‘Pure privilege.’ Black singer responds after Lady Antebellum changes name to her own

A Seattle performer who has used the “Lady A” moniker for more than 20 years is not happy country music group Lady Antebellum change their name to her own.

Lady Antebellum announced their name change Thursday. Their previous name references a period of U.S. history involving slavery, which they said Thursday they were “regretful and embarrassed by.”

The group has changed its name on social media platforms, Apple Music and Spotify. But Anita White said the group did not confer with her before changing their name.

White, a black singer, said in a Facebook post the group hijacked her professional name.

“I AM Lady A ... God gave me a platform and he didn’t bring me this far to leave me,” she wrote. “Thank you all for your concern ... You can’t take my name.”

A representative for the former Lady Antebellum was unaware of another artist with the Lady A name, according to Rolling Stone.

In their statement Thursday, Lady Antebellum said “we did not take into account the associations that weigh down this word referring to the period of history before the Civil War, which includes slavery.”

Their name change came after some professional entities have disassociated with Confederate symbols, including NASCAR, which banned Confederate flags at its races Wednesday.

White pointed out the irony to Rolling Stone. She said the opportunity was one “for them to pretend they’re not racist.”

“This is too much right now,” she told the magazine. “They’re using my name because of a Black Lives Matter incident that, for them, is just a moment in time. If it mattered, it would have mattered to them before. It shouldn’t have taken George Floyd to die for them to realize that their name had a slave reference to it.”

Floyd, 46, died while in police custody on Memorial Day and his death sparked an avalanche of protests across the nation. He died after now-fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, as three other officers didn’t intervene.

According to her online biography, Lady A was nominated as Best Blues Performer of the Year 2020 by the Washington Blues Society. Also the host of a blues show and Gospel show on NWCZ, she is dubbed “The Hardest Workin’ Woman.”’

Lady Antebellum’s self-titled album released in 2008 and they used the name until Thursday.

White wrote on her personal Facebook page she would take Lady Antebellum to court if they give her a Cease and Desist notification.

“I’m not about to stop using my name,” she told Rolling Stone. “For them to not even reach out is pure privilege. I’m not about to lay down and let this happen to me.”

This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 10:33 AM with the headline "‘Pure privilege.’ Black singer responds after Lady Antebellum changes name to her own."