Keith Urban Dad: Singer's Father Loses Battle With Cancer, 'He Is Finally At Peace' [PHOTO]
Keith Urban is in mourning today after his father lost his battle with cancer over the weekend.
Keith Urban Reveals His Father Is In Hospice Care
The country singer and American Idol host released a statement on his website about his father's passing on Saturday night and thanked fans and others for the support he, his family, and his wife, Nicole Kidman have received since the news broke, and praised his father for inspiring his love of country music and influencing the career path he chose.
"I've been deeply touched by the outpouring of love and support that Nic and I, and our family, have received since my Dad's passing on Saturday night," Urban's statement reads. "His long battle with Cancer is now over and he is finally at peace. My Dad's love of Country music and America set me on my life's journey, and shaped so much of who I am today. Thank you to everyone who has kept us all in your thoughts and prayers."
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The news of his father's passing comes just days after the singer revealed he had been moved to hospice care, with the best hope of only having a few weeks left. It is also just over a year after Kidman's own father passed away in Singapore in Sept. 2014 of a heart attack.
Urban has often credited his father with inspiring his career, saying at a tour of his new exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame that his father's assuredness that an album by Don Williams when he was a kid made him realize he wanted to be a musician,.
"...It hit me in such a way that I thought, 'Oh, I'd love to make records where people know it's going to be solid and then they go out and get it.' So I want to thank him for starting me on this journey," he said at the time.