Keith Urban Inspired to Aid Flood Victims Due to Childhood Tragedy

Due in part to a traumatic event from his childhood, Keith Urban has just that announced he will take part in a charity auction for Tennessee flood victims.

The ‘Put You in a Song’ singer, who was born in New Zealand and later moved with his parents to Australia, wants to help those still affected by last May’s floods in Nashville. Of his childhood, he tells PEOPLE. "Our house burned to the ground -- we lost out clothes, everything. The Red Cross gave us clothes, friends, gave us a place to live. Because I had experienced that loss, my want to help was immediate."

You can find the country star in the latest PEOPLE Country issue, posing for some portraits. To raise money for the flood relief charity, they will be among the many prizes auctioned off.

Urban’s Get Closer 2011 World Tour to support his seventh studio album, ‘Get Closer,’ kicks off April 8 in Adelaide, South Australia. The album is the follow-up to 2009’s Grammy-winning and platinum selling ‘Defying Gravity,’ which entered Billboard's pop and country charts at No. 1 and had five Top 10 hits, including 'Sweet Thing' and 'Only You Can Love Me This Way.'