Lady A

**Lady A** (formerly known as **Lady Antebellum**) is an American country music trio formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2006. The group is composed of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood. Scott is the daughter of country music singer Linda Davis, and Kelley is the brother of pop singer Josh Kelley.

## History

### 2006–2007: Formation and Early Career

The band was formed as Lady Antebellum in 2006, in Nashville, Tennessee, by Charles Kelley, Dave Haywood, and Hillary Scott. Scott is the daughter of country music singer Linda Davis, best known for her duet vocals on Reba McEntire's 1993 hit, "Does He Love You" and Charles Kelley is the brother of pop and country artist Josh Kelley. Hillary Scott attended Donelson Christian Academy in Donelson, Tennessee. Kelley moved to Nashville in mid-2005 from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he had been working construction with his brother John. Trying to become a successful solo country artist, Kelley convinced his old middle-school classmate, Haywood, to move to Nashville from Georgia in 2006 so they could write music together. Shortly thereafter, Scott recognized Kelley from Myspace, and they started to talk at a Nashville music club. Kelley invited Scott to join him and Haywood in the new group, which assumed the name Lady Antebellum.

On the *BBC Radio 2 Drivetime Show* August 9th, 2010, the band explained that the name comes from when the group did a photoshoot in historical costumes at antebellum houses. In American history, the Antebellum era was the period in the Southern United States before the Civil War. The trio then began performing at local venues in Nashville before being signed in July 2007 to a recording contract with Capitol Records Nashville. In an interview with Sirius Satellite Radio, Scott said she was rejected from auditions for *American Idol* twice, not even making it past the first round.

### 2007–2009: *Lady Antebellum*

Shortly after the trio signed to the label, they were chosen by recording artist Jim Brickman to sing on his 2007 single, "Never Alone", which reached No. 14 on the *Billboard* adult contemporary charts. In mid-2007, the group also wrote a song for the MTV reality television series *The Hills.*

Their debut single, "Love Don't Live Here", was released in September 2007, with a music video for the song following in December. This song was the lead-off single to the band's debut album. Released on April 15th, 2008, *Lady Antebellum* was produced by Paul Worley along with Victoria Shaw, a Nashville songwriter and former solo artist. "Love Don't Live Here" reached No. 3 on the *Billboard* Hot Country Songs charts. The album itself was the first album by a new duo or group to debut at No. 1 on the *Billboard* Top Country Albums charts.

A second single, "Lookin' for a Good Time", was released in June 2008 and peaked at No. 11 in December. In addition, Lady A was signed as an opening act on Martina McBride's Waking Up Laughing Tour in 2008.

The group also contributed the song "I Was Here" to the *AT&T Team USA Soundtrack*, a song which peaked at No. 24 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 based on downloads. In December 2008, their rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" peaked at No. 3 on the same chart. The band's third official single, "I Run to You", was released in January 2009. It eventually became the trio's first No. 1 in July 2009. On October 7th, 2009, their debut album was certified platinum by the RIAA for shipments of one million copies in the United States.

Haywood and Kelley co-wrote labelmate Luke Bryan's 2009 single, "Do I", on which the group also sings backing vocals. This song is the first single from Bryan's second studio album, *Doin' My Thing*, which was released on October 6th, 2009.

### 2009–2011: *Need You Now*

In August 2009, the group released its fourth single, "Need You Now", the lead-off single and title track to the second studio album, which was also produced by Worley. It debuted at No. 50 on the *Billboard* Hot Country Songs chart and became its second No. 1 hit on the charts for the week of November 28th, 2009. The song also reached No. 2 on the *Billboard* Hot 100 and topped the Hot Adult Contemporary chart, making it a crossover hit. A second single, "American Honey", was released to radio on January 11th, 2010 and would become its third No. 1 hit. The third single from the album, "Our Kind of Love", was released on May 31st, 2010 and went No. 1 in September 2010. The song was notable for being written in collaboration with a non-Nashville songwriter, busbee, who at that point had previously written for Katy Perry, Timbaland and Katharine McPhee. The fourth single from this album, "Hello World", was officially released on October 4th, 2010.

The album was released on January 26th, 2010, and debuted at No. 1 on the *Billboard* 200 and Top Country Albums charts for the week of February 2nd, 2010, selling 480,922 copies. Four weeks after the album's release, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. On April 28th, 2010, the band performed on the results show of *American Idol*, performing "Need You Now". On September 20th, 2010, the band launched their first headlining tour, the Need You Now Tour, in Orlando, Florida. On October 28th, 2010, they performed the National Anthem before Game 2 at the 2010 World Series. They also appeared on the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10th, 2010.

### 2011–2012: *Own The Night* and *On This Winter's Night*

The week of January 9th, 2011, the group began recording their third studio album. In an interview with *Entertainment Weekly*, Charles Kelley said, "We actually just went ahead and decided we're gonna take two, two and a half months straight in the studio to create this thing and not have all this distraction. Hopefully that will be a good thing".

On May 2nd, 2011, the group released the first single from its upcoming album, titled "Just A Kiss". The group performed the single on stage on *American Idol*'s result show on May 5th, 2011. It was a commercial and critical success, debuting and peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the band's highest debut on the chart. It also topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs, making it the band's fifth No. 1 single on the chart. On June 7th, 2011, the title of third album was announced, *Own The Night*, and was released on September 13th, 2011. The album cover and track listing was released on July 18th, 2011. All together, four singles were released from *Own The Night*. *Own The Night*'s follow-up singles were "We Owned The Night", "Dancin' Away With My Heart", and "Wanted You More", which charted moderately in the Hot Country Songs.

Lady A released a "Lady Hazed" version of Jason Aldean's song "Dirt Road Anthem" titled "Country Club Anthem" on its installment of Webisode Wednesdays on August 10th, 2011. On October 1st, 2011, the group performed as the musical guests on *Saturday Night Live*.

The group released its first Christmas album, *On This Winter's Night,* on October 22nd, 2012.

### 2013–2016: *Golden*, *747*, and Hiatus

On January 22nd, 2013, "Downtown", the first single from a new album, was released to country radio. It was made available on iTunes starting February 5th, 2013, and reached No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart in April 2013. The new album, *Golden*, was released on May 7th, 2013. The album's second single, "Goodbye Town", was released to country radio on May 13th, 2013, and peaked at No. 11 on the Country Airplay chart. The third single from the *Golden* era, "Compass", was released to the iTunes Store on October 1st, 2013 and reached No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart in March 2014. It is one of the new recordings featured on the deluxe edition re-issue of *Golden*, which was released on November 12th, 2013. Unlike all of the band's previous releases, it was produced by Nathan Chapman. They also sang backing vocals on Darius Rucker's 2013 single, "Wagon Wheel".

"Bartender" was released to country radio on May 12th, 2014, as the lead single for the group's sixth studio album, and was made available to digital retailers on May 19th. In July 2014, the album's title was confirmed as *747*, and the track listing was confirmed. Chapman produced this album as well. "Bartender" became the group's ninth No. 1 hit on the Country Airplay charts in 2014, with "Freestyle" as the second single. The third single, "Long Stretch of Love", was released on February 7th, 2015, in the UK and on March 23rd, to country radio in the US.

The band recorded two songs, "I Did With You" and "Falling for You", for the soundtrack of the 2014 romantic drama film *The Best of Me*.

In October 2015, while appearing on *Good Morning America*, the group announced some downtime after the Wheels Up Tour. During the break, Kelley will be working on his solo career. Kelley stated that the group is his priority but he wanted to try working alone. On September 28th, 2015, he released his debut solo single, titled "The Driver". It features Dierks Bentley and Eric Paslay. On October 12th, 2015, Charles Kelley announced his tour dates for his solo tour. He played some Lady A songs, but his tour focused on his solo material. Also during the break, Hillary Scott announced that she and her family (her mother, father, and sister) would work on a gospel album titled *Love Remains*. The album was released on July 29th.

In 2016, Lady A was selected as one of 30 artists to perform on "Forever Country", a mash-up track of "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "On the Road Again", and "I Will Always Love You", which celebrates 50 years of the CMA Awards.

### 2017–2018: *Heart Break* and Label Change

On January 19th, 2017, "You Look Good" was released as the lead single on the upcoming seventh studio album, *Heart Break*. It released on June 9th, 2017, and is further promoted with the You Look Good World Tour, which began on May 26th and ended on October 15th, 2017. The titular track was released as the second single on September 25th, 2017. *Heart Break* was nominated for Best Country Album, and "You Look Good" was nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. The band co-headlined the Summer Plays On Tour with Darius Rucker starting in mid-2018.

In August 2018, the group ended its recording contract with Capitol Records Nashville and signed with BMLG Records.

### 2019–2020: Las Vegas Residency and *Ocean*

On October 24th, 2018, the band announced that it would be headlining a residency at the Palms Casino Resort's Pearl Concert Theater in Las Vegas in 2019. The fifteen date *Our Kind of Vegas* residency began in February 2019.

In March 2019, the band headlined the C2C: Country to Country festival in London and Dublin for the second time (having previously headlined in 2015) and for the first time in Glasgow. At the London show on March 9th, the band announced that they had new music and performed two of their new songs, "What If I Never Get Over You" and "Be Patient With My Love".

Their first single on Big Machine, "What If I Never Get Over You", was released on May 17th, 2019, along with its corresponding music video. The second single, "Pictures", was released on August 9th, 2019. On September 20th, 2019, the title track, "Ocean", was released. The fourth single, "Boots", was released on October 11th, 2019. The fifth and final single from *Ocean*, "What I'm Leaving For", was released on October 25th, 2019. Their eighth studio album, *Ocean,* was released on November 15th, 2019. The album features a collaboration with American country music group Little Big Town.

The trio appeared on NBC's *Songland* and released the song "Champagne Night" on April 13th, 2020.

### 2021: *What A Song Can Do*

On January 21st, 2021, Lady A became the newest members of the Grand Ole Opry after being invited by Darius Rucker.

On March 12th, 2021, the first single from the *What A Song Can Do* era, "Like A Lady", was released. Lady A performed the song live for the first time at the 56th Academy of Country Music Awards on April 18th, 2021. It was also performed on *The Ellen DeGeneres Show* on May 19th, 2021.

## Charity

Since January 2012, Lady A has been partnered with the charity myLIFEspeaks, to raise awareness of and provide facilities for disabled orphans in Haiti. At the start of the year 2013, the members of the group also created the fund called LadyAID, which was created in hopes of bringing awareness to children who suffer and cannot help themselves locally, nationally and around the world. The main focus of LadyAID is the children in hospitals, mainly in the United States and Canada.

## Discography

*Main article:* Discography

* *Lady Antebellum* [2008]
* *Need You Now* [2010]
* *Own The Night* [2011]
* *On This Winter's Night* [2012]
* *Golden* [2013]
* *747* [2014]
* *Heart Break* [2017]
* *Spotify Live (Live From Austin, TX)* [2017]
* *Ocean* [2019]
* *What A Song Can Do* [2021]

## Tours and Residencies

### Headlining

* The Need You Now Tour [2010]
* The Own The Night World Tour [2011–2012]
* The Take Me Downtown Tour [2014]
* The Wheels Up Tour [2015]
* The You Look Good World Tour [2017]
* The Ocean 2020 Tour [Cancelled] [2020]
* The What a Song Can Do Tour [2021]
* The Request Line Tour [Postponed Until 2023] [2022]

## References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady\_A
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady\_A\_discography