Keith Urban: ‘I Wrote Plenty Of Hit Songs While Drunk’
Keith Urban told The Times in the UK that he doesn’t like to talk about his past addiction to alcohol and drugs, but that being under the influence did not affect his creativity.
Keith admitted, “I’m glad it didn’t change anything about my music. I wrote plenty of hit songs while drunk. I wrote plenty sober. I feel lucky it hasn’t defined my creativity.”
Urban added, “My dad was an alcoholic, so I grew up in an alcoholic house, and it took me a long time to believe I was wired the same. I don’t talk a lot about it because I love my audience being able to just come and have a great time. I’ve nothing against drugs or alcohol. Everyone does what they want to do to have a great time. I just realized I’m allergic to it.”
In 2009, Keith included a song called “Thank You” on his Defying Gravity album for his wife Nicole Kidman, whom he said saved his life and got him off drugs when he went to the Betty Ford Clinic just after the couple were married in 2006.
The song’s lyrics sing in the chorus, “And I thank you for my heart / I thank you for my life / And I thank god for grace and mercy / And that you became my wife / I’m seeing for the first time / The stars, the sun and moon / But they’ve got nothing on the power / Of this love I have for you /, And I thank you, thank you.”