Keith Urban is one of country music's biggest stars and never fails to win the crowd over with his incredible stage presence. And yet, the Australian icon wasn't always the confident and cool crooner that we know and love. Keith got candid about being shy as a child, a trait that plagued him for years until a fellow performer gave him a golden nugget of advice. "It was like a little shield, like Linus with his security blanket, so it was quite comforting to have a guitar," he said of his preferred instrument.
The father of two added that he wasn't a natural performer as a teen, but was inspired to become an artist after receiving some words of wisdom from the frontman of a band he was playing in at the time. As per Country Now, the Florida-born singer who led Keith's band took him aside one night and asked him to try connecting with the crowd during his guitar solos.
"He was a great entertainer. He was excellent, and I learned so much from him, and I was playing guitar and a bit of keyboards in this band and trying to learn a lot from him as a frontman," Keith recalled. "And one night he said to me, 'Hey, when you play a solo, why don't you go to the front of the stage, you know, and just play like that and lean into the audience and really play?'"
The "Somebody Like You" singer continued: "I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, I couldn't do that.' He goes, 'Why not?' I go, 'Because they'll think I'm like stuck up, like I'm hot, like I'm full of myself.' He goes, 'Well, are you?' I said, 'No.' He goes, 'Then they won't.'"
Keith explained that a lightbulb went off inside his head, making everything clearer for the budding musician. "It sounds so obvious, but it was literally like if you are generally a down-to-earth, grounded, good, tongue-in-cheek type person, you can do anything and the audience will love it, 'cause they know you're not an arrogant, cocky person at all," he said.
"You're just putting on a show. But to his point, if you do think that you're pretty hot, it won't work. They'll know you're just a complete egomaniac, and it won't work, and you'll strut and cop a pose and do all this stuff and they won't like it. But if you're tongue-in-cheek, if you're down-to-earth and grounded, it'll work."
No one is more grounded than Keith, who lives with his adoring wife, Nicole Kidman, and his two teen daughters, Sunday and Faith, in Nashville. The 57-year-old recently revealed that he had gotten his start playing in "seedy pubs", which was not at all glamorous, but an incredible learning curve.
"Paying your dues sucks, but there are things in this business that can't be taught, like how to put together a set list, whether to extend or cut a song during your performance, or how to work the crowd," he told Deadline. In a testament to his growth, Keith has gone on to win four Grammy Awards, 13 CMA Awards, and six ARIA Awards in his home country of Australia throughout his storied career.