Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is an Australian country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and television music competition judge. When he was two years old, his parents moved the family from New Zealand to Australia, where his career eventually began. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album, and charted four singles in Australia before moving to the United States in 1992. Eventually, he found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Nashville and charted two singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
Still signed to Capitol, he made his solo American debut in 1999 with the album Keith Urban. Certified platinum in the U.S., it produced his first Number One on Hot Country Songs with "But for the Grace of God". "Somebody Like You", the first single from his second Capitol album, Golden Road (2002), was named by Billboard as the biggest country hit of the 2000–2010 decade. The album's fourth single, "You'll Think of Me", earned him his first Grammy. 2004's Be Here, his third American album, produced three more number 1 singles, and became his highest-selling album, earning 4× Platinum certification. Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing was released in 2006, containing "Once in a Lifetime", as well as his second Grammy song, "Stupid Boy". A greatest hits package entitled Greatest Hits: 18 Kids followed in late 2007. Defying Gravity and Get Closer were released on 31 March 2009 and 16 November 2010 respectively. In September 2013, he released a brand new album titled Fuse, which produced two more number ones on the newly introduced Country Airplay chart.
Keith Urban has released a total of nine studio albums (one of which was released only in the United Kingdom), as well as one album with The Ranch. He has charted 31 singles on the U.S. country charts, of which 16 have reached Number One (counting a duet with Brad Paisley and the 2008 single "You Look Good in My Shirt", which Keith Urban himself previously recorded on Golden Road). Those number-ones also include his third Grammy Award winning single "Sweet Thing", which is from his album Defying Gravity.
He plays acoustic and electric guitar, as well as banjo, bass guitar, mandolin, piano, sitar, bouzouki, and drums. He is also known for his roles as a coach on the Australian version of the singing competition The Voice, and as a judge on American Idol. Since 2006, he has been married to actress Nicole Kidman.