Lady Antebellum to sue Lady A over ‘slavery’ name change

LADY Antebellum is suing the singer Lady A after they changed their band name to her stage name and she claimed recognition of their trademark. The country group – comprising Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood – had claimed they had found common ground with the blues singer after they held a private conference on Zoom with her after they switched their name to her moniker in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, as the word Antebellum has associations of slavery in the US.

However, now the trio are suing Lady A – whose real name is Anita White – as they claim they trademarked Lady A in 2010 and she did not dispute the move then.

In a statement, the band said: “We are sad to share that our sincere hope to join together with Anita White in unity and common purpose has ended.”

They added that they “shared our stories, listened to each other, prayed and spent hours on the phone and text writing a song about this experience together. We can do so much more together than in this dispute.”

The Need You Now hitmakers claimed that a representative for Lady A “demanded a $10 million payment” (R170m) from them.

The trio do not wish to seek damages from White and do not want her to change her name. However, they do not wish to face any more legal hassles, and are therefore suing her for trying to gain recognition of the trademark “we have held for many years”.

Lady A, the group, concluded their statement by insisting they are constantly “educating ourselves, our children and doing our part to fight for the racial justice so desperately needed in our country and around the world”.

While White is yet to comment on the lawsuit she faces, she took to Twitter to write: “No Weapon formed against me shall prosper.”

She had previously said: “This is my life. Lady A is my brand, I’ve used it for over 20 years, and I’m proud of what I’ve done.”