Jennifer Nettles

Infobox musical artist
Name = Jennifer Nettles
Background = solo_singer

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Img_capt =
Birth_name =
Born = birth date and age|1974|9|12
Origin = Douglas, Georgia, USA
Genre = Country
Occupation = Musician, Singer-Songwriter
Instrument = Vocals
Acoustic guitar
Associated_acts = Sugarland The Jennifer Nettles Band Soul Miner's Daughter
Years_active = 1996–Present
Label = Mercury Nashville (Sugarland)

Jennifer Nettles (born September 12, 1974 in Douglas, Georgia) is an American Grammy-winning country music artist. She is known primarily for her role as lead vocalist of the duo Sugarland alongside Kristian Bush. Prior to Sugarland's inception, she also fronted Atlanta, Georgia-based bands called Soul Miner's Daughter and Jennifer Nettles Band. She also charted as a duet partner on the country version of rock band Bon Jovi's 2006 single "Who Says You Can't Go Home", a Number One hit on the country charts.

Early life

Nettles began performing in Georgia in at school assemblies, Georgia 4-H's Clovers & Co., her Southern Baptist church, and regional theater.

While a student at Agnes Scott College, Nettles and Cory Jones (who at the time was studying classical guitar at the University of Georgia) formed the group Soul Miner’s Daughter. Performing as both an acoustic duo and with a band, they released two albums: "The Sacred and Profane" in 1996 and "Hallelujah" in 1998, both of which were composed of songs written collaboratively by Jones and Nettles. [cite news|first=Alan|last=Back|url=http://www.nique.net/issues/1999-05-14/entertainment/9|title=Soul Miner's Daughter takes top honors at Lillith competition|work=The Technique|date=1999-05-14|accessdate=2007-04-04]

In 1999, she formed the Jennifer Nettles Band, with which she produced three studio and two live albums. She and her band were invited to perform at Lilith Fair in 1999 and received the 2000 "Independent Musician of the Year" award from Musician's Atlas.

She moved away from the introspective and sometimes dark themes of her solo work when she teamed up with Kristen Hall and Kristian Bush in 2003 to form Sugarland. On her website, she says the following of the transition:

Career

Sugarland was nominated for a Grammy award in the Best New Artist category. They did not win the award, but Nettles and Bush performed for the awards show in 2006, and Nettles presented both a Lifetime Achievement Award to Merle Haggard and the award for Best Country Group.

A duet performance with rock band Bon Jovi, "Who Says You Can't Go Home?", reached No. 7 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. The video for the song won a CMT Music Award in 2006 for "Collaborative Video Of The Year". In February of 2007, Nettles and Bon Jovi won a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Collaboration. In 2006, Kristen Hall left the group and Nettles and Bush continued on as a duo releasing "Enjoy the Ride" in November 2006. Their third album, titled "Love on the Inside", was released on July 22, 2008.

Personal life

Nettles grew up in the small town of Douglas, Georgia. She divorced husband Todd Van Sickle in March 2007 and is currently dating Clayton Mitchell, a guitarist in Kenny Chesney's touring band. She currently lives in the North Georgia mountains near Dahlonega, Georgia. [http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070710/COLUMNIST0501/707100347/1121/ENTERTAINMENT]

Singles

:"For a discography as a member of Sugarland, see Sugarland discography."

Awards

* 2006 CMT Collabortive Video of the Year, "Who Says You Can't Go Home"
* 2007 Grammy Best Collaboration, "Who Says You Can't Go Home"
* 2008 ACM Song of the Year, "Stay" (songwriter)

External links

* [http://www.jennifernettles.com Jennifer Nettles Official Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/jennifernettlesband Jennifer Nettles band's Myspace]

References