Keith Urban's Surgically Repaired Voice is "Extraordinary"

KEITH URBAN knew last year's vocal cord surgery was the right thing to do . . . but he had no idea his voice would come back as strong as it has. He says, quote, "I think if a footballer in their 40s was given their knees back like they were in their early 20s, that’s kind of how I feel right now. It's an extraordinary feeling of freedom." A big test came when Keith did a 90-minute set at the Houston Rodeo. He pushed himself as hard as possible and there were no problems afterwards. The surgery has also changed Keith's approach to songwriting. He no longer has to worry about writing something that would actually be painful to sing. He explains, quote, "So I think getting my voice back has sort of been a metaphor for finding my voice more so as well as an artist, broadening it, really, to the things that I want to write about and I feel ready to write about that I guess I haven't in recent years."