Keith Urban

Keith Urban began his musical endeavors at an early age entering in local competitions and Country Musical Festivals when he was only 10. He grew up idolizing Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knophler and Lindsay Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac fame and began closely modeling his style after these influences. For the next couple of years Urban made consistent appearances on several Australian Country TV programs and went on to win the golden guitar award at the Tamworth Country Music Festival with collaborator Jenny Wilson.

His debut album was released through EMI on 1 October 1991 and managed to reach number 98 on the Australian Album Charts. Apart from pursuing a solo career Urban was involved in writing songs for other musicians as well as backing them on tour. Urban toured alongside legendary Australian Country musician Slim Dusty as a backup guitarist. During this period he also contributed backing vocals to a live INXS album.

After Urban moved to the United States country hub, Nashville, he collaborated with Alan Jackson for the song Mercury Blues and helped pin the christmas song “Jesus Gets Jealous of Santa Claus” for Toby Keith. In 1997 Urban formed a Country three piece band called The Ranch with fellow members Peter Clarke and Jerry Flowers. Urban contributed lead vocals, guitar, ganjo, and keyboards on their one and only self-titled release. Despite the groups short lived career two singles from the album appeared on the country charts.

Around this period Urban became an ardent user of cocaine, which subsequently led him into rehab. Once Urban became drug-free his career received a significant jumpstart and with the release of his self-titled American debut he reached number 145 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and had a number 1 hit with Go-Go’s singer Charlotte Caffey. His success was amplified with his 2002 release “Golden Road”. The opening track on that album “Somebody Like You” stayed at number 1 on the charts for six weeks. His songs “Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me” and “ You’ll Think of Me” both topped the charts with the latter earning him a Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.

Urban has produced five more albums since “Golden Road” all which have done extraordinarily well with the public and has embarked on multiple world-tours with the likes of Bryan Adams, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift and Sugarland.

In addition to his music career Urban has acted as a judge on the Australian version of The Voice and replaced Steven Tyler as a judge for American Idol.

Growing up in the American south on a musical diet of Patsy Cline, Kitty Wells and Hank Williams, Yearwood soon found an interest in music and began singing in musicals, choirs and talent shows. During her time at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, Yearwood worked as a intern, then a full-time employee, at MTM Records, subsequently using the label’s resources to record a series of demo tapes.

Through a connection with Garth Brooks, the singer signed with MCA Nashville who released her debut self-titled album in 1991. Led by the single “She’s in Love with the Boy”, the album peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart, exposing Yearwood to a national audience.

Documenting the emotional heartache of her first marriage's decline, Yearwood’s sophomore album “Hearts in Armor” earned critical acclaim from a host of reputable sources. Unmistakably an album of ballads, it features esteemed artists including Don Henley, Emmylou Harris and Raul Malo and the singles “Wrong Side of Memphis”, “Walkaway Joe” and “You Say You Will”.

Yearwood’s subsequent release, 1993’s “The Song Remembers When” cemented the country singer’s commercial and critical success and was followed by the Christmas album “The Sweetest Gift” in 1994. Her fourth proper full-length album “Thinkin’ About You” earned the singer two more No. 1 hit singles “XXX’s” and “OOO’s (An American Girl” and started a trend in a more adult contemporary direction. 1996’s “Everybody Knows” continued this trend, as did 1998’s “Where Your Road Leads” produced by Tony Brown, “Real Live Woman” released in 2000 and the country chart topping “Inside Out” in 2001.

After a four year hiatus and a two year return to the industry, in which time she released the albums “Jasper County” and “Heaven, Heartache and the Power the Love” and participated in “Broadway Goes Country”, the singer took another hiatus to focus on writing a collection of southern cook books. In 2014 Yearwood signed with RCA Records Nashville and released the greatest hits album “Prize Fighter: Hit After Hit”.

As a child Jamey Johnson was influenced by many country artists such as Alabama and Alan Jackson. Johnson attended the same university as Randy Owen from the band Alabama, but Johnson dropped out of college after two years and joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve where he served for eight years. While in the Marine Corps, Johnson wrote original music and would perform his songs for his fellow Marines. After exiting the Marine Corps he started to perform his music at bars across Montgomery and had the opportunity to open for renowned country acts like David Allan Coe. In the year 2000 he moved to Nashville, US in order to launch his career in country music. By 2002 Johnson self-released his debut album “They Call Me Country”. While in Nashville Johnson started to make connections with well-known artists in the industry, which would lead to the record producer Buddy Cannon helping him get signed to the record label, BNA Records.

In 2006 Johnson released his second studio album and first major label album “The Dollar”. The album reached the No. 20 spot on the US Billboard Top Country Albums chart and its single “The Dollar” reached the No. 14 spot on the US Country charts. Although the album was a fairly successful album and conveyed Johnson’s talents as a songwriter, the other single from the album “Rebelicious” failed to place on the charts, which resulted in Johnson being dropped from BNA. After his departure from the label Johnson focused on his songwriting abilities and wrote many songs for different artists to perform. During that time he wrote the No. 1 hit “Give It Away”, which was performed by George Strait. In 2007 he also co-wrote the hit songs “Ladies Love Country Boys”, which was performed by Trace Adkins and “Another Side of You”, which was performed by Joe Nichols.

In 2008 Johnson released new material under his name by releasing the album “That Lonesome Song”, which was put out by Mercury Nashville Records. His hit singles “In Color” and “High Cost of Living” both made it on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. “In Color” was the more popular of the two singles and earned Johnson an Academy of Country Music award as well as a Grammy Award nomination. The album reached the No. 6 position on the US Top Country Albums chart and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. The album has also been lauded by critics. Rhapsody listed the album as the fifth best country album of the 2000s and CMT listed the album under “A Dozen Favorite Country Albums of the Decade”.

Johnson released his fourth studio album “The Guitar Song” in 2010. The album was met with great commercial success as well as critical praise. The sound of the album contained a classic old school country sound that featured songs that were presented in an outlaw country style as well as songs that were presented in a ballad format. The album reached the No. 4 position on the US Billboard 200 chart and reached the No. 1 position on the US Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Many publications such as Rolling Stone, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe all highly praised the album as well as placed it in high rankings on their top albums of the year list.

Jamey Johnson has proven himself as one of the most prominent singer/songwriters in modern country music. He has collaborated with many notable artists like Alison Krauss, Elvis Costello, and Merle Haggard, as well as embarked on many high profile tours where he has shared the bill with people such as Kid Rock and Willie Nelson.