Keith Urban celebrates his 56th birthday today (10/26). Keith has enjoyed a long and storied career, winning countless awards and performing for fans for many years. He is a good friend to many in the industry and always steps up when someone needs a helping hand or wants to collaborate.
Urban was inducted into the Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame earlier this month (10/11). He received the honor along with Kix Brooks, David Lee Murphy, Casey Beathard, and Rafe Van Hoy. Dolly Parton introduced and talked about Keith at the event.
Before he was inducted, Keith told us, “Being invited into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame is hands down one of the highest honors that’s ever happened to me. I’ve always loved writing songs. I’ve always loved great songwriters, and this is a songwriting town.”
He added, “The song is the very first thing. To be in this group, this incredible group of songwriters is a bit surreal. Honestly, it’s probably still sinking in.”
Urban was thrilled to be inducted alongside many of his friends, especially Kix Brooks of Brooks and Dunn. Brooks was a champion of Keith’s in the early days of his Nashville career. He offered, “This particular group, this Class of ’23, is surreal. I know all of these guys; Casey Beathard is the only guy that I haven’t really met, but I’ve known David Lee Murphy for a long time, Rafe Van Hoy, Kix Brooks, of course.”
He explained, “Kix is like my brother from another mother. He was one of the first people in town to really get behind what I was doing. I had a band at the time called The Ranch, and Kix came and saw us play in a tiny little club. (He) invited us to go out and open some shows for Brooks & Dunn even before we ever had any music out. We had nothing on the radio. He was just a great believer of mine. So to be inducted in the same year that Kix is particularly sweet.”
Keith has released many music videos throughout his career. To celebrate his birthday, we picked six videos that everyone must see.