Urban to tour UK after rehab

Country singer Keith Urban has completed his treatment for alcohol abuse and plans to ease back onto stage with a short run of club shows in the United Kingdom and Germany in April, his spokesman said.

The shows will launch Urban’s world tour in support of his latest album, “Love, Pain & the whole crazy thing,” the singer’s spokesman, Paul Freundlich, announced yesterday.

Urban, 39, sought treatment just before the album came out in November, forcing him to delay the tour and several TV appearances. Freundlich said Urban finished rehab over the weekend and will go to Germany this week for promotional appearances. The tour dates are still being finalised, but after the club shows he will play arenas in Australia in May and in the US and Canada in June.

Despite Urban’s absence for promotion, the album reached number one on the country chart and spawned the hit singles “Once in a Lifetime” and “Stupid Boy.”

The Australian singer and actress Nicole Kidman were married in Sydney in June.

The couple then moved to Nashville, where he records.

Urban and Kidman were seen together in Australia in late December, and Freundlich said then that Urban was on leave to be with his family during the holidays.