Blues singer Lady A ‘not happy’ about Lady Antebellum’s name change
A Seattle-based blues singer says she's not happy with country-pop group Lady Antebellum's name change to Lady A.
That’s because Lady A is the stage name of Anita White, and has been for more than two decades.
The country trio, which includes Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, announced they would no longer use the name Lady Antebellum, which they took on “after the Southern ‘antebellum’ style home where we took our first photos.”
“As musicians, it reminded us of all the music born in the south that influenced us…Southern Rock, Blues, R&B, Gospel and of course Country,” the statement said. “But we are regretful and embarrassed to say that we did not take into account the associations that weigh down this word referring to the period of history before The Civil War, which includes slavery.”
Kelley and Haywood grew up in Evans and attended the University of Georgia. Scott is from Nashville.
In an Instagram post, White, who is a black woman and started going by Lady A for karaoke nights in the '80s, directed her displeasure with the band's statement at the group, saying, "How can you say Black Lives Matter and put your knee on the neck of another Black artist? I'm not mad..I am however not giving up my name, my brand I worked hard for."
White was more emotional when speaking to Rolling Stone about the matter, her voice broke as she talked about the impact it had on her.
"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," she told Rolling Stone. "This is too much right now. They're using the name because of a Black Lives Matter incident that, for them, is just a moment in time. If it mattered, it would have mattered to them before. It shouldn't have taken George Floyd to die for them to realize that their name had a slave reference to it.
“It’s an opportunity for them to pretend they’re not racist or pretend this means something to them,” she said. “If it did, they would’ve done some research. And I’m not happy about that. You found me on Spotify easily — why couldn’t they?”
A representative for the band told Rolling Stone they were not aware of the blues singer and planned to reach out to her.
Bob Celestin, a music attorney who has represented Pusha T and Missy Elliott, told Rolling Stone audience size doesn’t matter, but who used the name first does.
“And the question is, does the original Lady A have a trademark registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office? If she does, she can go ahead and sue Lady Antebellum for infringement,” he said. “If not, she still has a common law trademark and she can still show that she’s been using the name in commerce — records, posters, tour flyers — for a number of years. She is first to use the mark in commerce, so that gives her a superior right to the name.”
White said she’s prepared to fight to keep her name. She said she holds a business trademark for Lady A LLC but she doesn’t know where she stands from a legal standpoint and will be speaking with a lawyer next week.
“For them to not even reach out is pure privilege. I’m not going to lay down and let this happen to me. But now the burden of proof is on me to prove that my name is in fact mine, and I don’t even know how much I’ll have to spend to keep it.”
Read more at the Rolling Stone website.
About the Author
Kelcie Willis is a writer and online content producer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Sociology from the University of Georgia. At the AJC, she covers state, regional and national news with the Content Curation Desk.
