Lady A the blues singer and Lady A the country music trio have settled their lawsuit. Anita White, who has performed under the name “Lady A” for nearly 30 years, and Nashville band Lady A, who adopted the moniker after ditching their original name Lady Antebellum in 2020, were locked in a legal dispute over the rights to the name.
White and Lady A Entertainment LLC — consisting of band members Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, and Dave Haywood — filed a joint request to dismiss the lawsuit in a federal Tennessee court on Monday, Jan. 31. The terms of the settlement have not been made public.
In July 2020, Lady A the trio sued White asking for legal documentation verifying their rights to the name — essentially asking to share the Lady A name with White. The vocalist disagreed and countersued, asking the court to dismiss the trio’s own suit. The court denied the request and legal proceedings were set to begin in Tennessee. Monday’s dismissal means the end of the dispute.
“Real justice would have been very simple for them to just change their name,” White told Rolling Stone in an interview last summer. “That would have been simple for both of us. It really doesn’t cost them a dime, doesn’t cost me a dime.”
According to the motion, “all claims against all parties” are dismissed, “with each party to bear its own attorney’s fees, costs and expenses.”
[This is a developing story.]
From Rolling Stone US
