Keith Urban Failed Music Class In High School

Keith Urban is a guitar master and member of the Nashville Songwriting Hall of Fame; however, he failed music class in high school.

Before his CMA Fest performance last week, Keith told us about a special teacher he had in high school that made a difference in his life.

He explained, "I was very lucky to have a great music education program in Australia growing up, just in state schools. You know, basic state schools always had music class. It was a basic room, piano, and a few little instruments floating around."

Urban told the story of one dedicated teacher. He said, "I had a great teacher; her name was Mrs. Groomer. She was my music teacher in the tenth grade, and she was amazing. She was a great teacher because I couldn't read music, I couldn't write music, and I didn't have any theory. It's just all by ear."

He continued, "She tried to put together something where the curriculum wasn't just based on theory. Because she was looking at several kids in our class, and several of us were going to fail music, she actually wrote us a play. It was called 'Music Is As Music Was,' and it was about the history of music."

"She said, 'I'll write a country song because this guy loves country music. 'This guy loves punk, so we're gonna talk about punk. And they'll all perform this, and it'll be great.' The school was okay with it, so we did this performance. Then the school changed its mind and said it wasn't part of the curriculum, so we all failed, and she quit. She was like, 'This is crazy and makes no sense. '"

He concluded with a smile, "So that kind of passion and caring from the teacher is extraordinary."

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The country superstar has already released a few songs from his forthcoming album, which will be released later this year, but before he started that album, he had another album done. Then something happened.

Keith told us in an interview, "The previous album, I felt like I was 98 percent in when I was listening to it, and that may sound like that's good enough, but not for me. I have to believe in them from top to bottom."

He added, "There can't be one that I'm like, 'Not sure about that one.'"

Urban said, "The album got shorter, forty minutes, top to bottom. The sequencing was important, as to how the album starts and how it ends. The stories, the tempos, the energies, and everything that happened in between are like an eleven-song set list for me. It all made perfect sense to me."

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.

The video begins with shots of various wreckage bobbing along the water's surface, including a guitar, a telephone, sheet music, and other items. Urban is out on the water, using a bobbing sofa as a life raft as he floats along. Then, back on shore, Pink sits alone on the beach, looking out to sea. Keith said of Pink when the song came out, "I've always loved Pink's voice, but her artistry and her multi-faceted ability to create, and her God-given talent, truly makes her one of the greatest voices of our time."

This duet with Carrie Underwood was a massive hit for Urban in 2017. The two also sang it together on a couple of award shows that year. The video which shows him and Underwood singing together while a young woman, who looks a lot like Carrie but is not, dances around. This video is one of his biggest ones and has over 1.2 million views on YouTube.

To promote his song "The Fighter" in 2017, Keith playfully joins his wife Nicole Kidman in their car while the song plays, and they sing it together. Urban has said the song was written about his relationship with Nicole. That video, which was shot on a phone that sat on the dashboard, has been viewed over ten million times. It starts with Kidman saying when she hears the guitar intro, "Oh my gosh, I love this song!"

This was one of Keith's first official music videos and it's from his first number-one song. The video shows a very young and handsome Urban sitting in a house and singing the song's lyrics in front of a fireplace. He also walks down a city street at night.

This video really captures the feel of the song (which Keith co-wrote). He said to fans on Instagram when it came out, "To all of the lost ones who aren't really lost ones, this song is for you. We are WILD HEARTS!" Urban told us of the song, "I'm here to tell you anything can happen in this life if you got the heart and the passion and a God-lit fire inside."

This song is what Keith says was the turning point in his career when it shot to number one on the country charts in 2002. He said, "'Somebody Like You' was one of the most important songs for me that happened and, to a large degree, just sent my career into a whole different speed in a really wonderful way." The video for the song is also visually stunning, showing Urban playing guitar and banjo and singing in the wild while the sun glares through his silhouette.