Keith Urban

A comprehensive biography that documents how Keith Urban lived out his childhood dream - and the price he's had to pay to reach the top.

Keith Urban came from humble origins. Born in New Zealand and raised in outer Brisbane, his father worked at the local tip; Keith was a high school dropout. When he was a child, the family house burned down, like something straight out of a country song. But Keith had a plan. A big plan. 'Nashville's not my dream,' he once said. 'It's my destiny.' And Keith was hell-bent on scaling that musical Everest. Whatever it took.

It didn't come easy. Keith served his apprenticeship in the beer barns of Australia and was constantly on the road. His early trips to America, meanwhile, were disasters. But he never gave up, settling in Nashville in the 1990s and forming The Ranch. When the band fell apart, so did Keith, ending up in rehab (not for the last time). Keith did eventually reach the top, however, through a combination of talent, charisma, sex appeal, dogged perseverance - and skin thick enough for a rhino. And along the way he married Nicole Kidman.

Keith Urban has lived out his musical dreams: he's jammed with the Rolling Stones, buddied up with John Fogerty and Glen Campbell and shared a stage with the Reverend Al Green. He's become a regular on Oprah and Ellen. And in a seemingly unlikely makeover, Keith has recently worked with the biggest names in pop, dance and groove, from Taylor Swift to Pink, Nile Rodgers to Post Malone and Pitbull. Along the way Keith has won four Grammys, the same as the Bee Gees and Olivia Newton-John. He's also recorded 20 US Country Number One hits.

'All I ever wanted to do,' Keith said in 2020, 'was to live in America and make records and tour and maybe get my songs on the radio. It was my life's dream. All those detours, especially the really dark ones, got me to where I am now. I would not want to change one leaf on any tree in the whole journey.'

Keith Urban is the definitive biography of an Oz music superstar.

About the Author

Jeff Apter is the author of more than 20 music biographies, many of them bestsellers. His subjects include Johnny O'Keefe, Keith Urban, John Farnham, the Bee Gees, the Finn brothers and Angus Young of AC/DC. As a ghostwriter, he has worked with Kasey Chambers, Mark Evans (of AC/DC) and Richard Clapton.

Jeff was on staff at Rolling Stone for several years and has written about legends such as Aretha Franklin, Patti Smith, Robbie Robertson, Bob Dylan, Chrissie Hynde and Lucinda Williams. In 2015, he worked on the Helpmann award-nominated live show A State of Grace: The Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley. Away from music, Jeff has also worked on books with soldiers and diplomats and sports greats such as Michael Slater and Tim Cahill. He lives in Wollongong, New South Wales, with his wife, two children and a cat that's so damned cool it needs no name.

www.jeffapter.com.au