Felicity Urquhart gets a little help from her friends on reunion tour after husband’s shock death

Country singer Felicity Urquhart has reunited with old friends for a special anniversary tour after her husband’s shock death.

If there was ever a time Felicity Urquhart needed a little help from her friends, it is now.

The beloved country music entertainer has reunited with her close friends Beccy Cole, Adam Harvey and Darren Coggan for a reunion tour marking 20 years since the quartet combined for the ambitious Young Stars of Country tour as they were beginning their careers.

As they kick off the tour this week, Urquhart is still coming to terms with the shock of her musician and artist husband Glen Hannah’s suicide in May.

She had just released her acclaimed record Frozen Rabbit – now nominated for Best Country Album at the ARIA Awards – and was looking forward to an “amazing, special year” with her family.

Urquhart is back on the road this week with her friends Adam Harvey, Beccy Cole and Darren Coggan. Picture: Dylan Robinson

“The month after I released my first album in 10 years, I lost my husband; it’s just unthinkable,” she said.

“I miss him terribly; he was my mate and I had no idea he was struggling with mental illness.

“I wish I could have done something for him but there’s bugger all I could have done – he obviously was struggling with something greater than I knew.

“He knew he was loved by his family and by an army of mates in the industry let alone the people who admire his work.

“I struggle to make sense of it.”

The old friends will be making new musical memories two decades after their first tour together. Picture: Supplied

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Urquhart met Hannah on that first Young Stars of Country tour two decades ago and they fell in love not long after.

As she faces the reality of raising the couple’s beautiful daughters Tia and Ellie alone, getting back on the road with her musical family is “actually saving my life”.

“To be able to get out of bed and think about doing things for my beautiful girls has been my lifesaver,” she said.

“We are doing OK, we are doing remarkably actually, and I put it down to this army of love that has surrounded us and propped us up.

“I feel all these arms supporting me, there’s help, it’s everywhere.

“Being on stage and doing this with my friends, it’s what I love to do and it’s how I met Glen.”

Urquhart is up for an ARIA Award for her first album in a decade. Picture: Supplied

That first Young Stars of Country tour back in 1999 was the first of its kind in Australia.

All four artists were just starting out and their agent proposed the joint tour as a way to broaden their audience as homegrown country music entered a renaissance era thanks to their own work and that of Kasey Chambers and Keith Urban.

They perfected their stage craft and entertainment skills during that tour and its reboot will not only remind their fans of what stellar performers they are but showcase the stunning harmonies they have developed over the years on the road.

The evolution of Australian country is obvious in the rollcall of Urquhart’s fellow nominees – newcomer Charlie Collins, veteran Lee Kernaghan, American-based chart star Morgan Evans and acclaimed songwriter Sara Storer.

“There’s all the traditional elements of country I grew up with in what I do but it also embraces modern attitudes of our generation with rootsy instrumentation,” she said.

“There’s room for all of us and I am really proud to get that nomination.”

For all Reunion tour dates, head to felicityurquhart.com

Originally published as Felicity Urquhart gets a little help from her friends on reunion tour after husband’s shock death