As one of Country music’s biggest hitmakers, Keith Urban is no stranger to having #1 songs, but he’ll never forget the first time he hit the top and what he bought with the extra cash it made him.
LISTEN NOW: Keith Urban shares how he spent his first big paycheck
Urban scored his first #1 in the country on February 24, 2001 with his third single, “But For The Grace of God,” which he wrote with The Go-Go’s. Following the accomplishment, Urban received a royalty check for $20,000 and he knew exactly how he wanted to spend it.
“I love cars, and I had a ’92 Chevy Caprice at the time, but I really wanted an Impala SS, mid-‘90s-94, somewhere around there would be nice,” Keith shared. “I found one for sale in North Carolina.”
He continued, “Got my first royalty check for ‘Grace of God’ and it was $20,000 and the car was $23,000. I fly to North Carolina to get this car, hoping I can get this guy to come down to 20 grand because I don’t have 23.”
Upon his arrival Keith took the car for a spin, which only made his love for it grow even more. To his amazement, not a single thing was wrong with the car — meaning he had no reason to talk the price down.
“I can’t fault the car, it’s just perfection,” he explained. “The whole time I’m thinking, ‘How do I get this guy to come down on the price?’”
Offering $20,000, simply because that was all he had, the salesman counter-offered with some creativity.
“He goes, ‘Well let me as you this — what sort of money do you make for doing like, an appearance?’ My first thought was ‘None of your business!’” Urban laughed.
“I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he goes, ‘Well, say for example I wanted you to come to the car yard maybe and sign some autographs at some point — what might that cost me?’”
Setting his cost at $3,000 (wink*wink) for an autograph session at the car yard, the salesman agreed and the car was Urban’s!
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So did he ever really return for that autograph session? You better believe it!
“I’m very much of my word,” Urban said. “I think it was 2005 by the time we were touring back through there… that autograph line was insane! I was there for hours and hours and hours and I just remember the big sheepish grin on this guy’s face the whole time.”
Check out Keith’s entire conversation with Katie Neal above to hear even more stories from his early days as a musician.
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