Today, Keith Urban is one of the biggest names in country music. He has 18 number one hits, countless awards, and served as a judge on the popular competition series, American Idol.
But it was a long road to fame, one that brought Urban all the way from Australia to Nashville in order to chase his dreams. He made his American debut with his self-titled album in 1999, which included the hit “Where the Blacktop Ends.” Urban performed the song at the 2001 CMA Awards, but he had no idea what else the night had in store for him.
All of Urban’s hard work paid off that night when he was named as the recipient of the Horizon Award, which is now known as the New Artist Award. It was the first of many CMA Awards Urban has received over the years. Just four years later, Urban was given the prestigious tile of CMA Entertainer of the Year.
In all history, only six artists who have won the Horizon/New Artist Award at the CMAs have gone on to win the Entertainer of the Year Award, and Urban is one of them.
15 years after he received his first CMA Award, Urban sat down for their 50/50 series to reflect on the moment. He also watched the clip of him receiving the award, which is the first time he ever watched it.
“Oh my God, I lost that suit,” Urban said, as he saw himself walk up to receive his award after hugging Toby Keith.
Besides reacting to his choice of attire, Urban described how he felt in the moment after his name was read to come receive his award:
“Then when they open the envelope and actually say your name, it’s like one of those moments when everything like, slows for a moment. It’s crazy. You could walk through raindrops at that moment.”
Urban also watched footage from when he received his Entertainer of the Year Award in 2005, and described how he was equally stunned by that win. “I never in a million years expected to win that year,” he said.
But he did, and he’s won many more award since then! Tune in below to watch Urban watch his monumental CMA Awards wins for the first time.
With his past pattern of success, we have a feeling the future still has some big things in store for Urban!
