Although born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, Keith Urban has made his biggest splash in Nashville, where he helped rewrite the rules of contemporary country music. By embracing elements of Top 40, Urban writes songs that appeal to a wide audience, effectively satisfying his Nashville fans without alienating pop fans. Keith’s self-titled solo album released in 1999 spawned four hit singles. Urban found more success with 2002’s Golden Road, which went triple platinum in the US. Urban returned to the top of the charts in 2008 with a re-recorded version of “You Look Good in My Shirt.” Released in 2009, Defying Gravity found him singing about life with Nicole Kidman on songs like “Sweet Thing” and “Only You Can Love Me This Way,” both of which peaked at number one. Meanwhile, “Kiss a Girl” became his highest-charting single to date on the pop charts. Urban released Get Closer in 2010 and returned to the charts with its lead single, “Put You in a Song.” The second single from the album, “Without You,” hit No. 1. In 2011, Urban earned a male country vocalist performance Grammy for “‘Til Summer Comes Around.” Urban devoted much of his time in early 2012 to serving as a judge and mentor on the Australian version of The Voice, followed in 2013 by working as a judge on American Idol. He dropped the album Ripcord in 2016.
