|
Issue Date: November 4, 2001
Up from Down Under
The life of Keith Urban reads more like a rock soap opera than an old western ballad.
Nine years after leaving Australia, this Nashville "newcomer" is contending this week for the Country Music Association's Horizon Award.
By Stephanie Mansfield
Country music fan Nancy Swales clutches a program and waits patiently in the long line that snakes outside the stage door at the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Va., near Washington, D.C. She and thousands of Western-hatted, boot-wearing suburbanites have come for a Brooks & Dunn show featuring Toby Keith and a charismatic Australian with spiky bleached-blond hair, three silver hoops in one ear, skintight leather pants and a screaming Fender Telecaster electric guitar.
"I'm sure die-hard Willie Nelson country fans don't like him," Swales says, waiting to snag an autograph from Keith Urban. "But he's sexy, and his music's really hot." That must be music to the ears of record executives who have watched sales of country CDs slip from the Garth Brooks boom years while more and more all-country radio stations abandon the format.
Like Faith Hill, Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks, 34-year-old Urban (who prefers to spell his name in all lower-case letters) has joined the ranks of hip young artists breaking down the barriers of traditional country. His recent single "Where the Blacktop Ends" hit No. 3 on "Billboard"'s country chart. Now he's up for the Country Music Association's Horizon Award at Wednesday's ceremony (CBS, 8 p.m. ET).
The wiry, 5-foot-10 virtuoso guitarist with the Aqua Velva-blue eyes also posed semi-nude for "Playgirl" and was one of People's "Sexiest Man Alive" picks, cementing his reputation as the new Dish from Down Under.
"He's one of the hottest new acts in country, and he's got it all," says Chris Parr, vice president of music and talent for Country Music Television in Nashville. "He's an amazing guitarist, he writes, he sings. He's been very popular with our audience," largely 18- to 49-year-olds.
Often referred to by his peers as a "rock star in disguise," Urban borrows guitar riffs from Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Aerosmith, while conjuring up the honey-toned vocals of Glen Campbell. A fixture on the Nashville circuit for several years with his former band, The Ranch, Urban went solo in 1999.
Lounging barefoot, in jeans and wearing a baseball cap, near a hotel pool before a recent show, he recounts his early years in Australia, learning the ukulele at 5, strumming acoustic guitar, mimicking his favorite country stars, winning talent shows, flirting with heavy metal as a teen and dreaming of Nashville. "I grew up playing American country," he says, his voice tinged with an Aussie accent. "I left school when I was 15. I couldn't wait to leave. My parents were driving me to my gigs. They could see I was earning money, and I could earn more money by getting out of school."
He moved from Brisbane to Nashville in '92, eventually forming his three-piece band. The Ranch released one critically acclaimed album, but traditional country radio stations ignored it. "It was probably hard for people in Nashville to accept an Australian," says his mother, Marienne. In fact, it's been 27 years since an Australian won a CMA award (Olivia Newton-John, 1974 Female Vocalist of the Year). This year, Urban is even competing against another Aussie, Jamie O'Neal. "When he got here, there were great expectations," says Marienne, who now lives in Nashville and handles sales of her son's merchandise on the Internet.
By late '98, Urban -- who had four No. 1 country singles back in Australia -- was spiraling out of control. Years of frustration, he says, had led to the addiction. "I could only take so much rejection. Especially when you've paid your dues back home. Then you come here and you're no one."
He admits to free-basing cocaine and says his lowest moment came almost three years ago. "I had this house in Nashville where I used to do drugs. It was a really cheap, run-down place. I remember one night crawling around on my hands and knees, looking for these little rocks at 5 in the morning, and I was drenched in sweat. It was the worst."
Three days later, he checked himself into Cumberland Heights, a treatment center in Nashville. The previous months had brought "major chaos in my life. I pushed everybody away. Cocaine kills everything you need: belief and self-esteem. I was fortunate that I had music. But I think what got me out of it was spirituality. I just couldn't do it anymore."
Says Fletcher Foster, senior vice president of marketing for Capitol Records: "I think people always valued his talent, but no one knew what he was dealing with internally. He told me later there were times he didn't think he'd live through the night."
Urban says, "I'm sure a lot of people wrote me off."
His parents, then still living in Australia, weren't aware of the problem until he entered rehab. "I'm sure people thought, 'Well, he'll go back home,' " his mother says. "But Keith was determined to prove them wrong."
He kicked his habit, entered the studio and got serious, recording and co-producing his first solo album. In addition, Urban wrote three and co-wrote six of the 12 songs. Around the same time, he hired a new management team. Things were clearly starting to jell, as one of his singles, "But for the Grace of God", reached "Billboard"'s No. 1 spot.
In a business rife with heartache and hard-luck stories, Urban's dramatic turnaround is inspiring. It reveals an inner strength and resolve not to squander his gifts. "It wasn't until he came clean with the drugs that he realized the talent he was given," Foster says.
And Music City insiders say the whole town is pulling for him.
His personal life also is back on track. This summer he reunited with his longtime girlfriend, a veterinary technician. Urban then arranged for a man to stand outside the window of a restaurant where they were lunching, holding a large postcard Urban had created that asked, "Laura, Will You Marry Me?"
She said yes.
"They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," he says softly, sitting by the pool, squinting into the sun. "I think that's true. I sought solace in something that started out as a diversion. But being onstage is the best rush. I get off on everything now that got me off as a teenager. I feel like I'm 15 again."
He has painted his toenails a bright metallic gray. Previously, they were gold. "Now they're platinum until the record goes platinum," he says, laughing. "I hope that won't be very long."
Contributing Editor Stephanie Mansfield last profiled actor Kyle MacLachlan for USA WEEKEND Magazine.
Go to top
And our winner is...
Custom woodworker Jim Jeffers, 48, of Jacksonville, Fla., is the winner of USA WEEKEND Magazine's Country Trivia Challenge. This week, the magazine and the Country Music Association will fly Jeffers and a guest to Nashville, where they'll stay at the Opryland Hotel. In addition to the CMA Awards on Wednesday, the pair will attend a rehearsal, a behind-the-scenes event and a post-show party. Along the way, Jeffers, a Martina McBride fan who reads USA WEEKEND in The Florida Times-Union, will receive VIP treatment and have a chance to see country music's biggest stars on their brightest day. For Jeffers, a Navy veteran, the promise of this trip has taken on new meaning after the horrors of Sept. 11 -- a chance to celebrate the USA. As he puts it, "What is more American than country music?"
Our winner reports in on awards night
By Tameka Hicks
Jim Jeffers, 48, shed his regular jeans and T-shirt get-up and slid into a traditional cowboy outfit to mingle among country music's biggest stars at the 35th annual Country Music Association Awards Wednesday night. As USA WEEKEND's Country Trivia Challenge winner, Jeffers and his good friend Sherry Morris, 44, attended the gala in Nashville and "had a real good time. Everyone treated us like royalty. Everything was really, really nice."
It took Sherry a good hour and a half to dress for the show in her white shirt, jeans and clogs. But it took Jim no time to put on one of the two cowboy shirts he brought, along with his black cowboy hat and jeans. "I'm a guy! I'm not your big dresser. There were a lot of people there in long evening gowns. But we were the more traditional country-looking."
Jeffers, Sherry and Jessica Andrews |
Sure, it was a pleasure to walk the same red carpet as Lee Ann Womack, Vince Gill and the Dixie Chicks into the Grand Ole Opry House. But the highlight of Jim's night was watching his favorite artist Martina McBride perform “When God-Fearin' Women Get The Blues.” He would have snapped a picture of her, but cameras were forbidden from the awards ceremony. Jeffers had already snagged rising singer Jessica Andrews - she was a nominee for the Horizon Award, but lost to Keith Urban - for a few moments to pose together, while partying Tuesday night at the Nashville's downtown hot spot Wild Horse Saloon. "It’s one of the places to be seen,” Jeffers says. He and Morris even had a their first taste of southern pulled pork. They also hung out at Warner Bros. studios with Blake Shelton and the group Trick Pony, who performed for them.
The CMAs pre-party was "awesome. They had food the length of a football field. Everything you wanted was free, beer, liquor." On a full stomach, Jim and Sherry enjoyed the ceremony, which aired live on CBS "had a very patriotic theme with a lot of red, white and blue. It just made you feel good to be an American."
Jim returned to Jacksonville, FL Thursday, far from the glitz and glamour of celebrity. An unforgettable night it was though, and he thanks USA WEEKEND Magazine for it all. He said just being at the awards was "definitely the highlight of the trip. The anticipation was worth the wait. It was a once in a lifetime experience. The general public can't just go out and buy these tickets."
Photography by TONY BAKER for USA WEEKEND
|
