Tim Urban

Timothy Joseph "Tim" Urban (born May 1, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter and actor who was the seventh place finalist on the ninth season of American Idol. Following his participation in the series, he released two EPs: Heart of Me in 2010 and New York Sessions in 2014.

This article is about the American Idol finalist. For the blogger, see Wait But Why.
Tim Urban
Urban in July 2010.
Background information
Birth nameTimothy Joseph Urban
Born (1989-05-01) May 1, 1989
Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
GenresAcoustic, pop rock
Occupation(s)Singer, actor
InstrumentsVocals, guitar, drums, piano
Years active2010–present
LabelsIndependent
Websitetimurbanmusic.com

Early life

Urban was born in Tacoma, Washington, and is the sixth of ten kids. His family moved to Duncanville, Texas when he was five.[1][2] He and his siblings were all homeschooled by their mother, and two of his brothers have served in the military.[2] Urban began to sing and learn the guitar when he was thirteen years old.[2][3] Before auditioning for American Idol, he worked as a hotel and restaurant singer, and had a band.[2][4] The group played regularly in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Christian music circuit, and also performed at Six Flags Over Texas twice.[2][5] Urban has pointed to several diverse artists as his musical influences, including John Denver, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, OneRepublic, Jim Croce, James Taylor, Third Day, Michael Bublé, Coldplay, and Matt Nathanson.[6][7][8]

Urban was a member of the talent-development agency Actors, Models and Talent for Christ (AMTC). Diana DeGarmo, the runner-up on season three of American Idol had also been a participant of this organization.[9]

American Idol

Urban tried out for the ninth season of American Idol at the Dallas auditions, and sang "Bulletproof Weeks" by Matt Nathanson.[10][11] Simon Cowell questioned the song choice, but felt that there was "more to come out of [Urban]." The judges sent Urban through to Hollywood Week, where he was shown during the first night, singing "Come Back to Me" by American Idol seventh season winner David Cook.[12] Simon and Kara DioGuardi both complimented the performance, although DioGuardi noted that it was "a little shaky."[13] Urban was cut before the Top 24, but was called back after contestant Chris Golightly was disqualified from the competition for having lied about a past recording contract. Urban subsequently survived the semi-final eliminations and won a spot in Season 9's Top 10, securing a place on the 2010 American Idol summer concert tour.[14] When he was asked by American Idol what his proudest moment was, he answered, "Handing out nutritional products to orphans in South Africa and Swaziland."[15]

Urban performing on the American Idol Live tour in Denver, CO on August 23, 2010

On the whole, Urban received a mixed reception from the judges, who praised a few of his performances but regarded many of them as boring, "pedestrian"[16] and "pointless and silly."[17] But bloggers, often comparing him to Sanjaya Malakar from Season 6,[18] noted how the judges' criticisms never seemed to affect the perpetually smiling Urban—or his chances at being saved week after week. He was dubbed "Teflon Tim,"[19] a nickname to which host Ryan Seacrest alluded during the March 30 broadcast.[20][21] "I don't think it makes any difference whatsoever what we say," quipped Simon Cowell the same night. "You're going to smile, the audience is going to vote for you, nobody cares, and you'll be here next week. So well done."[18] As the controversy over Urban's lackluster performances grew, critics of the show began to fault the judges' commentary as "little more than displays of ego or thinly disguised bullying," and suggested Urban may be good for the show, because he put the judges in their place.[22]

Vote for the Worst, a satirical Idol blog, supported Urban for his entire run during the season. The Web site claimed Urban held the record for the contestant to survive the longest with its endorsement, outlasting even Malakar.[23][24] Urban later said about the blog, "I'm actually kind of sad that I was on that website."[25]

Urban was eliminated during the "Idol Gives Back" special on April 21, after receiving unenthusiastic reviews for his performance of "Better Days" by Goo Goo Dolls, making him finish the competition in seventh place. A retrospect of Urban's run on Idol followed the announcement of his elimination. Then, presumably because the show ran long, it abruptly ended, without Urban even having a chance to sing a final song.[26] Urban later said, "I was a little sad that I didn't get to sing one last time on that stage, but... you don't always get what you want. I'll be back for the finale and hopefully get to perform on that stage again. It was a little bittersweet, but overall, it's all right."[27]

Performances
Week # Theme Song choice Original artist Order # Result
Audition Auditioner's Choice "Bulletproof Weeks" Matt Nathanson N/A Advanced
Hollywood First Solo "Come Back to Me" David Cook N/A Advanced
Hollywood Group Round "Get Ready" The Temptations N/A Advanced
Hollywood Second Solo "Viva la Vida" Coldplay N/A Eliminated1
Top 24 (12 Men) Billboard Hot 100 Hits "Apologize" OneRepublic 4 Safe
Top 20 (10 Men) "Come On Get Higher" Matt Nathanson 9 Safe
Top 16 (8 Men) "Hallelujah" Leonard Cohen 3 Safe
Top 12 The Rolling Stones "Under My Thumb" The Rolling Stones 7 Bottom 32
Top 11 Billboard No. 1 Hits "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" Queen 3 Bottom 33
Top 10 R&B/Soul "Sweet Love" Anita Baker 5 Bottom 34
Top 9 Lennon–McCartney "All My Loving" The Beatles 6 Safe
Top 95 Elvis Presley "Can't Help Falling in Love" Elvis Presley 3 Safe
Top 7 Inspirational Songs "Better Days" Goo Goo Dolls 3 Eliminated
  • ^Note 1 Because of the controversy over Chris Golightly's contract, Urban was brought back into the top 24.
  • ^Note 2 Urban was saved first from elimination.
  • ^Note 3 When Ryan Seacrest announced the results for this particular night, Urban was among the Bottom 3 but declared safe second, as Paige Miles was eliminated.
  • ^Note 4 When Ryan Seacrest announced the results for this particular night, Urban was among the Bottom 3 but declared safe second, as Didi Benami was eliminated.
  • ^Note 5 Due to the judges' using their one save to save Michael Lynche, the Top 9 remained intact for another week.

Post-Idol
Urban performing in New Windsor, New York on July 20, 2011

Urban went on a media tour on local FOX affiliates, in addition to planned appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Wendy Williams Show. He has visited the If I Can Dream House. He was a part of the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2010 which started July 1, and ended on August 31, where he sang "Better Days" and "Viva La Vida".[28] He also confirmed on MySpace that he will be releasing an EP. He then performed a live show during the half-time football game Duncanville High School v Garland high School, wearing a Duncanville jersey. He was given the key to Duncanville and his own day "September 3" in his home town, Duncanville, at the game from the Mayor.[29]

On November 8, 2010, Urban began releasing a song a day to iTunes off his debut EP Heart of Me. On November 7, 2010, in a LIVE chat with the web site AiNow.org it was said that he will be moving to California during the week of November 7, 2010, to work on his acting career and music, and is working on booking TV Appearances to promote his album in California.

His first single "Heart of Me" was released online November 7, 2010, and to iTunes on November 8, 2010. In the following days (in order) "Wheels Touch Down", "You and I", "P.S.", "Lullaby", and "Blur" were put up on iTunes.

On May 1, 2012, Urban released his first single, "Someday," off his upcoming debut album due for a 2012 release as a temporary free download and released the music video for the single in May 2012.[30] He recently ran a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to record and release two new songs, "Perfectly You" and "Tears for Hallelujah." The new songs should be released around the beginning of 2014.[31]

In 2014, Urban released his second EP, New York Sessions. Mark Franklin of the York Dispatch's blog Idol Chatter gave New York Sessions a B and considered it a much superior work to Urban's first EP. Franklin wrote that New York Sessions convinced him of Urban's potential to record an impressive full-length album.[32]

Discography

Extended plays
Year Album details
2010 Heart of Me
2014 New York Sessions
  • Released: February 11, 2014

Singles
Year Single Album
2010 "Heart of Me" Heart of Me
2012 "Someday" N/A
"Perfectly You" N/A
gollark: `lua`
gollark: I have no idea, really.
gollark: It's probably doable, I just have no idea how.
gollark: I mean, ideally you would be able to somehow autogenerate line maps.
gollark: It would probably be pretty easy if you hardcoded the position and length of each segment for each line, but that would be inelegant.

References
  1. Tim Urban (May 18, 2010). "Tim Urban Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
  2. Cook, Rita. "American Idol finalist returns to Duncanville". Focus Daily News. Archived from the original on January 30, 2016. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
  3. "Meet American Idol's Top 12!". usmagazine.com. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
  4. "Latest in TV news – MSN Malaysia Entertainment". Entertainment.malaysia.msn.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 5, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "'American Idol': Meet the men". usatoday30.usatoday.com. February 23, 2010. Retrieved July 15, 2013.
  7. Urban, Tim (April 15, 2011). "Interview". Blog.starcam.com (Interview). Interviewed by Jennifer Tapiero. Los Angeles. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
  8. "Success Stories: Timothy Urban". Amtcworld.com. Archived from the original on November 11, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 28, 2010. Retrieved April 5, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. Henrik Batallones (February 17, 2010). "American Idol: Tim Urban Joins Top 24 as Chris Golightly Disqualified". BuddyTV. Archived from the original on November 2, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  11. Brian Mansfield (February 23, 2010). "Tim Urban: 'It's about the music and how you perform'". Idol Chatter. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  12. "Tim Urban American Idol PHOTOS!". news.lalate.com. February 18, 2010. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  13. "Hollywood Week Night 1". American Idol. Season 9. February 9, 2010. Event occurs at 45 minutes. Fox.
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 21, 2010. Retrieved March 20, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Watch American Idol TV Show - ABC.com". ABC. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  16. MTV News. 'American Idol' R&B Night Belongs To Lee Dewyze, Crystal Bowersox. March 30, 2010.
  17. Dallas/Fort Worth Star-Telegram. DFW 'American Idol' hopefuls criticized on bad night overall. March 24, 2010.
  18. Dunn, Gabrielle. Teflon Tim Urban: Most Polarizing 'Idol' Finalist Since Sanjaya?. AOL Television. April 13, 2010.
  19. USA Today. The doomsday scenario: How Tim Urban wins 'American Idol'. March 28, 2010.
  20. USA Today. Tim Urban's feeling the 'Sweet Love'; well, maybe not so much. March 30, 2010.
  21. Seattle Times.'American Idol' Top 10 is Timmy's World, and the rest of them are just living in it.. March 31, 2010.
  22. USA Today "Idol Chatter". Why Tim Urban needs to stick around. April 1, 2010.
  23. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved October 4, 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  24. "Yahoo!". Television.aol.com. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  25. "American Idol's Tim Urban saddened by Vote for the Worst endorsement". ledger-enquirer.com. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  26. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 26, 2010. Retrieved April 23, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  27. https://web.archive.org/web/20100425044216/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/americanidoltracker/2010/04/tim-urban-on-being-the-vote-for-the-worst-pick-its-nothing-to-be-proud-of-i-was-sad.html
  28. Tim Urban [@TheRealTimUrban] (June 17, 2010). "I will be singing Better Days on tour. The rest is a secret lol ;)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  29. "Wayback Machine". July 17, 2011. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  30. "快3在线投注,www.777k3.com,www.k3js.com". Timurbanmusic.com. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  31. "Tears for Hallelujah – Recording and Release". Kickstarter.com. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  32. Mark Franklin. "2014 Idol Albums". Idol Chatter. The York Dispatch. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
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