Calling himself “immensely blessed” to have welcomed daughter Sunday Rose, 16 months, with wife Nicole Kidman, country crooner Keith Urban admits in a new interview the couple were unsure if they would ever become parents together.
“We didn’t get to meet each other in our 20s and 30s,” he points out to the UK’s Hello! magazine, “so we thought maybe that’s not our journey, we’re fine with that.” Keith adds,
“It’s such a miracle to have her.”
Although their marriage has offered its fair share of ups and downs, Keith says they are united in their commitment. “We want the best for each other and we support each other to do that,” he explains.
Whether that includes more children remains to be seen, however. Keith elaborates,
“We’re very grateful and not pining for anything more than what we’ve got. But if another was to come, Nicole and I would be very happy.”
Sunday is the first child together for Keith and Nicole, who married in 2006. Nicole is also mom to Isabella Jane, 17 next month, and Connor Anthony, 14, with ex-husband Tom Cruise.
Keith Urban secured four nominations from the CMAA (Country Music Association of Australia) for the Country Music Awards to be held Jan. 23 in Tamworth, New South Wales. He is nominated for album (Defying Gravity), male artist, single (”Kiss a Girl”) and song (”Why’s It Feel So Long”). Troy Cassar-Daley earned the most nominations, listed in seven categories.
I just wanted to remind everybody that the CMA Awards are on tonight at 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM. I’ll add photos to the gallery as they show up. Captures will be up hopefully tomorrow. I wish the best for Keith!
“That one is a huge honor, no question,” Urban said. “I grew up in Australia watching the CMA Awards on television, and I remember seeing Barbara Mandrell win it a couple of times. The award goes to people who really put on a show, which is why they call it ‘Entertainer of the Year’ as opposed to ‘Artist of the Year.’ The year I won it (2005), it was mind-blowing to me.”
Urban is scheduled to perform on the Nov. 11 awards show. Tuesday he will headline a sold-out multi-artist “We’re All For The Hall” concert at Sommet Center benefitting the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
But rather than staying out on the road for months at a time, Urban has spent 2009 touring at what he finds a healthier, more sustainable pace.
“This year has been just right. We’ve had 58 shows spread across five months, as opposed to cramming it all into one smaller period of time. I wanted to not be out for more than three nights in a row away from my family,” said Urban, who has a daughter, Sunday Rose, with wife Nicole Kidman. “I’ve been able to put our daughter to bed, and have dinner with my wife, and have breakfast at home. I think the shows have been better because of that.”
Keith Urban is a busy man. So I can hardly picture him watching a lot of television. But as a kid, he says he remembers doing so when the CMA Awards came on (even all the way down under in Australia). “I grew up in Australia watching the CMA Awards on television, and I remember seeing Barbara Mandrell win (the entertainer of the year award) a couple of times. The award goes to people who really put on a show, which is why they call it ‘entertainer of the year’ as opposed to ‘artist of the year,’” he told the Tennessean. Urban won it in 2005, which he called “mind-blowing,” and now he’s up for the award again this year. “That one is a huge honor, no question,” he said. The story also has Urban talking about balancing family and touring: “I’ve been able to put our daughter to bed, and have dinner with my wife, and have breakfast at home. I think the shows have been better because of that.” That could very well make him entertainer of the year AND father of the year.
Stagecoach 2010 presents something of a battle of the Keiths and country duos, with headliners Keith Urban and Toby Keith making their first appearances next April at the two-day country festival in Indio, while Brooks & Dunn return for a stop on their farewell tour on a lineup that also includes Sugarland, the twosome that’s taken over as country’s reigning pair.
The fourth edition of Stagecoach will take place April 24-25 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio and also will feature country standard-bearers Merle Haggard and Ray Price as well as more recent vintage acts including Billy Currington, Gary Allan, Phil Vassar, Jamey Johnson, Joey + Rory and the Avett Brothers.
Also on the bill will be the Oak Ridge Boys, Carlene Carter, B.J. Thomas, Mary Gauthier, Bill Anderson and the Steel Drivers, among the usual complement of classic and contemporary country, bluegrass, folk and western acts. Tickets go on sale Friday at Ticketmaster and at the festival’s website.
Last year’s event drew more than 100,000 attendees for the two days of music headlined by Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley.
Keith Urban and Empire of the Sun along with Hilltop Hoods and Jessica Mauboy are the first four Australian acts announced to perform at the 2009 ARIA Awards.
All four acts are ARIA nominees this year. Keith Urban is up for best country album for ‘Defying Gravity’, Jessica Mauboy has seven nominations, Empire of the Sun are up for six gongs and Hilltop Hoods are nominated for four awards this year.
As well as the four Australian acts announced today, Robbie Williams will also perform his new song ‘Bodies’.
The 2009 ARIA Awards will be held on November 26 at Acer Arena in Sydney.
Keith Urban will be in Australia for his Escape Together World Tour.
Dates are:
December 12, Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
December 14, Wollongong, WIN Entertainment Centre
December 16, Sydney, Entertainment Centre
December 18, Brisbane, Entertainment Centre
December 19, Brisbane, Entertainment Centre
I could have predicted this. The KC Masterpiece and Kingsford promotion that Keith Urban just did was the most successful one they’ve ever had. The sweepstakes, which encouraged you to text a special Urban phone number to enter to win the Me, You and a BBQ private concert and backyard cookout, garnered 500,000 entries. Granted, some of those might have been the same person over and over. But still, that’s a lot of text messages. Even if they didn’t win, the program also offered Urban’s texting fans to win seat upgrades at concerts and get free downloads of live tracks. And when it was all said and done, more than 32 percent of those fans signed up for his mobile fan club. That gives Urban the honor of being named one of Billboard’s Top 10 wireless artists among all genres.
He was already this year’s top Country Music Association nominee with six nods, but you can add one more to Brad Paisley’s tally.
Paisley and Keith Urban were “inadvertently omitted” Wednesday from the list of nominees for Musical Event of the Year for their duet “Start A Band,” the CMA now says. The addition bumps Urban’s nomination count to five and Paisley’s to a leading seven.
“We take the integrity of the CMA Awards balloting very seriously,” says Tammy Genovese, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “When an oversight like this occurs we commit ourselves to a thorough review, thoughtful and immediate correction, and complete disclosure and accountability to the artists and our industry.”
For his part, Paisley was already taking his bounty of CMA nods in stride.
“I feel like to be leading at anything like that 10 years into a career really is a blessing beyond anything I could have asked for,” he told PEOPLE on Wednesday night at a Nashville Grammy-sponsored concert honoring Vince Gill, when Paisley still thought he had six nominations. “Some of the luckiest artists have good five-year careers in this town – which is better than a lot of pop careers which can last about six months. But 10 years going strong is crazy and I’m hoping to keep going. I’m having a ball and I’m not in any hurry to go away.”
THE prayers of thousands of Australian females are about to be answered.
Each night they get down on their knees and pray that, despite the fact he is married, they can get up close and personal with Keith Urban.
Well, when Australia’s favourite son returns in December this year you can do exactly that.
Echoing back to his early days performing in small pubs and clubs around Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, Keith really wants to know his audience is there, so he is lowering the stage and getting rid of the security guards.
“I really want to create more of a club vibe because I love it when people are leaning on the stage, so there are no big barriers and burly security guards,” he said.
And to make it even more of an intimate experience, there will be two ramps leading from the stage that go right onto the arena.
But while you may think that would lead to hordes of fans flooding the stage to get an even more up close experience with their idol, Keith said it hasn’t happened… yet.
But while the ramps might not be getting a work out from the audience, you can almost guarantee that Keith will be using them to their fullest potential.
If there is one thing to expect from a Keith Urban concert it is the unexpected.
The country superstar is renowned for getting out there in the crowds and ensuring that every member of the audience is kept on their toes for the entire night.
Keith’s 2009 Escape Together World Tour will mark a very special occasion for the singer, who turns 42 next month.
After performing in arenas and stadiums all over the world for the past few months, the tour will come to an end in Brisbane, just down the road from his home town of Caboolture.
And to celebrate, he is performing two shows at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, the only place in Australia where he will play twice. But it is hardly surprising; the Entertainment Centre holds a very special place in his heart.
“I remember going to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre when I was a kid and being in absolute awe,” he said.
“I used to sit there and think ‘what does it take to play here?’.”
Well eight studio albums, a string of number one hits and an arena show that absolutely rocks will always help in securing the venue.
With eight albums worth of music to choose from, including the tracks from his latest album Defying Gravity, which rocketed to No.1 in the US and No.3 in Australia, it must have been a challenge picking the songs for this show.
But now, with the tour well underway, things are pretty sorted out… except for Brisbane.
“The set-list has stayed fairly consistent, it’s a solid two hours on this tour,” he said. “But the Brissy shows will be a particularly good night to jam.”
The tour concluding in Brisbane on December 18 and 19 times in perfectly for Christmas and Keith said he was looking forward to sticking around and celebrating the festive season with his family just outside of Sydney.