Laine Hardy

Hardy was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,[1] and raised in Livingston, Louisiana.[8] His father Barry is a general contractor for a construction company, and his mother Cindy Lou is a real estate agent. He has a brother Kyle, and an older sister, Brittany Banta.[9] His maternal grandmother is a Korean immigrant from Seoul.[10] He attended French Settlement High School and graduated in 2018.[11] He learned to play the guitar when he was eight, and by the time he was 14, he was performing in a band with his brother and cousins called the Band Hardy in local bars and restaurants.[12] Although initially he did not sing, he was encouraged by his brother to sing.[13]

Laine Hardy first auditioned for season 16 of American Idol,[14] but did not go far in that season, making it only to the top 50. He did not intend to audition for season 17, but accompanied his friend Ashton Gill to play guitar at her audition, and was encouraged by judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie to audition again.[15][16][17][18] This time he made it all the way to the final and won the competition, making Alejandro Aranda runner-up and Madison VanDenburg second runner-up.[19]

Hardy released a three-song EP, In the Bayou, in 2018. Later that year he released the song "Blue Christmas".[20] Following his win on American Idol, his coronation song "Flame" was released on May 19, 2019.[21][22] He performed the single on The View in May 2019.[23] On September 20, 2019, Hardy announced his first headline tour, a 13-date tour taking place from November 14 through December 7, 2019, across the US.[24] He released two new songs, "Ground I Grew Up On" and "Let There Be Country", in April 2020,[25] and performed a cover of "Life Is A Highway" on American Idol in May 2020.[26]

• Official website