Courtesy Pixabay
It didn’t take long for this to happen. Lady A the country trio is now suing Lady A, the blues singer.
It’s not been even a month since Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, and Dave Haywood announced that they would be changing their group’s name of the last 14 years from Lady Antebellum to Lady A, in a move to disassociate themselves from the ‘ Pre-Civil War associations that weigh down this word’. Then Anita White, who performs professionally as blues singer Lady A, pushed back on an Instagram post, 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. #GodWillFightMyBattle #TheRealLadyA #LadyABluesSoulFunkGospelArtist #TheTruthIsLoud”
Here’s what happened one week later, according to USA Today‘s entertainment section:
The following week, both Lady As shared news that they’d connected privately, prayed together and both intended to keep using the stage name. White told USA TODAY the band reached out to her to have “open and honest conversations” and singer Hillary Scott apologized.
Those discussions deteriorated and White and her attorneys asked for a $10 million payment, according to a statement sent to USA TODAY by the band’s publicist, Tyne Parrish.
“Reluctantly we have come to the conclusion that we need to ask a court to affirm our right to continue to use the name Lady A, a trademark we have held for many years. It was a stirring in our hearts and reflection on our own blindspots that led us to announce a few weeks ago that we were dropping the word ‘Antebellum’ from our name and moving forward using only the name so many of our fans already knew us by,” the statement says.
Ms. White shot back in a tweet that stated, “”No Weapon formed against me shall prosper. #TheRealLadyA.”
USA Today also said,
A search of the United States Patent and Trademark Office records shows the term was registered for in 2011 by Lady A Entertainment, a limited liability company in Tennessee. Lady A Entertainment is also listed as the owner of a series of Lady Antebellum trademarks relating to music and multimedia materials.
So, this trademark case is going to court. Who do you believe has the right to the name Lady A? The country group, or the blues singer? We’d like to know your thoughts.
And if you aren’t familiar with Lady A–country group, here’s one of their most recent hits.
And here is the blues singer, Lady A.