Keith Urban

With special guest:

• Jeff Apter
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Our own Keith Urban is an enormous success in the biggest music market of all, the United States. Who knew? For some reason Keith Urban has never been really big or even acknowledged in Australia and today we get a few clues as to why that is so.

There is a lot more to Keith than the amiable coach we see in The Voice on Australian TV and our guest today can let us in on some surprises. In his new book Keith Urban our special guest Jeff Apter takes us from Keith’s birth in New Zealand to childhood days on the outskirts of Brisbane to being “discovered” while playing at the Bayview Hotel in Sydney and reaching the stage where he is asked to sing at the opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games. On top of that Keith has been married to Nicole Kidman since 2007 to add a bit of Hollywood glamour to his life.

Yet in the background at all times has been the influence of Keith’s upbringing. Keith’s father Bob was in and out of work and somehow managed to burn down Keith’s childhood home. Bob also had a battle with alcohol. These parts of Bob’s life influenced Keith by raising his level of insecurity. On the other side of things Bob’s love of all things American and particularly country music had a big effect on young Keith.

So despite his good looks, his fantastic guitar playing and his voice that was made for country music Keith suffered from insecurity and substance abuse which resulted in several stays in rehabilitation centres. Keith readily acknowledges the dark roads he has been down particularly when the US music business looked too tough to break into.

But a chance meeting with Nicole Kidman in 2005 changed his personal life and the musical talent was always there. Nicole stuck by her husband in trying times and now Keith has given up alcohol saying when asked about this that he is allergic to it.

This is a great story masterfully told about a boy making good, taking his chances and devoting himself to his success. And as always in Jeff Apter books there are a lot of funny stories when you get right into it. You do not have to be a muso or a fan of The Voice or even interested in the other half of Nicole Kidman to enjoy this book. A fun and informative read.

Jeff Apter

Inspired by Jerry Hopkins’ biography of The Doors, No One Here Gets Out Alive, and a stint on lead kazoo for bedroom band The Rulers, Jeff Apter has written more than 30 books about Australian music and musicians. His subjects include Bon Scott, AC/DC’s Young brothers, Jon English and many others. Jeff was on staff at Rolling Stone for several years.

Song selection by our guest: Walkin’ the Country by Keith Urban & The Ranch

Podcast (mp3)