We wish her a quick and full recovery!

After canceling her U.S. tour in October because of hemorrhaging due to a benign polyp in her vocal chord, proving the throat cancer rumors untrue, Adele has had laser surgery on Monday to stop the bleeding. The singer is expected to make a full recovery.

From her singles, “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You,” alone, it is easy to see what a talented gift this British singer-songwriter has. We hope that Adele is back on her feet in no time, making her third record which is sure to be filled with her heartfelt lyrics and soulful melodies.

Adele isn’t the only singer that will be put on vocal rest due to a polyp.

It  was announced at the beginning of November that country singer Keith Urban is also set to undergo throat surgery later this month due to a polyp on his vocal chords. Following his surgery, Urban says that he will be forced to postpone or cancel any of his appearances which require him to sing more than one song, and will be rescheduled in 2012.

Singer John Mayer also underwent surgery in October, due to a granuloma just above his vocal chord, and will be on vocal rest for the rest of he month.

“I should be frustrated but I can’t seem to stop thinking about beautiful things… I never thought I’d be wishing I could do what I love again,” Mayer posted on his blog the day of his surgery. “The only difference between now and when I was 18 is that now I have this beautiful, meaningful record waiting for me when I can sing it.”

We can’t wait to see all three back on the music scene very soon!

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It looks like Oprah’s going to be doing more than just taping a few shows during her trip to Australia this week.

Radar Online is reporting that the queen of middle-aged women everywhere took a break from her show’s special taping schedule in the land down under to take a yacht cruise with the ever-charming Russell Crowe.

O and Crowe took a quick sail through Sydney Harbor followed by a flotilla of smaller boats carrying the hundreds of lucky women and fans. The ladies were winners of the talk show’s dream trip giveaway and were invited to accompany Oprah on the landmark trip and taping.

We imagine this was a segment for the show and not just some spontaneous yachting jaunt…right?

Fellow Aussies Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban are also due to hang with Winfrey during the trip, though what exactly they’ll be doing with her and her guests is unclear.

Come on, Nicole! We want to see Oprah go scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef!

Brace yourself for sky-high ratings amongst your Australian audience, Ms. Winfrey!

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Country superstar Keith Urban is asking fans to name his weekly webisode series, which debuted earlier this month.

The weekly installments, which air every Thursday, give fans a peek into Urban’s music career, including behind-the-scenes footage from his “Defying Gravity” promotional campaign and video from his recent six-city Verizon VIP Tour.

This week’s episode will focus on rehearsals for Urban’s “Escape Together World Tour,” which launches on May 7 in Connecticut. Each show on the 58-city trek will feature a huge supporting act: Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, Glen Campbell, Little Big Town or the Zac Brown Band.

For tour dates and to view the webisode series, check out Urban’s official website here. You can also enter a contest to win a Keith Urban prize package.

Urban has been nominated in three categories at the upcoming 2009 CMT Awards: male video of the year for “Sweet Thing,” collaborative video of the year for “Start a Band” and CMT performance of the year for “Raise the Barn.” Go to the awards website here to cast your vote.

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Keith Urban, who debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts last week with his album “Defying Gravity,” has joined the lineup for the inaugural Nashville 4 Africa benefit concert later this month.

According to Rolling Stone, the country star will share the bill with Faith Hill, Dierks Bentley, Big Kenny, Brad Arnold of 3 Doors Down, the African Children’s Choir and others.

The event is scheduled to take place at the Tennessee capital’s Schermerhorn Auditorium on April 22.

Tickets are on sale now, with proceeds benefiting charities that help build schools and promote education in Africa. For more information, visit the Nashville 4 Africa website here.

“Defying Gravity,” Urban’s fifth studio album, sold close to 172,000 copies in its first week to top the Billboard 200 chart, edging out Prince’s “Lotus Flow3r” (168,000).

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In celebrity baby news, Nicole Kidman gave birth to a healthy baby girl this morning in Nashville, reports E! News.

Kidman and husband Keith Urban named their first child Sunday Rose Kidman Urban. The new bundle checked in at 6 pounds, 7½ ounces, according to a statement from their publicist.

“Keith was by Nicole’s side, and mother and baby are very well,” the rep said.
Urban also posted the good news on his website:

“Earlier this morning, Nic gave birth to our beautiful baby girl,” he wrote. “We want to thank everybody that has kept us in their thoughts and prayers. We feel very blessed and grateful that we can share this joy with all of you today.”

Kidman and Urban married June 25, 2006 and announced their pregnancy in January. Kidman has two other children from her marriage to Tom Cruise, Isabella, 15, and Connor, 13.

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Nicole Kidman has called her relationship much more laid-back than her previous marriage to Tom Cruise.

She told Vogue magazine, “Keith and I, we’re more like, ‘Hey’ [she shrugs and smiles]. We just gently, gently sort of fell into each other. We were just two lonely people who went, ‘Ah, there you are.’ I’m so committed to this relationship, and so is he. I don’t have addiction problems, but love is a very powerful force in my life. It’s my fatal flaw and my virtue.”

The couple are expecting a child this summer – an overwhelming emotional ride for Kidman, who has suffered several miscarriages.

“When I first saw the baby on the ultrasound, I started crying,” she said in the interview. “I didn’t think I’d get to experience that in my lifetime. I like the unpredictable nature of it. To feel life growing with you is something very, very special, and I’m going to embrace that completely.”

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The rumours are finally true: Nicole Kidman is pregnant with her first biological child.

After denying reports that she and hubby Keith Urban were knocked up, Kidman’s publicist confirmed the pregnancy yesterday, releasing this statement: “Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban confirmed today that they are expecting a baby. The couple are thrilled.”

Kidman has two adopted children with ex-husband Tom Cruise, young teens Isabella and Connor. This will be the first child for Urban.

The couple married in the summer of 2006. Urban checked himself into rehab for alcohol abuse several months later, but with Kidman by his side he has been doing much better.

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Toronto may have been hit by a snowstorm Tuesday, but it was hit with a second storm on Wendesday night – this one courtesy of country superstar Keith Urban.

Urban put on one hell of a show for select fans and the press at a “secret” concert at the Mod Club in Toronto.

The crowd was hopping as soon as the country singer took the stage, often singing louder than Urban. So for a good chunk of the night, he turned his microphone around so the crowd could take over on vocals while he played the guitar.

The native Australian, who left rehab a few months ago, said this was only the second time his band has played together since October, the other coming recently in Chicago. His tour doesn’t start until April (it won’t hit Canada until September), but the boys just wanted to play.

And play they did.

Despite the concert being on Valentine’s Day, Urban didn’t give his concert a romantic theme, far from it. He played such non-loving hits as “You’ll Think of Me.” After the song, he said, it’s a “screw you Valentine’s Day” kind of tune. (His wife, Nicole Kidman, did not make the trip to Toronto.)

He also played his current number one single in Canada, “Stupid Boy,” the top country song in the country for four weeks in a row.

After his first two songs, he chatted up the crowd. When a woman yelled out, “I love you Keith!” the country superstar blushed a little before replying, “I love you too, sweetheart.” He then jokingly commented that the woman must have started drinking early in the day.

He continued to joke along with the crowd, but it was clear Urban wanted to play. Other songs he performed included, “Once in a Lifetime,” “If You Wanna Stay,” “Your Everything” and “Days Go By,” among many more.

When he asked where everyone was from, a few people in the front yelled Calgary. The singer took the bait asking how many other Calgarians were there; there were a few shouts.

“Ah, four more,” he said wryly.

Urban’s performance was only scheduled to last 45 minutes, but instead he took the stage 10 minutes early, and played 15 minutes past the scheduled cut-off time. Before leaving the stage after playing two songs as an encore, he shook hands with the fans in the front row.

His original goal may have been to promote his new album, “Love, Pain & The Whole Crazy Thing,” but it was clear from the opening chord that Urban just likes to play his music and jam with his buddies.

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Troubled country star KEITH URBAN has opened his heart about his decision to enter a rehab facility to curb his alcoholism in a moving new video message.

The candid footage, posted on his website, comes just a week after the Aussie singer confirmed he had completed treatment at the Betty Ford Clinic in California.

In the video, Urban, who checked in to rehab last October after telling fans and friends he was struggling to stay sober, reveals, “There was no big, cataclysmic event that happened right before I went in.

“(Just) a lot of small things that were happening in my life, and a lot of small moments that were starting to accumulate that were telling me very loud and clear that I was a long way from my programme of recovery, and they were making my life unmanageable.”

Urban admits the timing of his rehab stint couldn’t have been worse: “It was far from an ideal time to go into treatment. While I was in there… I had my birthday… my record was released, I missed Thanksgiving, and all the holidays.”

The singer, who is married to actress NICOLE KIDMAN, reveals he had planned a 30-day stay at the Betty Ford Center in Palm Springs, California, but his time there was extended.

He explains, “Thirty days became 60, 60 days became 90, and, with each week that passed, I found myself really learning to surrender.”

Urban concludes the video with a special message to his wife, adding, “(She) stayed extraordinarily strong, and loving, and my friends and family were there. It’s just been really overwhelming.”

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

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Troubled country star KEITH URBAN is planning to make his first public appearance next month, after battling his alcohol problems in rehab in Chicago, Illinois.

The singer, who has spent the past two months in rehab facilities after confessing he’d relapsed as an alcoholic, has decided his life as a recluse is nearing an end and he’s planning to face his fans again.

Urban has announced he’ll play a show at the Chicago Theatre on February 8 as part of a local country radio station’s Live Country for Kids concert series.

The concert will benefit the St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

The show was originally scheduled for November 11, but Urban was forced to pull out of the concert to attend to his personal problems.

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

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Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman had a late Christmas present.

CBC.com reports the couple reunited in Sydney, Australia after Urban completed a stint in rehab for alcoholism.

The couple has been sighted in Sydney holding hands, killing rumours that they had split. No official comment has been made by either’s publicist.

The rumour of a split came after a British magazine claimed that Urban was having an affair on Kidman, his wife of six months, with an English model.

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Actress Nicole Kidman paid a visit to husband Keith Urban in rehab, squashing rumours their marriage is on the rocks.

Kidman was spotted with her country singer husband at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on Sunday.

“Keith is expected to be in rehab for 35 to 40 days,” a source told US Weekly.

Urban was admitted to the centre on Oct. 19, where rehab programs start at $21,000 US.

Rumours of alcoholism and cocaine addition have swirled around Urban’s rehab stint. Even so, he took home the Best Male Vocalist trophy during Monday’s Country Music Association Awards in Nashville.

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Country singer and Mr. Nicole Kidman Keith Urban has announced that he voluntarily admitted himself to a rehabilitation center on Thursday night, reports Yahoo! Music.

“I deeply regret the hurt this has caused Nicole and the ones that love and support me,” Urban said in a statement. “One can never let one’s guard down on recovery and I’m afraid that I have. With the strength and unwavering support I am blessed to have from my wife, family, and friends, I am determined and resolved to a positive outcome.”

The statement added that Urban will be accompanied by his actress wife and that all promotional appearances and tour dates in support of the release of Urban’s new album, “Love, Pain & The Whole Crazy Thing” will be postponed. It is not clear what type of addiction Urban has.

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Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban are engaged, reports
People magazine.

Kidman announced the engagement to People at an event for the United Nations Development Fund for Woman gala in New York on Saturday.

The pair, who have been the subject of the tabloids since July of last year, never officially said they were a couple, even though four months after meeting, Kidman was sporting a ring on her wedding finger.

Kidman reportedly told People Saturday night that Urban is her “fiance. I wouldn’t be bringing my boyfriend.”

A spokesperson for Kidman could not immediately confirm People’s story, and a spokesperson for Urban could not be reached.

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Carrie Underwood was the big winner at last night’s Country Music Television Awards, walking away with two awards.

The American Idol winner took best breakthrough video and female video for her hit “Jesus, Take the Wheel.”

“This is my very first acceptance speech so I made a list,” Underwood said before reading a lengthy list.

“Music videos are a huge tool,” she said after the ceremony for the awards, chosen by fans. “Fans love them because they add a new dimension to the song and we love them because it’s just another way to get (the music) out there. For my first video to win two awards tonight was amazing.”

Keith Urban took home the video of the year award for “Better Life.” He performed the song during the show with a choir from the Gulf Coast and showed scenes from the hurricane damaged area.

“We just wanted to present a better tone for Better Life, and I had been down to New Orleans and was struck by a combination of things — how much has been done and how little has been done,” Urban said. “We just wanted to bring a little more awareness back to the cause down there.”

Jeff Foxworthy hosted the ceremony.

2006 CMT MUSIC AWARD NOMINEES & * WINNERS

Video of the Year

* Keith Urban – “Better Life”
Brad Paisley – “Alcohol”
Brooks & Dunn – “Believe”
Faith Hill with Tim McGraw – “Like We Never Loved At All”
Gretchen Wilson – “All Jacked Up”
Kenny Chesney – “Who You’d Be Today”
Toby Keith – “As Good As I Once Was”
Trace Adkins – “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk”

Male Video of the Year

* Kenny Chesney – “Who You?d Be Today”
Keith Urban – “Better Life”
Toby Keith – “As Good As I Once Was”
Trace Adkins – “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk”

Female of Video of the Year

* Carrie Underwood – “Jesus Take The Wheel”
Faith Hill – “Mississippi Girl”
Miranda Lambert – “Kerosene”
Sara Evans – “A Real Fine Place To Start”

Group / Duo of the Year

* Rascal Flatts – “Skin (Sarabeth)”
Brooks & Dunn – “Believe”
Little Big Town – “Boondocks”
Sugarland – “Just Might (Make Me Believe)”

Collaborative Video of the Year

* Bon Jovi featuring Jennifer Nettles -”Who Says You Can’t Go Home”
Brad Paisley featuring Dolly Parton – “When I Get Where I’m Going”
Faith Hill with Tim McGraw – “Like We Never Loved At All”
Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon – “Jackson”

Hottest Video of the Year

* Billy Currington – “Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right”
Dierks Bentley – “Come A Little Closer”
Keith Urban – “Making Memories Of Us”
Trace Adkins – “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk”

Breakthrough Video of the Year

* Carrie Underwood – “Jesus Take The Wheel”
Jason Aldean – “Hicktown”
Miranda Lambert – “Kerosene”
Sugarland – “Something More”

Most Inspiring Video of the Year

* Brad Paisley featuring Dolly Parton – “When I Get Where I’m Going”
Brooks & Dunn – “Believe”
Carrie Underwood – “Jesus Take The Wheel”
Reba McEntire – “You’re Gonna Be”

Video Director of the Year

* Sophie Muller / Faith Hill with Tim McGraw – “Like We Never Loved At All”
Michael Salomon / Toby Keith – “As Good As I Once Was”
Shaun Silva / Kenny Chesney – “Who You’d Be Today”
Trey Fanjoy / Miranda Lambert -”Kerosene”

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Actress Nicole Kidman and country singer Keith Urban are reportedly ready for a new year’s wedding.

Life & Style Weekly is reporting that Kidman and Urban could wed as early as this weekend. The magazine says Kidman has already sent out wedding invitations to her Australian friends.

“Nicole?s friends in Australia have received their invitations, and the wedding?s happening this coming weekend,” an insider told Life & Style. “She wants to do it before the year is out, to have it over and done with before Tom Cruise has his big day.”

Cruise and his pregnant fiancee Katie Holmes are getting hitched in the summer or early fall of 2006.

Kidman?s rep couldn?t be reached for comment.

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Country music’s biggest stars will stage a special concert at the Grand Ole Opry House as the entertainment industry continues to raise funds for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

“Country Reaches Out: An Opry Benefit for the American Red Cross” will be broadcast live and commercial free on Sept. 27 at 9 p.m. EST on the Great American Country (GAC) network. Simulcasts can be seen on the DIY and Fine Living networks and heard on the Nashville radio station WSM, Sirius Satellite Radio and at www.opry.com.

Performers will urge viewers to make contributions to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which will help those caught in Hurricane Katrina’s wake throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Profits from the show’s ticket sales will also go to the Red Cross.

“Country music, in particular, is a powerful and unifying force that inspires individuals to action and initiates the process of healing in times of personal tragedy, or national crisis,” said Ed Hardy, president of Great American Country. “It is our hope that the national television audience tuning in for the simulcast of this special Opry event on GAC, DIY and Fine Living will be moved to action in support of hurricane relief.”

Some of the biggest talents in country will appear on the benefit show including Alan Jackson, Alison Krauss, Keith Urban, Craig Morgan, Julie Roberts and Billy Currington. Additional country artists are expected to sign on before the concert.

“Without fail, country music and its fans show compassion and support for those in need,” said Colin Reed, chairman and CEO of Gaylord Entertainment, the Opry’s parent company. “The Opry is the heart and home of country music, and the Opry family, its employees and artists alike, wants to do everything it can to make sure country’s heart is extended to our neighbors who have suffered such unspeakable losses this week.”

Additionally, the Grand Ole Opry and GAC are planning to host an online auction of country music memorabilia at opry.com and gactv.com. GAC is also producing a series of public service announcements featuring artists and network personalities pleading for donations to the hurricane relief effort.

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Clothing retailer Gap Inc. has rounded up a string of big-name celebrities to command a mega marketing campaign this fall. Starting in September, star singers including Alanis Morissette, Keith Urban, and Michelle Williams will be urging you to fall into the Gap when they appear in the company?s ?Favourites? advertising campaign.

For this promotion, what?s old is new again: the Gap?s new TV ads will feature each artist performing a cover of a favourite song. Of course, each singer will also be modelling a pair of Gap jeans at the same time.

Morissette will cover Seal?s ?Crazy? while fellow pop-rock chicks Liz Phair and Joss Stone, will take on Irving Berlin’s “Check to Cheek” and the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows,” respectively.

Meanwhile, country superstar Urban will give his version of Billy Thorpe’s “Most People I Know Think I’m Crazy,” and Williams, of Destiny?s Child fame, will sing the Al Green classic “Let’s Stay Together.” This year?s breakout R&B sensation John Legend will be doing the Isley Brothers’ “Hello It’s Me,” while singer-songwriter Jason Mraz tackles Bob Marley’s “One Love.” Finally, Incubus’ Brandon Boyd will channel Elvis Costello with his hit, “Alison.”

From September 1 to 17, fans who want to hear more of the performances can pick up a special eight-track CD available at Gap stores and Gap.com. Each of the songs, along with a director’s cut of the commercial and behind-the-scenes footage, will be distributed as a free gift to customers making purchases of $60 or more, while supplies last.

This promotion will be an appropriate tie-in to another Gap marketing campaign that partners up the fashion giant with Apple iTunes next month. From August 8 to 31, a simple trip to a Gap fitting room will score customers free music. All Gap wants you to do is to try on any pair of its new jean fits and you?ll score a complimentary song from Apple?s iTunes music store.

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