Replies

Keith Urban

Beginnings

Keith Lionel Urban was born in Whangarei, New Zealand (October 26, 1967), but later moved and lived with his parents in Caboolture, Queensland, Australia.

Urban in 1971, age 4

By age six, Urban was already thinking about getting into the music business. He began learning the techniques at age seven and began winning young singing contests by age eight.

Career

In 1992, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he found work as a guitarist for Brooks & Dunn and can be seen backing Alan Jackson in his music video for "Mercury Blues". Later, Urban formed The Ranch, a three-piece group that released their self-named album in 1997 that included "Walk In The Country". Urban disbanded the group to pursue a solo career in 1998.

Since then, Urban has released seven studio albums (all multi-platinum), had fourteen #1 singles, earned four Grammy Awards, been named Male Vocalist of The Year three consectutive times by the CMA (2004-2006), and in 2012, after 20 years in Nashville, Urban was inducted into The Grand Ole Opry.

The Opry honor came in the form of a black duffle bag brought on stage [by co-host Vince Gill] at Keith's annual All for the Hall benefit show at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena .... Visibly confused, the "For You" singer unzipped the bag to find a WSM/Grand Ole Opry microphone stand.

"I'm shocked," Keith said, after Vince gave the official Opry invitation to his friend. "What a huge honor and how beautiful to have this happen tonight!
"I will always remember the first time I played the Opry," the singer-songwriter continued, "seeing this stand and standing in the circle was an extraordinarily surreal moment. So this right here is just a whole other stratosphere! Thank you from the bottom of my heart."
(source)

For You (from the Act of Valor soundtrack)
You'll Think of Me
Somebody Like You
Imagine That (with Don Williams)
Tonight I Want To Cry
Making Memories of Us
Til Summer Comes Around
Sweet Thing
Without You
Put You In A Song
Raining On Sunday

Personal Life

Urban met actress Nicole Kidman at a Hollywood event honoring Australians, in January 2005, but they reportedly didn't begin dating until 6 months later. Kidman and Urban were married on Sunday, 25 June 2006, at the Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel on the grounds of St Patrick's Estate, Manly in Sydney.

[While struggling in Nashville through the 90’s], Urban became a frequent user of cocaine. After reaching a personal nadir in 1998, he became determined to give up the habit and checked into Cumberland Heights, a treatment center in Nashville …
On 19 October 2006, Urban checked himself into the Betty Ford Center in California. On 20 October, Urban issued a statement saying: "I deeply regret the hurt this has caused Nicole and the ones who love and support me. One can never let one's guard down on recovery, and I'm afraid that I have." On 18 January 2007, Urban announced his completion of rehab and his plans to go on tour to promote his new album...

In 2010 Urban did what apparently all celebrities are required to do: confess their sins to Oprah.

The country star admitted he was addicted to "everything" including alcohol, but mostly cocaine.
“You can’t [get clean] for somebody," Keith told Oprah Winfrey. "I couldn’t do this just for her, but to see love in action, to that degree, in that time, in that way, I’d never experienced anything like that."
Since entering rehab in October, Keith has stayed clean. He had been through rehab before, but this time he "surrendered" the outcome.

“[There] was a huge hole in my life that was going to be filled by the right thing eventually or it was always going to be filled by the wrong thing,” he said. “Ultimately for me, [the right thing is] love. … Nic has taught me so much and brought so much to my life and opened my eyes in so many ways.”
(source)

On 7 January 2008, Nicole Kidman confirmed she and Urban were expecting their first child together. Kidman's publicist said "the couple are thrilled and cannot wait." Kidman gave birth to their first child, a daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, in 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee. She weighed 6 lbs, 7.5 oz. On his website, Urban stated,

"Earlier this morning Nic gave birth to our beautiful baby girl, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban. We want to thank everybody that has kept us in their thoughts and prayers. We feel very blessed and grateful that we can share this joy with all of you today."

In 2010, Urban and Kidman had a second daughter, Faith Margaret Kidman Urban, via surrogate at Nashville's Centennial Women's Hospital. The baby is biologically Urban and Kidman's.

Judging Experience:

Urban was a judge (or "coach"--same thing) on the Australian version of The Voice for one season. He jumped that ship to join Idol.

American Idol Appearances:

Urban performed with winner Kris Allen on the 2009 Idol finale.

Nicki Minaj

Her Wikipedia bio is surprisingly long for someone who's career is only three years old. The gist of it is, Minaj has become as famous for her obnoxious behavior and multi-colored wigs as she has for her musical ability. Maybe more so.

From Wikipedia:

Beginnings

Onika Tanya Maraj was born December 8, 1982 in Saint James, a suburb of Trinidad and Tobago's capital city Port of Spain to parents Carol and Robert Maraj, an accounting clerk/gospel singer and an employee at American Express, respectively. Her parents are of mixed Indian and Afro-Trinidadian ancestry and she lived in Saint James with her grandmother ... Her mother would occasionally visit, and one day, when Minaj was five, her mother picked her up to move to the Queens borough of New York City. According to Minaj, her father drank heavily, took drugs, and once tried to kill her mother by setting the house on fire.

After high school Maraj pursued acting in NYC while working odd jobs.

[Onika] was fired from Red Lobster because of her discourteousness to customers. She stated she had been fired from "at least fifteen jobs" for similar antics

Imagine that.

Acting didn't work out, so she turned her attention to music, trying to find her way through the world of underground rap. Somewhere along the way, a producer changed her name to "Nicki Minaj" and she stuck with it.

Career

In 2009, Minaj was featured on a compilation album We Are Young Money which became a Billboard Top 10 hit and led to more high profile collaborations, such as "Up Out My Face" with future Idol co-judge Mariah Carey.

[Her debut album] Pink Friday was released on November 19, 2010. Minaj became the first female artist to be included on MTV's Annual Hottest MC List and the first female artist to top the chart unaccompanied since 2002. In October 2010, Minaj became the first artist to have seven songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart simultaneously ... The album gained Platinum certification in the United States a month after the release.

You can view Minaj's videos HERE, but most of them are marked "explicit" so click at your own risk.

The rest of her bio is strange and sordid (the feud with Carey, questions about her sexuality and her multiple personalities). Read that at your own risk too.

Judging Experience:

None. But as you might have guessed, that doesn't stop Minaj from offering her opinion on any and every subject. And, as is fashionable these days, she responds to any form of criticism with either violence (Mariah Carey claimed she threatened to shoot her (source)) or by screaming RACISM!

Age of Obama: Nicki Minaj Plays Race Card Against Rock Legend Steven Tyler

You'd think being a rock superstar would earn Steven Tyler a modicum of respect. Not quite.
Tyler recently critiqued current "American Idol" judge Nicki Minaj, saying the rap star would likely vote down a young Bob Dylan if he tried out for the show.
Current judge Nicki Minaj responded with a vulgar Twitter tirade:
"You assume that I wouldn't have liked Bob Dylan???" Minaj responded via Twitter. "Why? black? rapper? what? go **** yourself and worry about yourself babe."
"I understand you really wanted to keep your job [on Idol] but take that up with the producers," she continued. "I would have sent Bob Dylan to a cornfield??? Steven, you haven't seen me judge one single solitary contestant yet! … That's a racist comment … Lets make [Steven] a shirt that says 'No Coloreds Allowed' then escort him down 2 Barbara Walters so he can tell [her] how he was threatened w/guns."

Racist?
Tyler went on to say his "American Idol" crew, which included black judge Randy Jackson and Latina Jennifer Lopez, would have given someone like Dylan the green light.
Is the pop culture world condemning Minaj for her cruel comments and incendiary accusation?
Nope.
Is Tyler slinking away and apologizing for offending Minaj?
Yup.
It's standard operating procedure in the Age of Obama. The race card can fit virtually any situation, and you don't need facts to back it up. Chris Matthews can call Mitt Romney supporters racist without proof and keep his gig. Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns can savage the Tea Party as racist without proof and retain his standing in film circles.
So when Minaj fired off her angry retort, she knew she would face no backlash. In fact, she could have predicted Tyler, a rock legend, would quickly apologize for doing nothing wrong.

American Idol Appearances:

None.