Rolling Stone Australia publisher The Brag Media has today announced four-time Grammy-winning artist Keith Urban as its cover artist for its upcoming sixth issue out September 6, marking his first time ever to be anointed with the cover of Rolling Stone.
Delving into the curious mind of Keith Urban, the cover feature profiles one of the world’s biggest music stars, from the New Zealand-born, Australia-raised Americana-lover, through his years on both sides of drug and alcohol abuse, to becoming a global export with 24 country number one hits and a stack of multi-Platinum records.
The feature includes interviews with Taylor Swift, Nile Rodgers, and John Mayer, who all candidly shared what they love most about him and the impact he has had.
Rolling Stone Australia’s Managing Editor Poppy Reid was lucky enough to hang out with Keith multiple times for this feature. The most recent of which was at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, where he’s set to perform twice this December when he kicks off his Speed Of Now global tour.
“Looking back now, we were extremely lucky to have so much face-to-face time with Keith,” Reid said. “Our most recent chat at Qudos Bank Arena, a location he chose, just happened to be at 11 am last month. So while we were sitting on socially distanced seats in the empty arena where Keith played me three unreleased songs, the NSW Premier was announcing tighter lockdown restrictions to be brought in that evening.
“To me, despite his 31-year career so far, Keith Urban is one of the most exciting and interesting artists we’ve ever had the pleasure of chatting to at Rolling Stone Australia,” Reid adds. “For an artist who has been in the game this long, and especially given his close ties to country music, Keith is uncharacteristically genre-less. You only need a cursory listen to his last few records to hear how difficult it is to pigeon-hole his music.
“Across the many privileged hours I got to spend with Keith in Sydney, I was so grateful to experience how open, grounded and curious he was. He was extremely generous with his time, and spoke candidly about his life and the things that are important to him. He’s the real deal!”
The cover photo was taken last month, by Tim Ashton. Urban was styled by Nichhia Wippell, and he wears his own Gucci coat and jewellery with grooming by Sophie Roberts.
Katie Taylor, Rolling Stone Australia Creative Director & Designer said it was an honour to work on Keith Urban’s Rolling Stone cover to bring two icons together.
“I love this cover as much as I love Keith and his music… which is a lot,” Taylor said. “He is a man of creative excellence and the end result speaks for itself. Photographer Tim Ashton hit the brief perfectly and it is testament to his work that we are able to show Keith in this light. I’m looking forward to the release of this magazine on September 6.”
Arriving on September 6th, the next issue of the magazine is set to continue the publication’s status as a major addition to the music and publishing industry, ensuring lovers of music, politics, and culture have everything they could ever dream of in one sharp homegrown package, while also helping to support long form journalism in the process.
To celebrate the announcement of the new cover, Rolling Stone Australia is also giving readers the chance to win a ‘Squier by Fender’ Bullet Stratocaster guitar, signed by Keith Urban himself.
Earlier this year, Rolling Stone Australia expanded its brand with the inaugural Sailor Jerry Rolling Stone Australia Awards, and, according to new Roy Morgan data on the national magazine market, Rolling Stone Australia bagged 152,000 readers in the year to March 2021, ahead of staple Australian mastheads Golf Digest, Family Circle and Men’s Fitness.
Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com
