b. 26 October 1967, Whangarei, New Zealand. As a young child, the New Zealand-born Urban moved with his family to Australia. His parents liked American country and, as a young guitarist, he played country festivals from the age of 10. Nevertheless, he admits his guitar playing was influenced by two rock players, Mark Knopfler and Lindsey Buckingham. Urban released his self-titled debut for EMI Australia in 1991, and enjoyed four chart-topping country hits including ‘I Never Work On A Sunday’.
After a few visits to the USA, Urban emigrated in 1992, taking his drummer, Peter Clarke. The two men formed the Ranch with West Virginian Jerry Flowers. In 1997, the trio released a self-titled album on Capitol Records, and had some success with the single, ‘Walkin’ The Country’. They opened for several country stars and Urban was recruited to play guitar for Garth Brooks on Double Live and the Dixie Chicks on Fly. KU, as he is known, succumbed to drug addiction in the late 90s and the subsequent break-up with his girlfriend formed the background of his self-titled US debut. The album featured a breakneck instrumental, ‘Rollercoaster’, on which Urban played a ganjo, a combination of guitar and banjo, and also his first major US country hit, ‘It’s A Love Thing’.
Urban’s second solo album for Capitol, 2002’s Golden Road, spawned the US country number one hits ‘Somebody Like You’, ‘Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me’ and ‘You’ll Think Of Me’. He was now firmly established as a major star in the current wave of new country males. His fourth album Be Here broke into the mainstream Top 5 in October 2004, and featured the US country chart-toppers ‘Days Go By’, ‘Making Memories Of Us’ and ‘Better Life’.
The singer’s turbulent personal life saw him dating supermodel Niki Taylor and film star Nicole Kidman. He married the latter on 25 June 2006, but the same October was obliged to check into a rehabilitation centre for alcohol abuse. Despite these problems, Urban was able to celebrate the fact that his new single ‘Once In A Lifetime’ was confirmed as the highest-debuting country single in Billboard chart history. The attendant Love, Pain & The Whole Crazy Thing was a fine collection and testament to Urban’s ability to carry on creating music despite the chaos in his personal life.
