And the Welcome everyone to another edition of So Dijker on Songwriting.

This is Brian, here as always with Simon,

and joining us today is a New Zealand born Australian raised singer,

songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer,

and Grandol Opry inductee. To date he's achieved 37 singles on the US

Hot Country Chart, 18 of which were number ones.

He's also won four Grammys and 12 Country Music Association Awards and has performed and collaborated with artists like The Rolling Stones,

Nyle Rogers, Pit Bull, Alicia Keys, Stephen Tyler Swift, Richard Marks and John Fog Fogertyacy to name a few,

we are thrilled to welcome the marvelous Keith Urban to the show.

Keith was over in England recently to promote a forthcoming UK tour

which is happening in May 2020

and we caught up with him at a Kensington Hotel with a beautiful panoramic view of Hyde Park and the London skyline beyond.

He was a terrific guy. We had a blast talking to him and we know you're going to enjoy this one.

Our guest was born in Fangare New Zealand in

1967 and raised in suburban Brisbane, Australia. His first instrument was a ukulele gifted to him age 4. A couple of

years later his dad who ran a convenience store

enlisted a guitar teacher visiting the shop to teach his son how to play. The young

Keith duly took lessons and influenced by the likes of Mark Knopfler and Lindsay Buckingham gradually

developed his own style. He wrote his first song with his brother around the age of

10 and started playing in bands a couple of years later. He soon began entering

local competitions, acted in a local theatre company, and at one point even appeared as a contestant on the TV Talent Show New Faces.

He quit school at 15 and around the age of 18 began to make in roads into the Ozzy country scene.

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