There's a reason (or three) why fans can't get enough of country star Keith Urban. (Reuters)
There's more to this country crooner from Down Under than his accent.
Keith Urban, 50, is celebrated for his award-winning singing, red carpet looks and charismatic personality. And he is also known for his seemingly healthy 12-year marriage to Oscar-winning actress and fellow Aussie Nicole Kidman.
With the celebrity marriage comes the celebrity noise, which can tend to sweep interesting aspects of Urban's life under the rug. To get an enlightened perspective on the unique chart-topping icon, here are some facts that deserve recognition.
1. He never texts his wife, unless…
“Texting can be misrepresentative at times,” Kidman told Parade magazine in 2018 as she explained how their marriage stays strong. “We just do voice to voice or skin to skin,” she added. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Urban confessed to Ellen DeGeneres in 2013 on how they occasionally exchange sexts while they’re apart to keep the romance alive.
2. How many guitars?
Urban doesn’t consider himself a collector, but he has around 100 guitars, most of which he bought through eBay, he said in an interview on "Late Night with Seth Myers." However, Urban lost "a bunch" of them during the 2010 Nashville floods but had most restored, he told Rolling Stone.
3. Battles with addiction
Urban received treatment for the first time for cocaine addiction in the late '90s, but he made headlines after checking into rehab for alcohol abuse just four months into his marriage following an intervention by Kidman. He’s been sober ever since and outspokenly apologized to Kidman for causing an “implosion on my fresh marriage” and thanked her for his spiritual awakening.
4. A Playgirl magazine cover model
Urban was on the cover of “Playgirl” magazine’s April 2001 issue. In one photo, he appeared fully nude with only a guitar covering his mid-section. “Thank God I play guitar and not harmonica,” he reportedly said in an interview with CMT.
5. His band
Called “The Ranch,” the country trio released their sole album in 1997. Each of the bandmember's individual desire to write songs drove them apart the next year, Urban told Rolling Stone, but Urban’s subsequent success as a solo artist prompted a re-release of the album in 2004 called “Keith Urban in the Ranch.” Although not a household name, their recordings have had discernible impact through covers by well-known artists, including the Dixie Chicks, Scotty McCreery and David Nail.
6. His impression on Charlie Daniels
Country music veteran Charlie Daniels said Urban’s cover of his 1979 No. 1 country hit, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” was one of his favorite renditions of the song. “He just killed it,” Daniels told Fox News. Urban’s credit on Daniels’ 1999 album arguably manifests Daniels’ high praise even more.
7. He trusts his fans… A LOT
Urban has a keen eye for his talented and dedicated fans as he’s invited a select few on stage with him to play lead guitar or sing the lead. Urban admitted he can’t know for sure whether whoever comes on stage will perform to his expectations, but when the risk pays off, it’s an entertaining spectacle.
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