Kristen Hall (born October 24, 1962) is an American

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

singer-songwriter and a founding member of the

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

group

Sugarland Sugarland is an American country music duo founded in Atlanta, Georgia. The duo consists of singer-songwriters Jennifer Nettles (lead vocals) and Kristian Bush (vocals, guitar, mandolin). They were founded in 2002, at which point Kristen Hall (vo ...

. She had a solo career and released several albums, formed the country band Sugarland, and more recently has been involved in songwriting collaborations with

Courtney Jaye Courtney Jaye (born February 15, 1978) is an American singer and songwriter. Biography Courtney Jaye Goldberg was born on February 15, 1978, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and moved to Alpharetta, Georgia, when she was a freshman in high school. I ...

Association with Sugarland

Hall formed

in 2002 with

Jennifer Nettles Jennifer Odessa Nettles (born September 12, 1974) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer. Nettles is the lead vocalist of the duo Sugarland alongside Kristian Bush, and prior to this she fronted the Atlanta-based band ...

and

Kristian Bush Kristian Merrill Bush (born March 14, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Bush is one half of the country music duo Sugarland with Jennifer Nettles, and was a member of the folk rock duo Billy Pilgrim with Andrew Hyr ...

, and was co-writer of many of the group's early hits. Hall left the group in December 2005 after the band's debut album ''Twice the Speed of Life''. Nettles and Bush released a statement that "Kristen has decided that she wants to stay home and write songs, and we support her in that decision." It has been speculated, however, that Hall was pressured into departing the group for image reasons, or that she was paid to leave. In July 2008, Hall filed a lawsuit for $14 million against Nettles and Bush in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta. She claimed "I started the band, I named the band," and that she bankrolled much of the group's debut album on her credit cards. The remaining band members countered that it was $100,000 in debt at her exit. The case was settled in November 2010. Specifics of the case have never been released publicly.

Personal life

Hall identifies as a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

Discography

Solo career

*''Real Life Stuff'' (1990) *''Kristen Hall Band Bootleg'' (1991) *''Fact & Fiction'' (1992) *" Vocals on Doubting Thomas "Blue Angel" (1993) *''Be Careful What You Wish For'' (1994) *'' Vocals on Doubting Thomas "Two" (1995) *''Thumbprint'' (1996) *''California Made Music'' (1999) *''Live at Eddie's Attic'' (2000) *''Kristen Hall August 2000 Demos'' (2001) *''Katy The Wonder Cub'' (2008)

Sugarland

*''

Twice the Speed of Life ''Twice the Speed of Life'' is the debut studio album by American country music group Sugarland, released on October 26, 2004, through Mercury Nashville Records. The album peaked at number 16 on the Billboard 200 and number three on the Top Coun ...

'' (2004)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Kristen 1962 births American country singer-songwriters American women country singers American folk singers American lesbian musicians LGBT singers from the United States LGBT songwriters Living people Sugarland members 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people 21st-century American women