Multiple rehab stents, a physically abusive dad,
and the tragic loss of a friend.
Keith Urban may be a chart topping country superstar,
but he's also had many tragedies in his life that
are absolutely devastating.
Keith Urban wasn't one of the unfortunate celebrities who lost
their houses in the California wildfires of
2018, but that doesn't mean he couldn't relate to the
stars who did.
In fact, he suffered a very similar experience at the
age of just 10 when his family home burned down.
Luckily, Urban and the rest of his immediate family weren't
on the property at the time.
The singer and his sibling were in school,
while mother Marion and father Robert were both at work,
but the memories of what was left still haunt him,
he told Extra. And when you're walking through the house
and it's just charred and,
and it's black, it's black everywhere you look,
it's gives me chills. Urban also recalled how locals rallied
around the family following their devastating loss,
saying. And not just the Goodwills and the Salvation armies
and the Red crosses,
which also came to our aid,
but also the community with clothing and food and shelter
and a place to stay.
Unbelievable.
Urban's own issues with alcohol have been widely documented,
but in 2016 he revealed to Rolling Stone that he'd
grown up with a father who had a similar problem.
Urban opened up about his early family life when asked
if there was anything he wished he could have changed
about it,
he told the outlet. I'd like to have been raised
in a much more intimate house.
My dad was an alcoholic and I grew up in
an
alcoholic's house. No intimacy. In another chat with the same
magazine five years later,
Urban explained that his experiences as a youngster impacted his
ability to deal with his own substance abuse issues.
He said it took me a long time to get
sober,
took me a long time to recognize my alcoholism,
a long time because I didn't drink like my dad.
So I compared everything to him.
But I was able to finally make the right choice
in my life that I wish my dad would have
made.
Urban's father was not only an alcoholic,
he was a strict disciplinarian too.
Unfortunately for the future country star and his brother,
this would often manifest itself in physical beatings.
During his 2016 interview with Rolling Stone,
Urban revealed how it took him a long time to
accept that he was a victim of abuse,
he told the outlet. 10 years ago,
I would have said he never did anything I didn't
deserve.
Now I realize it's not about deserving it.
The country star then added how his father was emotionally
distant,
saying. I don't recall him ever telling me he loved
me as a kid.
I'd do a gig I thought was fantastic and the
only thing he'd say is when you speak on stage,
you've got to slow down.
He never commented on anything else.
Urban also spoke about how his dad appeared to have
forgotten the physical abuse he inflicted as he entered his
twilight years.
Urban told Rolling Stone. I don't think he was in
denial.
He genuinely had no recollection hitting you.
I never did that. In
1998, Urban made what would be the first of several
trips to rehab after enjoying the rock'n'roll lifestyle a little
too much.
He checked himself into the Cumberland Heights facility in Nashville
after realizing that his addiction to cocaine had gotten out
of control.
Urban was living in the Tennessee city at the time,
telling USA Weekend several years later.
I had this house in Nashville where I used to
do drugs.
It was a really cheap,
rundown place. I remember one night crawling around on my
hands and knees looking for these little rocks at 5:00
in the morning,
and I was drenched in sweat.
It was the worst. In another interview with Rolling Stone,
Urban recalled how he began his wild partying days while
touring with his band to the ranch.
He told the Outlet. I liked to get crazy after
the gig,
and when I would do lots of drugs is when
I was home off the road.
If we were home for five days,
I'd be up most of the time,
and then I would sort of get it together and
then we would play the show that night.
In his revealing 2016 Rolling Stone interview,
Urban reflected not only on the physical toll of his
drug addiction,
but also its emotional toll.
In fact, he was once so depressed that he started
to believe that his end was near,
referring to the despair he experienced while taking ecstasy and
cocaine in the 1990s.
Urban said. I didn't seem able to stop.
There was no stopping this time.
I'd go to sleep, wake up a couple of hours
later,
go out again drinking to take the edge off.
I remember thinking I'm probably not going to make it
until tomorrow.
And then I thought, I really don't care.
Urban also expressed regret that he didn't seek professional help
much earlier,
admitting I knew I wasn't at my full potential and
that's what was starting to get to me.
I was enslaved. I was living a very,
very small life. It seems fair to say that Nicole
Kidman and Keith Urban didn't get much of A honeymoon
period.
Just a few months after they walked down the aisle
at a ceremony in Sydney,
the country singer once again checked himself into rehab.
This time around, it was for alcohol abuse.
And it was the result of an intervention,
too. Three months into our marriage,
we had to dig really deep,
and that's what we're doing.
As Urban explained to Rolling Stone about his stint in
the Betty Ford Center,
Kidman took matters into her own hands after he fell
off the sobriety wagon,
he revealed. I was very,
very blessed to have Nick call an intervention on me.
I had a tight group of friends around me for
the intervention and off I went and didn't give a
about anything except turning a corner in my life and
doing whatever it took for that.
Urban revealed that he started drinking alcohol again for the
first time in eight years during a period in which
his wife was busy shooting a film in Kosovo,
he told Rolling Stone. I would find myself feeling very
alone,
very lost and vulnerable to my old ways.
Urban experienced the downside of being a world famous country
music star in 2020 when he was essentially pursued by
a paparazzi photographer on his way to an Alcoholics Anonymous
meeting. In an effort to shake him off,
Urban, who was riding a motorcycle at the time,
ended up getting into an accident and in a statement
released through his publicist,
Urban was keen to set the record straight about what
went down.
He said in the statement,
while out riding to an A a meeting,
a time when my privacy is especially important to me,
I felt myself being pursued.
I speed up and in an effort to elude an
oncoming car which was making an illegal U-turn,
saw no choice but to drop my bike.
The country star then threw something of a plot twist
into proceedings,
revealing that the man who'd essentially caused the incident,
he actually came to his aid,
resisting the temptation to take any snaps in the process.
Luckily, Urban wasn't injured and was able to continue to
his a a meeting.
In 2021, Urban was booked to play the Bash on
the Bay,
an annual festival staged at
Ohio's Lake Erie. Tragically, his long running tour production manager
suffered a fatal fall the day before.
Randy Baja Fletcher teamed up with Urban in
2011, was overseeing the staging at the time.
In a statement released to Billboard,
Urban spoke of Fletcher's zest for life,
saying he saw the commonality in all of us.
And I can promise you this,
once you'd been in the orbit of his light,
he'd stay with you forever.
Some people ask are you a glass half full or
a glass half empty kind of person?
Baja's view was what a beautiful glass.
I loved him, we all loved him.
In 2017, Fletcher had accepted the inaugural Touring Lifetime Achievement
Award by the Country Music Association for his services to
the industry.
The production manager had enjoyed A5 decade stint in the
business,
interrupted only by a Vietnam tour during his brief spell
in the American military.
Urban's glittering career came full circle in
2011 when he was appointed as one of four coaches
on the inaugural season of The Voice.
But many years before, the country singer first caught attention
on two separate TV talent shows.
Unfortunately, however, the budding country star had his dreams shattered
by the judges on both shows.
Urban first put himself at the mercy of Bernard King,
70s Australia's answer to Simon Cowell,
as an 11 year old on Pot of Gold with
a cover of Applejack.
And the fearsome judge didn't hold back.
As Urban recalled on Conan,
King told him. I desperately encourage you to escape the
mediocrity,
get out of country and western and get into some
real music.
King then added that if Urban continued singing country,
he'd end up sounding absolutely useless.
Undeterred, Urban went on to try his luck on the
TV show New Faces at the age of 16 with
a rendition of Air Supplies soft rock classic All Out
of Love. Obviously not sensing they had a future Grammy
winning chart Topper on their hands,
the shows judging panel claimed that he still had a
lot of work to do.
It seems as though the elements are against Keith Urban.
As well as losing all of his earthly possessions in
the fire that engulfed his family home at the age
of 10,
the country superstar also had to suffer the heartache of
losing his beloved collection of guitars in a flood in
2010. An extreme downpour affected the Nashville rehearsal space where
Urban stored his stash of musical instruments and sadly,
it instantly rendered them unplayable.
The country singer was particularly upset about the damage to
his
1988 Fender telecast, a 40th Anniversary Edition model named after
guardian Angel Clarence in the Christmas classic It's A Wonderful
Life.
You've been given a great gift,
George, a chance to see what the world would be
like without you.
Urban had bought the guitar during one of his first
visits to the Big Apple during a period when he
barely had a scent to his name,
he told Rolling Stone. It cost
$2500 or around $5000 Australian,
which is like $6000 more than I had,
but I feel like if a guitar is in your
possession or the current caretaker and your job is simply
to take care of it.
The fact that they all drowned on my watch just
was devastating to me.
Urban's career has been halted several times by one of
the worst nightmares for someone who belts out country songs
for a living.
Damage to his voice, The singer was first forced to
take a break after developing throat problems shortly after The
Ranch released their self-titled debut album in
1997. And then, 14 years later,
Urban had to postpone all live commitments when he underwent
surgery to remove a vocal polyp that developed during his
Get Closer World tour
24 hours before the successful procedure,
which left him unable to talk for three weeks.
Urban told fans on his official website.
I want to thank you for sending such good wishes
for my upcoming surgery.
I can't express enough my gratitude to you guys.
It feels like family. Luckily,
Urban made a full recovery,
and he later paid tribute to the doctor,
Steven M Zitels, who helped him on this path,
according to Billboard. Urban said at an event honoring the
medic.
When you healed it and fixed it the way you
did,
I felt my entire spirit and life lift.
I got stressed way less.
I didn't have anxiety. It had such a profound effect
on my whole being and world.
That's how important my voice is to me.
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction
issues,
help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration website or contact Samsa's national helpline at One
806 Six Two Help
4357.