'''Keith Lionel Urban''', born 26 October 1967, is an Australian country music singer.
Biography
Keith Lionel Urban was born in Whangarei, North Island, New Zealand. Before he turned two years old his family moved to Australia. By age seven, Urban was already thinking about emigrating to America and making his mark in Nashville. Urban began to learn the guitar at age six and began winning talent contests at age eight. By twelve he was booking his band in local clubs, and at fifteen he quit school to hit the road. In 1990, Urban signed with EMI in Australia and recorded his first solo album, which charted four No. 1 country hits in Australia. In 1992, he moved to Nashville to pursue the largest country music market in the world. Originally the front man for The Ranch, a three-piece group that released one album in 1997 to critical acclaim, Urban disbanded the group to pursue a solo career.
In the late 90's Urban battled an addiction to cocaine
[http://www.usaweekend.com/01_issues/011104/011104urban.html "Up from Down Under" by Stephanie Mansfield, ''USA WEEKEND'', November 4, 2001]. After reaching a personal rock bottom in 1998, he became determined to give up the habit and checked into Cumberland Heights, a treatment center in Nashville. After cleaning up, Urban released his self-titled American debut in 2000, achieving three top 5 hits and securing the title of Top New Male Vocalist Award at the 2001 Academy of Country Music Awards. Urban, openly regarded as a modern day guitar virtuoso, has performed as a session musician on albums such as Garth Brooks' ''Double Live'' and the Dixie Chicks' ''Fly''.
In an attempt to gain more exposure, Keith then appeared semi-nude in an interview for ''Playgirl'' magazine's April 2001 issue. The publicity attempt worked as Keith was on the cover of the magazine's readers' most requested issue. 200px|thumb|Keith when he was appeared semi-naked in Playgirl magazine
Urban released ''Golden Road'' in 2002, and the success of the single "Somebody Like You" sent his career into high gear. The single spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the charts, remaining at No. 1 longer than any other country artist in 2002. Three other singles were released, two went to No. 1 and the third was No. 3. The album went platinum in every country where it has been released and is triple platinum in the United States. In 2004 ''Be Here'' was released and nominated for best country album at the Grammy Awards and at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Out of the five singles released from ''Be Here'', three went No. 1, and two fell just shy of that mark to land at
