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Topic: A Place in the Sun- Keith Urban Interview (Read 487 times) |
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Nicole
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A Place in the Sun- Keith Urban Interview
« on: Dec 10th, 2006, 7:54pm » |
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I thought the Keith fans might be interested. This interview was done a few days pre-rehab. You have to buy the magazine to read the rest. 
A Place in the Sun
by Bill DeMain
“Let’s get some light in here,” says Keith Urban.
We’ve just boarded his El Mirage tour bus, resting in the parking lot of a Kroger grocery store in Nashville. The plush interior—with its chocolate leather seats, mahogany bar and array of mirrors—brings to mind a retro bachelor pad. Urban immediately heads for the window in the main cabin to open the blinds. It’s clear, and buckets of sunshine pour in.
“I was raised in Australia, and I’m used to blue skies and great weather,” he says. “They’re important to my center and spirituality. I’ve tried to keep that alive by writing about it in my songs.”
He pauses and adds, “I think it’s a much deeper analogy, too, of always walking toward the light.”
Urban’s path to the light has often been rocky, paved with dashed record deals, career lulls and drug problems. “I think we go through what I refer to as portals, and it can be quite tumultuous,” explains the 39-year-old. “But you can reemerge out the other side much stronger and wiser.”
Strength and wisdom took years to come by. Since his major-label debut as a member of the Ranch in 1997 to his breakthrough with 1999’s self-titled American solo album, Urban’s rock-fueled style has lofted 13 songs into Billboard’s country Top 10, more than half of them chart-toppers. He has won numerous industry awards including a Grammy in 2005 for Best Male Country Vocal Performance, the Country Music Association’s coveted Entertainer of the Year honor, and last month, the CMA’s Male Vocalist of the Year. His last two albums went triple platinum—and he’s one of the few entertainers who can drive female fans wild while simultaneously impressing guitarists with his fiery fretboard skills.
Urban’s latest album, Love, Pain & the whole crazy thing, finds him celebrating just what the title suggests—especially the “love” part. The uplifting first single, “Once in a Lifetime,” was written for famous bride Nicole Kidman (they wed in June in Sydney, Australia) and sounds like a ready made wedding standard for the 21st century.
Unfortunately, the “pain” part of that equation isn’t entirely in the past yet. After we spoke, Urban checked into a rehabilitation treatment center, having apparently suffered a relapse of the substance-abuse problems that led him to undergo rehab in the late 1990s. “One can never let one’s guard down on recovery, and I’m afraid that I have,” he explained in a statement. “With the strength and unwavering support I am blessed to have from my wife, family and friends, I am determined and resolved to a positive outcome.”
As we learned in our intimate discussion with him, positive outcomes are what Keith Urban has always sought.
Many of your songs—from “Somebody Like You” to “Once in a Lifetime” on the new album—have a theme of renewal. It seems to be a subject that has a strong emotional resonance for you.
I think there’s that kind of phoenix aspect in me. To say “to be reborn” is a bit of a denominational way to phrase it, and I don’t mean it in that sense. I mean rebirth in terms of the various phases we go through in our life. I subscribe to that.
Did you write “Once in a Lifetime” before or after you met your wife?
After. It was actually written the morning after this year’s Oscars. It came from a lot of conversation that transpired, and it was something that I felt very strongly to put into words as best I could—my intentions, where my heart really was. I didn’t mean to write a song about it, but I had a writing session the next morning and that was weighing heavy on my heart. [Co-writer] John Shanks had this great melody and groove, and the lyrics came pretty easily.
http://www.performingsongwriter.com/pages/home/main_top.cfm
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| « Last Edit: Dec 10th, 2006, 7:57pm by Nicole » |
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Shannon
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Re: A Place in the Sun- Keith Urban Interview
« Reply #1 on: Dec 10th, 2006, 10:28pm » |
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Thanks so much for posting this!
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