KEITH URBAN "ESCAPE TOGETHER WORLD TOUR" :

Keith Urban’s “Escape Together World Tour,” which is already expected to be one of the biggest concert events of the Summer, today announced the creation of a concert ticket that will cost fans only $20.00. At Urban’s insistence, select number of seats will be made available for all “Escape Together World Tour” dates. In what is a truly unprecedented occurrence, especially for an arena tour, all per ticket transaction fees for the $20.00 ticket have been waived.
“It’s easy to see that people out there are hurting,” said Urban. “And if these ticket prices can help some of them to let loose, forget about their daily grind and enjoy a night of music, then that’s what we intend to give them and everyone else that comes out to our shows.”
Urban’s 2009 is already shaping up to be a big one. His current single “Sweet Thing” marks his 18th Top 5 single in the US and his 14th #1 in Canada. He will be performing live at the Super Bowl of car racing, the “Great American Race” – the Daytona 500 - at the Daytona International Speedway, which will be broadcast live Sunday, February 15th on the FOX Network. And March 31st will mark the release of his 6th studio album Defying Gravity.
“Escape Together” gets underway this May and fans are encouraged to stay tuned to their local Country radio station and/or watch this site for tour dates and ticket information.  ... Source ...

Keith Urban Escape Together Tour :

This is a big year for Keith Urban. With a new CD, Defying Gravity, this May will mark the launch of his "Escape Together World Tour," which will visit 58 cities across North America in 2009. Urban will team with a different touring partner in each city, including superstars Sugarland and Taylor Swift, as well as Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, The Zac Brown Band and Dierks Bentley.

KEITH URBAN INFO :

Born in New Zealand, country artist Keith Urban learned to play guitar as a six-year-old in Australia, after a young woman asked to place an ad in his dad's shop window offering guitar lessons. His parents made a deal with her, offering their advertisement in exchange for lessons for their young son. The boy demonstrated natural ability, and by the time he was eight, Urban was winning local talent shows. He also involved himself with a youth acting company that required him to sing, dance, and memorize lines, all of which led to a level of comfort on-stage that would later serve him well in his solo career.

With his father deeply interested in American culture and country music, it was natural that Urban would gravitate toward the country genre as well, and the burgeoning musician took influence from the voices of Glen Campbell, Dolly Parton, and Don Williams, as well as the songwriting talents of Jimmy Webb ("Galveston"). Urban added his own dimension to those influences when he discovered Dire Straits and became interested in the guitar playing of Mark Knopfler and Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham, which led to in-depth study and endless practice of their techniques.

Australian country music was primed for a revolution at the start of the '90s, and Keith Urban -- young, brash, blonde, rock-ish -- was part of that transformation. After signing with Australia's EMI branch, he issued his first album and charted multiple number one hits in his home country. Still, Urban's eye remained on Nashville, TN, which he considered to be the birthplace of the music in his heart. Having made periodical pilgrimages to Nashville to forge valuable career bridges, he soon decided to base himself in the city. With his Australian bandmate, drummer Peter Clarke, he formed the three-piece band the Ranch. Their original bass player soon returned to Australia, but West Virginian Jerry Flowers quickly fit in.

The band's live shows, featuring Urban's standout lead guitar playing, led to a record deal with Capitol Nashville and a management contract with I.R.S. Records founder/Police manager Miles Copeland. The group's debut album, The Ranch, was released to critical acclaim in 1997, receiving accolades for its unique take on country music and Urban's guitar playing. The music industry also took notice, and when the Ranch disbanded soon after, other artists called on Urban to add some of his fleet-fingered magic to their records. Garth Brooks asked Urban to perform on Double Live, the Dixie Chicks invited him to play on their second album, and Matt Rollings -- one of Nashville's top musicians -- hired Urban as a session player on an album he was producing. The two immediately clicked.

Impressed with Rollings' knowledge of Nashville's session players, Urban asked him to produce his next solo album. Released in 1999, the self-titled Keith Urban spawned four hit singles and helped paved the way for his successful solo career. A tour in support of that album saw Keith Urban opening for such major acts as Dwight Yoakam, Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw, as well as headlining his own shows. Urban found increased success with 2002's Golden Road, which sent three singles to the top of the country charts and went triple platinum in the U.S., as well as 2004's Be Here, which bested the feats of its predecessor by selling over four million copies. Keith Urban was now a contemporary country superstar, replete with Grammy nominations and paparazzi attention, and his label capitalized on that attention by re-issuing the Ranch's debut album later that year. An anthology, Days Go By, followed in 2005.

The next year, Urban continued to attract media attention with his highly publicized engagement (and June marriage) to fellow Australian Nicole Kidman, plus his voluntary entry into a rehabilitation center for alcohol abuse. He temporarily postponed all his upcoming promotional appearances, but the album Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing was released that November as scheduled. Although it failed to produce a number one hit (the first of Urban's solo albums to do so), Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing nevertheless went double platinum in America, aided in part by a successful tour with opener Carrie Underwood. Urban then returned to the top of the charts in 2008 with a re-recorded version of "You Look Good in My Shirt," which had originally appeared on 2002's Golden Road before receiving the revised treatment for Urban's Greatest Hits: 18 Kids. Later that year "Sweet Thing" also charted well, setting the stage for the release of Defying Gravity in 2009. ~ Ed Nimmervoll & Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide. .... Source ....

KEITH URBAN BIO (Brief)

Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967 in Whangarei, New Zealand) is an Australian country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban began his career in Brisbane having moved to Caboolture, Australia at an early age. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album, and charted four singles in Australia before moving to the United States in 1992. Eventually, Urban found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Records and charted two singles on the Billboard country charts.

Still signed to Capitol, he made his solo American debut in 1999 with the album Keith Urban. Certified platinum in the U.S., it also produced his first American Number One in "But for the Grace of God". His breakthrough hit was the Number One "Somebody Like You", from his second Capitol album Golden Road (2002). This album also earned Urban his first Grammy Award win for "You'll Think of Me", its fourth single and the third Billboard Number One of his career. 2004's Be Here, his third American album, produced three more Number Ones, and became his highest-selling album, earning 4× Multi-Platinum certification. Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing was released in 2006, producing the record-setting #17 country chart debut of "Once in a Lifetime", as well as Urban's second Grammy for the song "Stupid Boy", while a Greatest Hits package entitled Greatest Hits: 18 Kids followed in late 2007. This album was re-released a year later as Greatest Hits: 19 Kids with one track added: the number one "You Look Good in My Shirt", which he had previously recorded on Golden Road. Urban's latest work, "Defying Gravity" was released in April 2009.

Urban has released a total of eight studio albums (one of which was released only in the United Kingdom), as well as one album in The Ranch. He has charted more than fifteen singles on the U.S. country charts, including ten Number Ones. Urban plays acoustic and electric guitar, as well as ganjo,bass guitar, mandolin, piano, and bouzouki.

Background
Keith Lionel Urban was born in Whangarei, New Zealand, though soon moved with his parents to Caboolture, Queensland, Australia. His grandparents emigrated from Poland to Australia.[citation needed] By age seven, Urban was already thinking about getting into the music business. He began learning the techniques at age six and began winning young singing contests by age eight. In 1990, Urban signed with EMI in Australia and recorded his first solo album, which charted four No. 1 country hits in Australia.
When asked about his nationality in an interview with the Max Sessions, Urban states:
" ... because I'm an Aussie guy. I was barely 2 years old when I left New Zealand and uh, Australia's always going to be home... I think if you left a country at barely 2 years old you really don't lay claim to the place. I love New Zealand, but I wouldn't call myself a New Zealander."

In 1992, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he found work as a guitarist for Brooks & Dunn and can be seen backing Alan Jackson in his music video for "Mercury Blues". Later, Urban formed The Ranch, a three-piece group that released one album in 1997. Originally the front man for The Ranch, Urban disbanded the group to pursue a solo career in 1998. In 1999, Urban found "Vocal Coach to the Stars" Brett Manning, and worked with him up until 2001.

In Nashville, Urban became a frequent user of cocaine. After reaching a personal nadir 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 1999, which produced three top 5 hits and secured for him the Top New Male Vocalist Award at the 2001 Academy of Country Music Awards and the 2001 Country Music Association's Horizon Award. Widely regarded for his guitar skills, he has performed as a session musician on albums such as Charlie Daniels, Emerson Drive, Garth Brooks' Double Live, Dixie Chicks' Fly, and Paul Brandt's This Time Around.

Golden Road & Be Here
Urban released Golden Road in 2002, and the success of the single "Somebody Like You" sent his career into high gear. Touring as a supporting act for renowned country acts Brooks & Dunn, Martina McBride and Kenny Chesney honed Urban's skills and stage-craft. Country video channel CMT signed on as the title sponsor of Urban's first headlining arena tour titled Keith Urban Be Here '04 with opening act Katrina Elam. Urban continued his meteoric rise to fame in 2005 with a very successful tour with Elam called Alive in '05. He performed in the Live 8 Philadelphia concert on 2 July 2005 and had been chosen by The Gap to appear alongside seven other musical stars in their "Favorites" campaign. He was named the 2005 CMA's Male Vocalist of the Year. He released a DVD in late September 2005 entitled Livin' Right Now, recorded in at the Wiltern Theater in California in December 2004.

In 2005 Urban played in front of European audiences for the first time. In May Urban supported Bryan Adams on his UK and Ireland tour, which included dates in Earls Court, London, SECC, Glasgow and The Point, Dublin. On 6 June a UK only album, Days Go By was released, this album contained songs from both Be Here and Golden Road .

In October Urban returned for a headlining tour with Nerina Pallot and Richard Winsland as support acts.

Urban has recently performed "Better Life" on the CMA Awards and "You'll Think of Me" on the American Music Awards. He also performed at the Grammys playing "You'll Think of Me" and "The Lucky One" with Faith Hill. At the 2006 ACM Awards Urban performed "Tonight I Wanna Cry" and played guitar for Brooks & Dunn's song "Believe."

Love, Pain, & The Whole Crazy Thing
On Monday 21 August 2006, Urban made history when his new single "Once in a Lifetime" debuted at #17, setting a new record for the highest-debuting country single in the 62-year history of Billboard's country charts. The record was formerly held by Garth Brooks' "Good Ride Cowboy" and Eddie Rabbitt's "Every Which Way But Loose", both of which debuted at #18. "Good Ride Cowboy" was the highest in the BDS era (1990-present).

Urban is also a winner of numerous "Golden Guitars", which are presented annually during the Tamworth Country Music Festival at "The Country Music Association of Australia's Annual Awards" in Tamworth, Australia. He is also a former winner of the Toyota Starmaker Contest, which is held each year in conjunction with the CMAA Awards and the Tamworth Country Music Festival.

Keith was named artist of the month for July 2007 on the television network GAC (Great American Country). He answered a question of the day every day that month, and did multiple interviews about love, life, his new album and his stay in rehab.

On July 7, 2007, Keith performed with Alicia Keys at one of Al Gore's Live Earth concerts held around the world. The concerts were held to raise awareness of global warming. Keith performed at the concert held in New York City and said in an interview that global warming is not a political issue, and what he is doing to help the environment is running all bio-diesel buses in his Love, Pain and The Whole Crazy World Tour.
Urban released his first greatest hits collection, Greatest Hits: 18 Kids, on 20 November 2007. The CD contains all of his top 10 hits, along with two new songs, "Romeo's Tune" and "Got It Right This Time (The Celebration)."

In January 2008, Urban embarked on the Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour with fellow country singer Carrie Underwood. In early May 2008, Urban debuted a new song at the Grand Ole Opry titled "A New Sunshine". And in late May 2008, Urban re-recorded a song from his sophomore CD, "You Look Good in My Shirt". The song was released on the radio at the end of May. "Over the years it ("You Look Good In My Shirt") has always played like a hit song," said Keith. "That, combined with numerous requests from both fans and radio about why it was never a single, inspired us to get back into the studio and re-record the song."(keithurban.net) The single was a pre-cursor to the "Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy World Tour" concert DVD release in the Fall of '08. Urban's newest release "Defying Gravity" was released March 31, 2009.

"You Look Good in My Shirt" was the first single from Keith Urban's re-recorded 2007 album, Greatest Hits: 18 Kids. The album was released under a different title, Greatest Hits: 19 Kids on 19 August 2008. Keith Urban will also be featured on Brad Paisley's upcoming instrumental album titled Play, on a song called "Start a Band."

Defying Gravity
Urban recently announced that the lead single for his forthcoming 5th studio album will be titled "Sweet Thing". This song became the first #1 single off the album. The song was co-written with Monty Powell, who wrote some of Urban's past hits, and co-produced with his longtime producer Dann Huff. The album, Defying Gravity, was released on 31 March 2009, through Capitol Records. Its second single, "Kiss a Girl", debuted in March 2009.
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