Keith Urban has plenty of awards, although he doesn’t keep most of them. But one he does have in his possession is the ACM Triple Crown Award, which he received in May.
Urban was eligible because he won Top New Male Vocalist in 2001, Male Vocalist of the Year in 2005 and 2006 and Entertainer of the Year in 2019. Urban became the first artist to receive the honor during the ACM Awards ceremony since Carrie Underwood in 2010.
“I was blown away,” Urban admits on the Australian radio show Fitzy & Wippa With Kate Ritchie. “It’s awesome to win, and obviously it’s not why I do it, but it feels bloody good when you do.”
“I was bloody stoked,” he says of the honor. “Absolutely stoked. “It’s one of the rare ones that I actually put on the piano. I don’t have trophies out anywhere, but that one I put right on the piano in the middle of the living room.”
It’s significant that Urban even has the ACM Triple Crown Award. The 57-year-old reveals that he ships most of his trophies halfway around the world to Australia, giving them to someone who he believes appreciates them even more than he does.
“Over the years, I’ve sent a lot of mine to my mom up in Queensland,” Urban shares. “She’s got them on display there. It’s really nice.”
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When Urban received the Triple Crown Award, he said he was overwhelmed by the prestigious industry recognition.
“I’m a bit speechless, actually,” Urban said backstage after receiving the trophy. “I love that I get to do this. I love playing music. I don’t feel like any time has passed at all between winning Best New Artist and then winning Entertainer in 2019. It feels like really no time has passed at all.”
Urban is currently headlining his High and Alive World Tour, where he is making sure to give his fans the best night possible.
“First of all, without the audience, it’s just one long sound check,” Urban says. “So the audience is everything, everything … I’ve watched our audience night after night after night just give so much to me on stage. And when that happens, you can just play forever. If we didn’t have curfews, we’d play way longer.”
“The other thing that I really am aware of, especially having kids, when you want to go to a concert, it’s a big deal,” he adds. “It’s not like going to the movies. It’s a very different thing. You know, parking and babysitters and the like – are we going to carpool? And tickets at will call. We have to get there two hours [early] to line up. And it’s a big, big deal. And then parking, all the expenses, it goes through the roof. So my want is to give them the greatest night and give everything I’ve got, to not take that for granted.”
Urban is touring in support of his latest HIGH album. Find all of Urban’s High and Alive World Tour dates at KeithUrban.com.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of ACM / Gilbert Flores