Anita “Lady A” White gave her first interview since Lady A band (formerly Lady Antebellum) filed a lawsuit against her for the stage name.
“They want to change the narrative by minimizing my voice, by belittling me and by not telling the entire truth,” she told Rolling Stone in an interview published on Friday (July 10). “I don’t think of myself as a victim, but I’ve worked too long and too hard to just walk away and say I’ll share the name with them. They want to appropriate something I used for decades. Just because I don’t have 40 million fans or $40 million, that should not matter.”
Anita’s Interview
“At this point, I’m not surprised by anything they would do,” she continued. “When they talked about how talks broke down, they never talked outside of trying to get me to do what they wanted me to do, which is coexist, and that’s something I never wanted. I stand by that. I’ve said it so many times. And in our conversations, I told them, I didn’t think coexistence would work.”
White told the outlet that the trio assured her that the same name wouldn’t be a problem. She revealed that she had trouble verifying her name when she went to upload her latest single, “The Truth Is Loud.”
“They said they were going to do their best efforts at ensuring that my name could stay out in the forefront [with SEO and streaming services],” she claimed. “Before them, my name was under theirs; I could find myself easily, no problem. Now you can’t find me anywhere, so their ability to keep their word was false. Their best efforts were hollow; they didn’t mean what they said. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been erased. I have new fans sending me emails asking how to get my music because they can’t find me anywhere.”
The Lawsuit
On June 11 Lady Antebellum officially changed their band name. By June 15, the band held a Zoom meeting with White to discuss a solution. Finally, on July 8, the band filed the lawsuit at Nashville’s U.S. District Court.
White revealed that she got a new legal team who sent the band an updated offer, asking for $10 million. White said the money would have been split between herself and several charities. She planned on donating to a Seattle based charity, a charity that provides legal counsel to musicians, and Black Lives Matter.
Lady A band trademarked the name “Lady A” in 2010 after their fans used the term as a nickname for the trio. In return, the group is not asking for any monetary damages but instead “a declaration that they aren’t infringing on a trademark in using the name and that both parties can continue to coexist.”
