. Instead of selling concert tickets for Keith Urban tours or releasing gold and platinum certified albums, the guitarist and singer had developed a cocaine problem. In 1998 he checked himself into a clinic. Urban beat the habit and emerged a more driven musician. He worked with voice coach Brett Manning until 2001 to cultivate a voice that would resonate on the country charts.
