- Country music duo formed in 2002, from Douglas Georgia. Originally, the band was a trio – Kristian Bush (vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin), Kristen Hall (vocals, acoustic guitar) and Jennifer Nettles (lead vocals). Hall left the group in 2005, and Sugarland has been the duo of Bush and Nettles ever since.
- All three artists were active in the Atlanta folk-rock music scene in the 90s. Hall had a solo career starting in 1990. Bush co-founded the folk-rock group Billy Pilgrim, releasing several albums between 1991 and 2001. In 2002, Bush and Hall collaborated to form Sugarland, and they quickly hired Nettles, with her background in gospel and soul music, to join them. Though they had no connection to Texas, they chose the name Sugarland, inspired by the city of Sugar Land, a suburb of Houston, simply because they liked the name.
- They built a following with their live performances, and they made a demo recording that they would sell at their performances. By 2003, they were signed to a recording contract, and in early 2004, they released their debut single, Baby Girl. It was a huge success – it peaked at #2 on the country chart, and was the highest charting debut single of any country group since 1991. It was included on their debut album, Twice the Speed of Life, released later in 2004. The album sold over 3 million copies in the U.S., with 2 more singles breaking into the Country Top 10 – Something More and Just Might (Make Me Believe).
- By the end of 2005, Hall left the group, reportedly to resume her solo career and to write songs. However, in 2008, she sued Bush and Nettles, claiming that she was not receiving profits that were agreed upon her departure. They settled out of court.
- Sugarland’s second album, Enjoy the Ride, was released in 2006. It went triple platinum, and the singles Want To and Settlin both reached #1 on the country chart. Their signature song, Stay, also is on the album, and it was their biggest selling song on the album – though on the charts, it was stuck behind Taylor Swift’s Our Song, which kept Stay at #2.
- 2008 brought their third album, Love On The Inside. It was their first album to top the Country Album chart, and it had 3 #1 singles – All I Want To Do, Already Gone, and It Happens. By now, they were superstars, winning 2 Grammy awards for Stay, and getting a prime time TV special called Live On the Inside (which spawned a live album of the same name, which also topped the Country Album chart). In 2009, they released a Christmas album, Gold and Green, with 5 original Christmas songs written by Bush and Nettles, and 5 traditional Christmas songs.
- In 2010, they released The Incredible Machine, which included their best selling single, Stuck Like Glue. The song is their highest charting song on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching #17, and it peaked at #2 on the country charts. After supporting the album with a tour, they went on hiatus in 2012. Nettles had a child, and both Nettles and Bush made solo albums. In 2017, they reunited as a group, and their latest album, Bigger, was released in 2018. It includes the song Babe, which features Taylor Swift on vocals. Swift also co-wrote the song, offering it to Sugarland because she is a fan of the group.
- We’ll see if their return to country music after a long break is successful. These days, any collaboration with Taylor Swift has a good chance of being very big. Here’s the video to their hit Stuck Like Glue.