Hillary Scott Biography

Hillary Dawn Scott-Tyrrell (born April 1, 1986), known professionally as Hillary Scott, is an American country music singer-songwriter. She is the co-lead singer of Lady Antebellum, a country group that was formed in 2006 and signed to Capitol Nashville.

Early life

Scott was born in Nashville, Tennessee, to country music artist Linda Davis and Lang Scott, a musician and entrepreneur. Hillary was homeschooled on the road for kindergarten. She attended elementary school and high school at Donelson Christian Academy where she graduated in 2004. She lived with her grandparents during this time while her parents were on the road touring. After joining her mom on stage for a family Christmas show at Opryland, she was convinced to pursue a musical career. Scott has a younger sister, Rylee.

Career

After high school, Scott worked with singer-songwriter Victoria Shaw and earned some publicity, but was unable to secure a contract with a major label. She auditioned for American Idol twice, but failed to make it through to the judges round in both cases. Then she met future bandmates Charles Kelley and later, Dave Haywood, in May 2006. She ran into Kelley at a Nashville bar and recognized him from his MySpace page, where she had been listening to his music. She introduced herself to Kelley and complimented him on his music, which led to his deciding that they should get together with Haywood and write songs. The first song they wrote was All We'd Ever Need. The song was originally written for her to perform; she convinced Kelley it should be a duet, which led to the forming of Lady Antebellum. The group first performed together in August 2006 and signed a record deal in 2007. Scott claims that being lead singer of Lady Antebellum, as opposed to being a solo artist, lessens the pressure on her on stage.

Lady Antebellum

Scott formed the country music group Lady Antebellum in 2006 with backup singers Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood. They released their debut single, "Love Don't Live Here", on October 2, 2007; it entered Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart that year, peaking at No. 3 in early 2008. Their self-titled debut album was released on April 15, 2008, and debuted at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart. It consisted of eleven songs, ten of which were either written or co-written by the members of the trio, and was produced by Paul Worley and Victoria Shaw. The trio released their second single, "Lookin' for a Good Time", in mid-2008; it peaked at No. 11 in December of that year. Their third single, "I Run to You", became their first Number One hit on the Hot Country Songs chart in July 2009. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA three months later, in October 2009.

In August 2009, Lady Antebellum released "Need You Now" as the title track of its second album. The song topped the Hot Country Songs chart for five weeks in late 2009 before peaking at No. 1 and No. 2 on the Adult Contemporary and Hot 100 charts, respectively, in early 2010. Need You Now was released on January 26, 2010, and debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart with first-week sales of almost 481,000 copies. The album consisted of eleven songs, eight of which were co-written by the members of the trio, and showcased production by both the trio and Worley. The next two singles from the album, "American Honey" and "Our Kind of Love", reached No. 1 on the country charts in April 2010 and September 2010, respectively. The album was certified triple platinum by the RIAA in October 2010. Its fourth and final single, "Hello World", peaked at No. 6 on the country charts in April 2011.

In May 2011, Lady Antebellum issued "Just a Kiss" as the first single from their third album, Own the Night, which was released on September 13, 2011.

Other projects

Scott's other works include singing background vocals on Luke Bryan's song, "Do I", which fellow Lady Antebellum bandmates, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, wrote alongside Bryan. The song was released to radio in April 2009 and peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in December of that year.

Scott has recorded a duet with Dave Barnes called "Christmas Tonight" and was featured with Kelley and Haywood, as Lady Antebellum, on Maroon 5's "Out of Goodbyes". "Christmas Tonight" was a single off Barnes' 2010 holiday album, Very Merry Christmas, and peaked at No. 9 on the Adult Contemporary chart on New Year's Day, 2011. "Out of Goodbyes" was included on Maroon 5's 2010 album, Hands All Over, but was never released as a single.

In addition, Scott has co-written songs for other country artists, including Sara Evans' "A Little Bit Stronger" and Blake Shelton's "Suffocating". "A Little Bit Stronger" featured Scott on harmony vocals and was released in September 2010 as the lead off single to Evans' sixth studio album, Stronger. The song was widely used in the 2010 film, Country Strong, and topped the Hot Country Songs chart in May 2011 for two weeks, becoming Scott's first-ever Number One hit recorded by another artist. "Suffocating" was written by Scott with Shelton's wife, Miranda Lambert, and recorded by Shelton for his 2010 EP, All About Tonight.

Scott appeared on Season 4 of The Voice as a mentor on Team Adam.

Personal life

Scott married Nashville-based drummer Chris Tyrrell on January 7, 2012. Tyrrell proposed to Scott on July 2, 2011, during a family vacation in east Tennessee. The two first met in college and reconnected when Lady Antebellum and fellow country music band Love and Theft, in which Tyrrell was the drummer at the time, both served as opening acts on Tim McGraw's Southern Voice tour in early 2010. They began dating in July 2010. After their relationship began, Tyrrell filled in for Lady Antebellum's drummer for a month in August 2010 Rumors of an engagement had already circulated in April 2011 when Scott arrived at the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards wearing a ring on her left hand. At that time, Scott shot down the rumors, stating that there was no engagement yet. When Lady Antebellum released "Just a Kiss" a month later in May 2011, Scott hinted that the song was inspired by her relationship with Tyrrell, saying, "We love writing songs from personal experience, and this is definitely one of those songs. There is so much excitement at the beginning of a new relationship ... all the butterflies and that optimistic feeling that this person could be 'the one.' This song is about one of those times when your brain kicks in and tells your heart 'good things are worth waiting for.'" The couple wed in upstate New York on January 7, 2012. No wedding date was ever announced, and on January 8 the couple posted a video on Lady Antebellum's website announcing that they were married. In October 2011, Tyrell became a full-time member of Lady Antebellum's band as their new drummer.

Scott has two tattoos, a music note on her right foot and the number 14 on her right wrist. The 14 has two meanings. It represents the age at which she decided music is what she wanted to do for a living and the age difference between her and her younger sister.

Scott and Tyrrell recently purchased their first home together, a 7,600 square foot 6 bedroom and 8 bathroom home with a pool in Brentwood, TN. Scott announced on December 7, 2012, that she and her husband were expecting their first child. They will be having a baby girl. In an interview with Broadway's Electric Barnyard, Scott said that the baby's heartbeat might be heard in the group's latest album, Golden. In an interview with 92.5 WXTU-FM during ACM week in Las Vegas, Scott said she and her husband had not decided on a name and had come to conclusion that they might have to meet her first before they knew her name. On July 22, 2013, they welcomed a daughter named Eisele Kaye Tyrrell (pronounced: eyes-lee) in Nashville, TN .

Discography

Collaborative albums

Title	Details
Family Christmas (with Linda Davis and Lang Scott)	Release date: 2003 Label: Center Hill Records Formats: CD, music download

Featured singles

Year	Single	Artist	Peak positions	Album
			US AC
2010	"Christmas Tonight"	Dave Barnes	9	Very Merry Christmas

Awards

Since 2008, Scott and Lady Antebellum have been awarded many top awards in the music industry. Some of the top accolades include seven Grammy awards, seven Academy of Country Music awards, six Country Music Association awards, and CMT Artists of the Year honorees in 2010 and 2011. Scott was also named SESAC songwriter of the year in 2008, 2010, and 2011. In 2011, her publishing company, Hillary Dawn Songs, shared publisher of the year with EMI Foray Music at the SESAC awards. She also has three Academy of Country Music awards, as producer of the album Need You Now, as producer of the single "Need You Now", and as songwriter for "Need You Now".