Keith Urban Receives 2012 Harmony Award, 12/8

Country star Keith Urban will receive the 2012 Harmony Award at the 28th annual Symphony Ball, event co-chairs Mrs. Ansel Lewis Davis (Jana) and Mrs. Orrin Henry Ingram II (Lee Ann) announced this evening. The award will be presented at the Ball on Saturday, December 8, 2012, at Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

Each year, the Nashville Symphony presents the Harmony Award to an individual who exemplifies the harmonious spirit of Nashville’s thriving musical community. “Music City is home to so many talented people who live and work here, and Keith Urban has been such a vital force in this community. What he brings to Nashville, his passion for music, his presence at Symphony concerts and his involvement in this community, is precisely what the Harmony Award symbolizes,” says Nashville Symphony CEO and President Alan Valentine. “There’s such a wide variety of music in Nashville. Whether it’s country, classical or jazz, this is the essence of what makes our city and its music so distinctive and special.”

Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, Urban moved to Nashville in 1992. His first American album came as a member of The Ranch (1997), followed by an increasingly accomplished series of multi-Platinum solo albums: Keith Urban (1999), Golden Road (2002), Be Here (2004) and Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing (2006). Urban’s long string of No. 1 hits, 14 in all, include “But for the Grace of God,” “Somebody Like You,” “Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me,” “You’ll Think of Me,” “Days Go By,” “Making Memories of Us,” “Better Life” and “You Look Good In My Shirt.” He has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide.

Urban has been honored with four GRAMMY® Awards, Country Music Association Awards, Academy of County Music Awards, a People’s Choice Award, an American Music Award and Australia’s coveted Aria Award. He recently became a judge on the 12th season of the FOX Network program American Idol. His reputation as an elite songwriter, musician, vocalist and virtuoso guitarist is no more evident than when he is onstage. He has sold out concert venues from Australia to Canada and the United States, and is known as one of the best that the industry has to offer.

Keith Urban has traveled the world but makes his home in Nashville, where he has been instrumental in providing support for a number of charities, including his renowned “All for the Hall” annual concert, which has raised millions for the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum. In addition, he has participated in efforts to raise money for victims of the 2010 Nashville flood, and has given generously to causes as diverse as Artists for Peace and Justice, Live Earth, Habitat for Humanity and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, to name a few.
Past recipients of the Nashville Symphony’s prestigious Harmony Award include Amy Grant, LeAnn Rimes, Michael W. Smith, Mike & Linda Curb, Lyle Lovett, Trisha Yearwood, Dolly Parton, The Judds, Steve Winwood, Vince Gill, Wynonna and Naomi Judd, Chet Atkins, Martina McBride, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift and Marty Stuart.

Now in its 28th year, the Symphony Ball is Nashville’s premier winter social event and one of the Nashville Symphony’s two annual fundraisers. Since its inception in 1985, the ball has raised a total of more than $6.5 million for the Symphony, sustaining the organization’s mission of achieving excellence in musical performance and educational programs, while engaging the community, enriching audiences and shaping cultural life.

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