The Band Perry were an American band composed of siblings Kimberley Perry (lead vocals, guitar), Reid Perry (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Neil Perry (mandolin, bouzouki, backing vocals). Kimberly sang in her own band as a teenager with her brothers Neil and Reid working as roadies. At ages 8 and 10, the brothers began performing as an opening act, the Mobile Music Machines, for Kimberly. Kimberly released an EP entitled “Carry On” with a song of the same name inspiring two songs on “Pioneer”. Once they had united to form as “the Band Perry”, they joined a New Faces of Country tour in 2005. In 2008, they were discovered by Garth Brooks’ manager Bob Doyle.They signed to Republic Nashville in August 2009 and released their debut single “Hip to My Heart”. The song peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot Country chart.
After “Hip to My Heart” fell from the charts, the Band Perry released their second single, “If I Die Young”, written by Kimberly. “If I Die Young” and “Hip to My Heart” appear on the band’s self-titled debut album, released in October 2010. “If I Die Young” reached No. 1 on the country music chart, and No. 14 on the Billboard. The album’s third single, “You Lie”, was written by Brian Henningsen, Aaron Henningsen, and Clara Henningsen. It debuted in December 2010 and hit No. 2 in 2011. After it, “All Your Life” reached number 1 in February 2012, and “Postcard From Paris” reached number 6. The album sold 1.6 million copies.
In mid-2012, the band began working with producer Rick Rubin on their second album, Pioneer, which was released in April 2013. The album’s first single, “Better Dig Two”, was released to country radio in October 2012. The album’s second single, “Done”, charted in March 2013 ahead of its release date, reaching 1 on the Country Airplay chart in August 2013. Pioneer ended up being produced by Dann Huff and became the group’s first number one on the Top Country Albums chart in addition to reaching the number two spot on the all-genre Billboard 200. The album’s third single, “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely”, was released to country radio in August 2013. It reached number 2 on the Country Airplay chart in February 2014. The album’s fourth single, “Chainsaw”, which was originally recorded by the group Old Dominion, was released to country radio in March 2014. The song peaked at number 10 on Country Airplay. The band performed in the pre-game show of Super Bowl XLVIII, in February 2014.
In August 2015, the band released their new single called “Live Forever”, the first single off their upcoming third studio album. In March 2016, the Band Perry parted ways with their record label, Republic Nashville. In May 2016, Billboard reported that the band had signed with Interscope Records. According to the magazine, the Band Perry is transitioning to pop music. Their third studio album, tentatively titled Heart + Beat, was to have included material recorded while the trio was signed to Republic Nashville (including “Live Forever”) as well as new songs. The band later shot down rumors that they were “going pop”. The Band Perry stated that the main reason they signed with Interscope was so that their music could be distributed to other formats of radio, besides country. The Band Perry released their next single, “Comeback Kid”, to country radio in August 2016, through Mercury Nashville.
In February 2017, the band announced the title of their third album, My Bad Imagination. Unlike their previous two albums, this one would be pop. They said, “Creating it has been the most exciting thing we’ve ever done.” Another pop single, “Stay in the Dark”, followed in 2017. The album was subsequently confirmed a year later to have been scrapped. In mid-2018, the band left Interscope Records/Mercury Nashville to release music independently. In September the band released a five-song collection called Coordinates via ARTRAT, their newly formed creative house. The band wrote and produced all 5 songs themselves while Rick Rubin oversaw the project as executive producer. In March 2023, the band announced that they are going on a hiatus to focus on solo work.
