Keith Urban wins an early ACM award!
Keith Urban has been honored with the Academy of Country Music’s Mae Boren Axton Award for 2016, which honors an individual in the country music industry who has exhibited longstanding dedication and service to the ACM.
Urban has given his time and talent to the organization on a regular basis since his first appearance on the ACM Awards in 2001, presenting or performing in every ceremony since then, excluding 2007. He’s also served extensively with the ACM’s charitable arm, Lifting Lives, which seeks to improve lives with the power of music, funding music-related therapy and education.
The organization dubbed Urban an “exceptional team player” on top of his clearly evident musical skills, and commended him for his mentorship of young artists on American Idol. He also received the ACM’s Jim Reeves International Award in 2009, recognizing his worldwide appeal in the country genre. He has won several ACM Awards throughout his career, including New Male Vocalist in 2000, Male Vocalist of the Year in 2004 and 2005, and Album of the Year in 2004 for Be Here. He has also nabbed awards for several collaborations, including 2013’s “We Were Us” with Miranda Lambert and “Highway Don’t Care” with Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift.
Urban’s most recent album Fuse featured a Grammy-nominated collaboration with Eric Church, “Raise ‘Em Up,” which served as the fifth single on the record and opened the 50th ACM Awards. His upcoming record Ripcord, due out May 6, is sure to be a bit of a left turn for the artist, as he’s already revealed the eclectic album includes a track featuring rapper Pitbull and a song his producer Jeff Bhasker has called a “banjo fusion.” Urban co-wrote his latest single, “Wasted Time,” with two vets in the pop world — Greg Wells and J. Hart, who have worked with artists like Katy Perry and Jason Derulo. Urban is set to debut the song live on March 31 during American Idol.
He will also perform “Wasted Time” during the 2016 ACM Awards live broadcast on Sunday evening (April 3).
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