History [edit]

Siblings Arejay and Elizabeth "Lzzy" Hale have been actively writing and performing original music since 1997 when they were 10 and 13 years old, respectively. Both brother and sister started learning piano at the age of 5; Lzzy later progressed to a keytar and Arejay to the drums. Lzzy took guitar lessons at 16. The teen siblings released an EP titled Don't Mess With the Time Man in 1999. In Halestorm's earliest incarnation, Lzzy and Arejay's father Roger Hale played bass before Josh Smith joined the group in 2004. Guitarist Joe Hottinger joined in 2003.

The group signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records on June 28, 2005 and released a live EP titled One and Done. The EP, now out of print, featured an early live version of "It's Not You." Their self-titled debut album was released on April 28, 2009. The song "I Get Off" served as the album's lead single and has gained heavy radio play. Both the song and video for their second single, "It's Not You", were released in late November 2009. Singles and videos for "Love/Hate Heartbreak" and "Familiar Taste of Poison" were released in 2010.^[4]

Halestorm is well known for their near non-stop touring, often performing as many as 250 shows a year.^[5][6] Since 2006 they have toured with many hard rock and heavy metal acts including Chevelle, Seether, Staind, Papa Roach, Trapt, Three Days Grace, Theory of a Deadman, Buckcherry, Disturbed, Shinedown, Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, Hellyeah, Heaven & Hell, and most recently Evanescence as part of the Carnival of Madness Tour. Halestorm appeared on the first annual Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival,^[7], and in October 2010 the band traveled to Japan to participate in the Loud Park Festival.^[8] Halestorm also appeared on the 2010 Taste of Chaos tour.

On November 16, 2010 Halestorm released a live CD/DVD entitled Live in Philly 2010, which was recorded at The TLA in Philadelphia in early 2010.^[9] On March 22, 2011, Halestorm released an EP called ReAnimate containing covers of songs of different genres, including "Out Ta Get Me" by Guns N' Roses, "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga, and the first single "Slave to the Grind" by Skid Row.

On January 24, 2012, Halestorm released the EP Hello, It's Mz. Hyde, a sneak preview of four songs from their upcoming studio album. Their second full length album, The Strange Case Of... was released on April 10, 2012 in the US,^[10] April 9 in the UK, and April 17 in Italy. In May 2012, Halestorm made history by becoming the first female-fronted band to top the active rock airplay chart with their song "Love Bites...(So Do I)." In the same month, Gibson Guitars created a signature series guitar for Lzzy Hale. On 29 October 2012 they were announced as the support for Bullet For My Valentine on their UK tour in March 2013.^[11]

On December 5, 2012 it was announced that the song "Love Bites...(So Do I)" was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Category. On February 10, 2013 Halestorm won the award, becoming the first female-fronted band to both be nominated and win in that category. In April 2013, Halestorm reached the top of the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for the first time with their single "Freak Like Me."^[12]

Appearances [edit]

Halestorm on a concert at Carnival of Madness in Laredo, Texas on August 14, 2012.

Halestorm was the featured artist on the cover of Origivation magazine in October 2006 and appeared on the cover of Pennsylvania Musician magazine three times (August 1999, March 2000, and February 2003). Lzzy Hale appeared on the cover of Revolver magazine along with Grace Perry from Landmine Marathon in their December 2009 edition of the "Hottest Chicks in Metal." Lzzy Hale has also been noted for her use of Gibson Guitars.^[13] Arejay Hale was featured in the June 2010 issue of Modern Drummer magazine.

Lzzy Hale lent her vocals to a reworked version of the Shinedown song "Shed Some Light" from the 2005 album Us and Them. Lzzy and Shinedown's Brent Smith performed the song live on one occasion. Lzzy also appeared in the Shinedown song "Breaking Inside." On September 5, 2007, Halestorm appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno^[14] as part of the "Jaywalking" segment. On July 21, 2010 they appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, performing "Familiar Taste of Poison".^[15][16]

Lzzy Hale appeared on Black Stone Cherry's 2011 album Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea as a backup vocalist on two songs. On February 21, 2012 Halestorm's song "Here's to Us" was performed on the "On My Way" episode of Glee during the regionals competition portion of the show. The song was performed by Lea Michele, who plays Rachel Berry, and the other female members of New Directions. Lzzy Hale appeared on Adrenaline Mob's 2012 album Omertá singing on their cover of Duran Duran's "Come Undone." Lzzy also appears on HardDrive XL with Lou Brutus, in a segment called "Ask Lzzy" for which listeners are able to send her questions.

On January 29, 2013 Halestorm performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. On February 22 Lzzy Hale sang the Guns n' Roses song "Out Ta Get Me" at Bandit Rock Awards in Stockholm Sweden, where Slash and his band were headlining. Lzzy's vocals are featured in a cover of "Close My Eyes Forever" on the album of David Draiman's new project, Device.

Band members [edit]

Current Members

• Lzzy Hale - lead vocals, rhythm and lead guitar, keyboard (1998–present)
• Arejay Hale - drums, percussion, backing vocals (1998–present)
• Joe Hottinger - lead guitar, backing vocals (2003–present)
• Josh Smith - bass guitar, backing vocals (2004–present)

Discography [edit]

Studio albums

• Halestorm (2009)
• The Strange Case Of... (2012)

Extended Plays

• (Don't Mess with the) Time Man (1999)
• Breaking the Silence (2001)
• One and Done (2006)
• ReAniMate: The CoVeRs eP (2011)
• Hello, It's Mz. Hyde (2012)
• In the Live Room (2012)

Live albums

• Live in Philly 2010 (2010)

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Official website
• Halestorm at Atlantic Records