Born in New Zealand, country artist Keith Urban learned to play guitar as a six-year-old in Australia, after a young woman asked to place an ad in his dad's shop window offering guitar lessons. His parents made a deal with her, offering their advertisement in exchange for lessons for their young son. The boy demonstrated natural ability, and by the time he was eight, Urban was winning local talent shows. He also involved himself with a youth acting company that required him to sing, dance, and memorize lines, all of which led to a level of comfort on-stage that would later serve him well in his solo career.
With his father deeply interested in American culture and country music, it was natural that Urban would gravitate toward the country genre as well, and the burgeoning musician took influence from the voices of Glen Campbell, Dolly Parton, and Don Williams, as well as the songwriting talents of Jimmy Webb ("Galveston"). Urban added his own dimension to those influences when he discovered Dire Straits and became interested in the guitar playing of Mark Knopfler and Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham, which led to in-depth study and endless practice of their techniques.
Australian country music was primed for a revolution at the start of the '90s, and Keith Urban -- young, brash, blonde, rock-ish -- was part of that transformation. After signing with Australia's EMI branch, he issued his first album and charted multiple number one ...
