2006–2007: Formation and early career Lady A was formed in 2006 by
Charles Kelley,
Dave Haywood, and
Hillary Scott in
Nashville, Tennessee. Scott, a Nashville native, is the daughter of country music singer
Linda Davis, best known for collaborating with
Reba McEntire on her 1993 single "
Does He Love You", Scott attended
Donelson Christian Academy in
Donelson, Tennessee. Kelley and Haywood were
Georgia natives who went to middle school together. 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 Haywood to relocate to Nashville in 2006 so they could write music together. Shortly thereafter, Scott recognized Kelley from Myspace, and they started to talk at a local 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 9, 2010, the band explained that the name comes from when the group did a
photo shoot 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 before
Capitol Records Nashville signed them in July 2007. In an interview with
Sirius Satellite Radio, Scott said she was rejected from participating in
American Idol twice, not even making it past the first round.
2007–2009: Lady Antebellum Shortly after the trio signed to the label, it was 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. The solo 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 15, 2008,
Lady Antebellum was produced by
Paul Worley along with
Victoria Shaw, a Nashville songwriter and former solo artist. 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, the 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 Number One in July 2009. On October 7, 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 6, 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 number 1 hit on the charts for the week of November 28, 2009, spending five weeks at number 1 on that chart. 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 11, 2010, and would become its third No. 1 hit. The third single from the album, "
Our Kind of Love", was released on May 31, 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 4, 2010. The album was released on January 26, 2010, and debuted at No. 1 on the
Billboard 200 and
Top Country Albums charts for the week of February 2, 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 28, 2010, the band performed on the results show of
American Idol, performing "Need You Now". On September 20, 2010, the band launched their first headlining tour, "Need You Now 2010" in
Orlando, Florida. On October 28, 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 10, 2010. On May 2, 2011, the group released the first single from its upcoming album, titled "
Just a Kiss". The group performed the single on stage on
American Idols result show on May 5, 2011. It was a commercial and critical success, debuting and peaking at number 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 number-one single on the chart. On June 7, 2011, the title of third album was announced,
Own the Night, and was released on September 13, 2011. The album cover and track listing was released on July 18, 2011. All together, four singles were released from Own the Night. 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 10, 2011. On October 1, 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 22, 2012.
2013–2016: Golden, 747, and hiatus On January 22, 2013, "
Downtown", the first single from a new album, was released to country radio. It was made available on iTunes starting February 5, 2013, and reached number one on the
Country Airplay chart in April 2013. The new album,
Golden, was released on May 7, 2013. The album's second single, "
Goodbye Town", was released to country radio on May 13, 2013, and peaked at number 11 on the Country Airplay chart. The third single from the
Golden era, "
Compass", was released to the
iTunes Store on October 1, 2013, and reached number one 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 12, 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 12, 2014, as the lead single for the group's sixth studio album, and was made available to digital retailers on May 19. 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 number 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 7, 2015, in the UK and on March 23, 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 28, 2015, he released his debut solo single, titled "The Driver". It features
Dierks Bentley and
Eric Paslay. On October 12, 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 29 July. 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 19, 2017, "
You Look Good" was released as the lead single on the upcoming seventh studio album
Heart Break. It released on June 9, 2017, and is further promoted with the "
You Look Good World Tour", which began on May 26 and ended on October 15, 2017. The
titular track was released as the second single on September 25, 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 Nashville and signed with
Big Machine Records.
2019–2023: Las Vegas residency, Ocean, and What a Song Can Do On October 24, 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 headlined in 2015) and for the first time in Glasgow. At the London show on March 9, the band announced new music and performed two new songs, "What If I Never Get Over You" and "Be Patient With My Love". The first single on Big Machine, "
What If I Never Get Over You", was released on May 17, 2019, along with the music video. The second single, "Pictures", was released on August 9, 2019. The eighth studio album
Ocean was released on November 15, 2019. On September 20, 2019, the title track was released. "Boots" was released on October 11, 2019. The song "What I'm Leaving For" was also released ahead of the album on October 25, 2019. The album features a collaboration with
Little Big Town. The trio appeared on
NBC's
Songland and released the song "
Champagne Night" on April 13, 2020. On January 21, 2021, the group became members of the
Grand Ole Opry after being invited by
Darius Rucker. On March 12, the band released the single "
Like a Lady"; on October 22 of the same year, their ninth studio album (entitled
What a Song Can Do) was released. On August 4, 2022, the group announced that it would postpone their Request Line Tour until 2023 to support Kelley's sobriety. On July 17, 2023, Lady A released a standalone single "Love You Back".
2025: ''On This Winter's Night: Volume 2'' In July 2025, Lady A announced their second Christmas album ''On This Winter's Night Vol.2'', which was released on September 26, 2025. They will promote the album on the This Winter's Night Tour in December 2025. ==Name controversy==