AS one of America’s biggest music stars, there is little of showbiz Keith Urban has not seen.
From partying to battles with alcohol and drugs, the country rocker has spent three decades at the top.
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But now he enjoys a much quieter lifestyle with his wife of 16 years, Hollywood A-lister Nicole Kidman.
And acknowledging his more turbulent past, the now tee-total Grammy winner says: “I still make the odd mistake but not anything like I did in the past — and these days I see them coming before everything implodes.”
Explaining how he maintains a successful family life with Nicole and their two kids while away on tour, Keith, 54, says: “Work-life balance is never really achieved, it is maintained.
“It can easily go out of whack. I’ve learned a lot about how to correct them. Umpteen years ago I never corrected things until it was too late, but now I see it starting to go out and I’m much better at catching it before things implode.”
As a rising star he entered rehab several times, but made a final trip to the famous Betty Ford clinic in 2006 just months after he married the Northman actress, also 54.
It proved to be a major turning point, as Keith jokes after a gig that he won’t be joining me for a night on the tiles because, “I’d like to stay married”.
‘I have made mistakes’
He adds: “I guess I used to do a thing where I’d work out the ramifications of whatever I did and then decide whether it was worth it — and most of the time I decided it was going to be despite the problems it would cause.
“I’d go, ‘I know this is going to cause this issue, but it will be bloody fun. Night-time me hates daytime me, it’s so true. But the next morning night-time me is nowhere to be found — he’s totally unaccountable.
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“So these days I don’t do anything religiously to live healthier — I just do what I have to so that I can live the life I want to live. Nothing more, nothing less.
“I want to be able to play for hours on stage effortlessly, and still feel good the next day.”
Keith hopes he is now setting a good example to daughters Sunday, 13, and Faith, 11 — whether they choose to follow in their parents’ showbiz footsteps or not.
The New Zealand-born singer, who moved with his parents to Queensland, Australia, when he was two, adds: “Life is very different nowadays. I’m trying to set a good example for the kids, but I still don’t know if I’m getting it right.
“I have made so many mistakes, but you have to work out what works for you. My message to them is always to do what-ever they are passionate about, I don’t care, as long as they work hard to achieve it.
“Both Nic and I worked really hard. For me, it was like paying dues twice. I worked my way up through the clubs in Australia to get a record deal, and then moved to the US and had to start all over again from the bottom.
“Luckily things worked out a second time. I did other jobs along the way. I worked in a warehouse renting out lighting equipment to other bands, but I just wanted to play.
“I wasn’t any good at anything else.”
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But on his healthier lifestyle, he adds: “I don’t lecture people on stuff, not at all. I want people to come to my shows and enjoy their night.
“They don’t come to hear me tell them what to do, and everyone has to do what’s right for them.”
Keith has been in the UK for his hugely successful sell-out tour, with his latest single Nightfalls enjoying wide-spread airplay, after a lengthy Covid-enforced break from the road.
Alongside his music, he has also become a regular face on TV talent shows including American Idol and The Voice in Australia, a move triggered by a throat operation that kept him away from the stage.
He says: “I never saw TV as part of my plan.
“It was in Australia first. They were about to launch The Voice there and it was about 2011.
“I had just had vocal surgery, so it was one of those serendipitous timings where they said, ‘Would you like to come and do this?’ My first thought was ‘no’, but then I felt I wanted to fill that time.
“On that show, more than the other formats, you get some real one-to-one time with talented people trying to make it, so you can build a few people up and create this vibe and really help. That was it.
“It was also a way to let people see a different side of me — when you are on TV, viewers feel they get to know you a bit.”
‘Negative, negative, negative’
Despite his onscreen success, Keith is now firmly focused on his musical career, which has produced 30 No1 hits worldwide.
He has also become a serial collaborator, enjoying chart success with megastars including Taylor Swift, Pink and Carrie Underwood, while scooping an astonishing 19 Grammy nominations, winning four, plus 13 Country Music Association Awards and four American Music Awards.
But an unplanned, two-year break due to Covid restrictions cancelling his busy schedule prompted him to return to the studio at his Nashville home, where he felt “in a rut”.
Keith explains: “I found myself feeling really stuck, and just negative, negative, negative.
“I had all this time to finish my record, but I couldn’t have anybody come to the house with lockdown. I was in such a rut.”
Keith, whose dad Robert died from cancer in 2015, adds: “I called this friend of mine — a really good, older, wiser guy, who I often call up for advice.
“He’s not a professional, just a close friend. I don’t have my dad, who I’d have called when I was younger, any more. It’s important to have some elders in your life.
“I talked for ages and he suddenly said, ‘All you’ve done is tell me what you can’t do, you haven’t said anything about what you can’.
“I said I could go and work on this new thing in my studio, and suddenly he had just pivoted me in my mind and I made this record.
“I’m trying to spend as much time as I possibly can stepping into the light. I don’t always manage it, but I’m doing my best these days.”
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