Keith Urban’s anguish over telling daughter about Vegas shooting

Australian country singer Keith Urban has opened up about how he was left “shell-shocked” when a gunman opened fire in Las Vegas on Monday night .

The 49-year-old also revealed his anguish about having to tell his eldest daughter Sunday Rose about the horrific event - which has now been labelled the deadliest mass shooting in US history.

Urban, who is married to actress Nicole Kidman, spoke out as he took to the stage in Nashville, Tennessee last night, alongside many other country music stars in remembrance of the victims.

“I started my morning by finding out about it and being shell-shocked all morning, getting my kids ready for school,” the singer told the 600-strong crowd.

“My nine-year-old, as I was driving her to school this morning, said to me: ‘Dad, you seem quiet,’” he explained. “I said: ‘Yeah, a lot of people were killed last night.’ She said: ‘Did you know any of them?’ and I said: ‘Not that I know of.’”

“And she said: ‘Why do you look so sad?’ And I said: ‘First of all, these were innocent people horrifically taken, and secondly they’re like family,’” he explained to his daughter.

“It’s the one thing about country music that’s always been at the centre of it and that is community, it’s about community. And so I did know those people in that way,” the Aussie singer said.

At least 59 were killed and more than 500 were injured after a gunman opened fire at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.

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Keith then told the crowd that he was “very grateful” to be “able to put some light back in the world”, as he took to the stage to perform Simon & Garfunkel’s hit Bridge Over Troubled Water.

The singer is also father to six-year-old Faith Margaret as well as Sunday Rose, who he had with his Emmy Award-winning wife Nicole Kidman.

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