Keith Urban: Biography of a Country Superstar

Born Keith Lionel Urban on October 26, 1967, New Zealand native Keith Urban has achieved mounds of success as a solo country music artist. In the early 90s, Urban fronted a trio group called The Ranch, and after splitting from the group to pursue a solo career, he released his self-titled debut solo album on Capitol Records in 1999. 

This album sparked his career with hits like "Your Everything", "But For The Grace of God" and "Where the Blacktop Ends". Not yet established as a songwriter, Keith began making waves with his debut as an artist, and even scored an April 2001 cover shot on Playgirl magazine, which was the magazine's most requested issue, according to Wikipedia.

In 2002, Keith Urban released his second album, titled Golden Road. The big single from that album, "Somebody Like You", set a record by spending nine weeks on the Billboard charts, longer than any other country artist that year. The song also made it onto the soundtrack for the movie "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days", starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. 

Urban's real life girlfriend, Niki Taylor, was featured in the music video for the song. Taylor and Urban dated for three years after Urban had ended his engagement with his former fiancee, Laura Sigler, whom he dated on and off from 1992-2002. Sigler cited Urban's vulnerability to womanizing and drug addiction as problems within the relationship. She even suggested that "Nicole and Keith might date for a while, but it won't last very long.