Nashville's most decorated country superstar is about to release an album of smooth 1970s-inspired yacht rock — and the pivot only makes sense once you realize Keith Urban was never the Nashville insider he appeared to be. Born Keith Lionel Urbahn in Whangarei, New Zealand and raised in small-town Queensland, Australia, he had to streamline his very identity to break into American country music.

From a convenience-store childhood to four Grammys and Grand Ole Opry membership, Urban's four-decade career is a study in relentless reinvention: a Playgirl shoot he came to regret, the fairy-tale Nicole Kidman wedding followed by his lowest point just four months later, and a stubborn refusal to age out of the charts. His story asks whether true longevity means breaking the very rules that made you famous.

• Born Keith Lionel U ...