Charles Kelley is turning one year older on Tuesday, Sept. 11, so we’re here to celebrate with some facts about the Lady Antebellum member.
Kelley has released music with country trio Lady A and on his own as a solo artist, seeing major success in both categories. He has won seven GRAMMYs with Lady Antebellum and scored a nod as a solo artist for his collaboration with Dierks Bentley and Eric Paslay, “The Driver.” Lady Antebellum has also won eight ACM Awards and six CMA Awards and has sold over 10 million albums in the United States as of 2013. This year, the group released a new single, “What If I Never Get Over You,” and kicked off a residency in Las Vegas in early 2019.
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Scroll through for nine things you might not know about Kelley.
His father is a renowned cardiologist
Kelley’s father, Dr. John W. Kelley, is a cardiologist, and John and Kelley’s mom, Gayle, encouraged his musical passions from a young age. Charles and his brothers formed a band as teens called Inside Blue, releasing a five-song CD. Kelley later met future bandmate Dave Haywood, and the two wrote their first song at age 14.
He has a degree in business administration
Kelley attended the University of Georgia and scored a degree in business administration when he graduated in 2004. While at school, Kelley was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Lady Antebellum band member Dave Haywood also attended the school and received the same degree, and the two even spoke at this year’s commencement.
He met Dave Haywood in middle school
Before attending college together, Kelley and Haywood were friends in middle school and grew up together in Augusta, Georgia. Kelley convinced Haywood to join him in Nashville, and it was there the two met Hillary Scott after she saw their work on MySpace and ran into Kelley at a bar.
“I walked over to him and I was like, ‘I’m Hillary, I’m a singer/songwriter from here in Nashville. I’ve heard your stuff and I just think you’re great. Like, I just wanted to give you a compliment,’” Scott recalled to CBS News.
“And I said, ‘Well, let’s get together and write some songs,’” Kelley said. “Thought I might get a little date out of it if nothing else.”
“‘You wanna get together and write?’ But we actually did!” Scott revealed. “And that’s ALL we did. And we’ve never stopped. We haven’t stopped.”
He met his wife when she was a publicist
Kelley met his wife, Cassie McConnell, when she was working as a publicist for his brother Josh. The two married in 2009 in a civil ceremony in Nashville before heading to the Bahamas, all of which took place just before Lady Antebellum’s career skyrocketed.
His son was born after he and Cassie struggled with fertility
Charles and Cassie share 3-year-old son Ward, though they were initially told by doctors that they had a one percent chance of conceiving naturally.
“This journey to become a family of 3 has been a long, interesting, sometimes fun and sometimes heartbreaking road,” Cassie wrote on her website, Womanista, when announcing her pregnancy in 2015. “We never stopped hoping though. My prayer is that if you are struggling with trying to conceive a child, you will remain hopeful.”
Before moving to Nashville, he worked in construction
After graduating college, Kelley worked in construction with his brother John in North Carolina, as an accountant for an affiliated waste management company. He later moved to Nashville at the encouragement of his other brother, Josh, who is also a singer and had bought a home in Music City.
He lived with his brother after moving to Nashville
Charles and his brother lived together for one year after Charles moved to Nashville, with Josh allowing his sibling to stay rent-free.
“He let me stay at his place for a year, rent-free, living like kings,” Kelley told The Boot. “Without him, I don’t think I would have done it; I really don’t. I think I probably would have done what I was doing and maybe had a little band on the side, for the fun of it, just to get that feel, get that artistic side of me out.”
He is an avid golfer
The singer is a massive golf fan, having been instilled with an appreciation for the game at a young age. While on tour, Kelley has said that he tries to visit courses in the cities he’s in for shows, and he often plays in charity golf tournaments.
He has The Beatles lyrics tattooed on his arm
Kelley has multiple tattoos, including lyrics to The Beatles’ “Blackbird” on his arm. “All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise,” they read.
He also has a flower of life on his bicep, a colored butterfly on his other arm right beside a black-and-white sunset.
“I had a Beatles song, a little mantra that every time I got stressed out I would sing to myself ‘nothing’s gonna change my world, nothing’s gonna change my world,’” Kelley told Taste of Country. “That is a song called ‘Across the Universe,’ … and this Flower of Life represents kind of the universe and how we’re all connected.”
Photo Credit: Getty / Ethan Miller
