Sugarland Biography

Sugarland Biography

 Sugarland is an American country music duo composed of singer-songwriters Jennifer Nettles (lead vocals) and Kristian Bush (background vocals, mandolin, acoustic guitar). Sugarland was founded in 2003 by Bush and Nettles, along with original member Kristen Hall (background vocals, guitar), who left in 2005 for a solo career. Prior to the inception of Sugarland, all three members had been members of various folk rock groups. Bush, additionally, was once one-half of the duo Billy Pilgrim, which recorded for Atlantic Records in the 1990s.

Signed to Mercury Nashville Records in 2004, Sugarland broke through that year with the release of their debut single "Baby Girl", the first single from their multi-platinum debut album Twice the Speed of Life. This album produced three more chart singles for the group in the tracks "Something More", "Just Might (Make Me Believe)", and "Down in Mississippi (Up to No Good)". After Hall's departure, Sugarland recorded its second album (2006's Enjoy the Ride), which was certified 2× Multi-Platinum like its predecessor. This album also produced Sugarland's first two Number Ones in "Want To" and "Settlin'", as well as additional Top Tens in "Everyday America" and "Stay". In 2006, Nettles served as a duet partner on Bon Jovi's first country single "Who Says You Can't Go Home" (also a Number One on the country charts), while in 2007, Sugarland also received the Country Music Association's Duo of the Year award. "All I Want to Do" was issued in June 2008 as the lead-off to their third studio album, Love on the Inside.

 Sugarland's debut album, Twice the Speed of Life, was released October 26, 2004. Serving as its lead-off single was the song "Baby Girl". This song, which went on to peak at #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, spent a total of forty-six weeks on the country charts, setting a record for the longest chart run since the inception of Nielsen SoundScan in 1990; it was also the highest-peaking debut single for a group in thirteen years. Also release from Twice the Speed of Life were the singles "Something More", "Just Might (Make Me Believe)" and "Down in Mississippi (Up to No Good)", which peaked at #2, #7, and #17, respectively. The album received 2× Multi-Platinum certification for sales of two million copies. In late 2005, the band performed with Bon Jovi on Country Music Television's musical fusion show, Crossroads. Nettles sang with Bon Jovi on their single, Who Says You Can't Go Home. The song later went on to become a #1 on the country charts. They toured the United States and Canada performing with Brad Paisley in 2005 and in 2006-2007 with Kenny Chesney on his "Flip Flop Summer Tour". On January 17, 2006, Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush released a statement on the official Sugarland website stating that "Kristen [Hall] has decided that she wants to stay home and write songs, and we support her in that decision." They were nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy and performed the song "Something More" at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2006. Sugarland performed at the 2006 CMT Music Awards, where they received multiple nominations including Group/Duo Video of the Year for Just Might (Make Me Believe), Breakthrough Video of the Year for Something More, and Collaborative Video of the Year for Who Says You Can't Go Home.

Sugarland released their second album on November 7, 2006 entitled Enjoy the Ride; this was the first album not to feature Hall as a member. The set sold 211,000 during its first week and opened at #4 on the US Top 200 and at #2 on the Top Country Albums charts. The first two singles from this album — "Want To" and "Settlin'" — both reached Number One on the country music charts, while "Everyday America" and "Stay" were both Top Ten hits, peaking at #9 and #2, respectively. A limited edition of the CD, sold exclusively at Wal-Mart, was released in late 2007 and included a 5-song Christmas EP. The EP contained one original song - "Little Wood Guitar" - written by Bush and Ellis Paul. USA Today included the song in a list of new Christmas songs released in 2007 "that might have some staying power." Sugarland performed the song "Stay" at the 2007 CMT Awards on April 16. They performed "Everyday America" at the 2007 ACM awards, as well as on the television show The Tonight Show. In the fall of 2007, Sugarland headlined their first concert tour: the Change for Change Tour along with opening acts Little Big Town and Jake Owen. In 2007 the duo performed on the 41st CMA Awards and won an award for Vocal Duo of the Year. On November 18, 2007, they performed a cover of Beyoncé Knowles' "Irreplaceable" at the American Music Awards. Knowles joined Sugarland on stage starting with the second verse. The performance drew some poor reviews with the Village Voice calling it "a well-intentioned mess", although other critics also noted that the crowd enjoyed the performance.