Jennifer Nettles

Jennifer Odessa Nettles, born September 12, 1974, in Douglas, Georgia, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. She graduated from Coffee High School before attending Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, where she studied Spanish and Anthropology, earning her degree in 1997. Her performing career began early, with appearances at school assemblies, her Southern Baptist church, and in community theater. From 1986 to 1993, she was a member of Georgia 4-H's Clovers & Company performing arts group.

While still a student at Agnes Scott, Nettles co-founded the group Soul Miner's Daughter with Cory Jones, who was then studying classical guitar at the University of Georgia. The duo performed both acoustically and with a full band, releasing two collaborative albums: The Sacred and Profane in 1996 and Hallelujah in 1998. Soul Miner's Daughter was invited to perform at the Atlanta installment of Lilith Fair in 1999. That same year, Nettles formed the Jennifer Nettles Band, which included Brad Sikes on drums, Scott Nicholson on piano, Wesley Lupold on bass, and Mike Cebulski on percussion. The band released three studio albums and two live albums and was named the grand prize winner from more than 2,000 entries in the Mars Music "Big Deal $100,000 Music Search."

In 2003, Nettles joined Kristen Hall and Kristian Bush to form Sugarland. Hall departed in 2006, leaving Nettles and Bush to continue as a duo. Their album Enjoy the Ride followed in November 2006, and Love on the Inside was released on July 22, 2008. Sugarland received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 2006, and at that ceremony Nettles presented Lifetime Achievement Awards to Merle Haggard and accepted the award for Best Country Group. A duet with Bon Jovi on the 2006 single "Who Says You Can't Go Home" reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and number seven on the Bubbling Under Hot 100. The song's video earned a CMT Music Award for Collaborative Video of the Year, and in February 2007 Nettles and Bon Jovi won the Grammy for Best Country Vocal Collaboration. At the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in February 2009, Sugarland won for Best Country Song and Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group. The Academy of Country Music presented Sugarland with the Vocal Duo of the Year award in April 2009, ending Brooks & Dunn's nine-year streak in that category. Nettles also received a Milestone Award at that ceremony, presented by Reba McEntire.

On January 18, 2009, Nettles performed at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, joining James Taylor and John Legend on Taylor's "Shower the People." She performed at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009 for Bruce Springsteen and again in 2011 for Neil Diamond. Beginning in 2010, Nettles hosted the CMA Country Christmas on ABC for six consecutive years, until Reba McEntire took over hosting duties for the 2017 broadcast.

Nettles launched her solo career in 2013, announcing work on a debut album and releasing the lead single "That Girl" in August of that year. She co-wrote the song with Butch Walker, and Rick Rubin produced it. The album That Girl followed on January 14, 2014. After parting ways with Mercury Nashville in July 2015, she signed with Big Machine Label Group, releasing the single "Unlove You" and embarking on the "Playing With Fire Tour" with Ryan Kindler and Brandy Clark. The tour was later extended and rebranded as the "CMT Presents Jennifer Nettles with 2016 Next Women of Country Tour," spanning more than 30 dates. In March 2017, she made her international solo debut at the C2C: Country to Country festival. In 2018, she duetted with Josh Groban on the Groban-penned song "99 Years," which appeared on his Bridges and Bridges Live albums. Nettles ended her solo deal with Big Machine Records in December 2019, though Sugarland signed an exclusive deal with the label. After a five-year hiatus, Sugarland officially reunited at the 51st Annual Country Music Association Awards in 2017, releasing the single "Still the Same" on December 21 of that year as the lead track from their sixth studio album, Bigger. Throughout her career, Nettles has received three Grammy Awards, four Country Music Association Awards, and an American Music Award.

In 2012, Nettles served as a judge on the ABC singing competition Duets alongside Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, and Robin Thicke, a series that was cancelled after one season. She later served as a judge on Go-Big Show from 2021 to 2022. Her Broadway career spans from 1996 to 2021 and includes credits in Waitress and Chicago. Nettles was born and raised in Douglas, Georgia. She married Todd Van Sickle in 1998; the couple divorced in 2007. On November 26, 2011, she married Justin Miller in a ceremony at Blackberry Farm in East Tennessee. The couple announced in June 2012 that they were expecting their first child, and their son was born in December 2012. Nettles and Miller divorced in 2018.