Florida Georgia Line and Religion
About Florida Georgia Line
Their Life Growing Up
Tyler Hubbard was born on January 31, 1987, in Monroe, Georgia to Roy Hubbard and his wife, Amy. He was their oldest child and has a younger brother, Cameron, and a younger sister, Amelia. As a child, Tyler spent a lot of time playing different sports and riding dirt bike, along with being associated with the church and attending multiple times a week. Thanks to church worship, Hubbard discovered his interest in music and by the time he made it to high school, he led the church worship service. Tyler eventually learned to play the guitar and piano and then created a hip hop group with some friends called "Ingenious Circuit". After graduating in 2005, he attended Belmont University in Nashville. He then met current duo partner Brian Kelley in 2008 through a mutual friend during an on campus worship group. That same year, Tyler lost his father to a helicopter crash near his hometown, thankful he had his new band mate and best friend to help him through it. On July 1, 2015, Tyler married his wife Hayley Stommel and have just welcomed a baby girl, Olivia Rose into the world.
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Brian Kelley wad born on August 26, 1985, in Ormond Beach, Florida and is the son of Ed and Margaret Kelley. He has one sister whom is older, Katherine. Growing up, he enjoyed playing sports and writing but spent most of his time playing baseball or at the beach. As he grew older he spent more and more time writing music and leading worship at his local church. Throughout the years he also developed a love for playing guitar and would wash his sisters car in exchange for her to play country music on the way to the beach. By the time Brian was ready to graduate in 2004, he was splitting his time between baseball (playing college baseball with Florida State University and being scouted) and writing music. Once he realized he was doing more bench sitting than playing, he used writing to fill that void and eventually gave up playing and moved to Nashville to attend Belmont University where he met his current duo partner, Tyler Hubbard. On December 16, 2013, Brian and his wife Brittany Cole got married but are waiting a while to have children of their own.
Their Faith
“I think our faith makes everything that we do real and, you know, it helps us stay grounded and balance everything out. You know everything is kind of moving a million miles an hour and that’s a great thing. So you know our faith helps us navigate through all the waters.” -Brian Kelley
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Even throughout their experiences to this day, the two men turn to faith. They pray for the little things and the big things. When Kelley's father had a heart attack in 2010, Hubbard asked if he could pray with Kelley and his family, he wanted to help by using faith. Experiences like these, although not all negative, show us that Tyler and Brian both believe strongly in their faith and are more recently trying to portray that into their music as well.
Their Music Now and How It Came To Be
The two met at Belmont University in 2008 in an on campus worship group. After graduation they decided to move in together and give themselves two years to become a successful country duo. They began working random, different jobs just to pay the bills while playing at clubs throughout the weekends. While it was just the two of them, they wrote, produced, released and digitally sold their first EP called, "Anything Like Me", in December 2010. They were discovered by Joey Moi, the producer for Nickleback, while playing at a country fair. The group spent days polishing songs, which were then released on their second EP, "It'z Just What We Do", in 2012. The duos sound was inspired by groups such as Nickleback, Shinedown, and Three Days Grace. Bigger and major labels became interested in the duo when their hit single "Cruise" first aired on the radio channel The Highway and began selling on iTunes, which led them to a deal with Big Machine Label Group and Republic Nashville. The group likes to think of their career as more of a lifestyle than an actual career. Recently they have featured in the song "Last Day Alive" by The Chainsmokers and have also collaborated with Bebe Rexha on her newer singles "Meant To Be".
How They Fell In Love With Music
Both members of Florida Georgia Line grew up and first found interest in music through church services as kids and teens. Brian Kelley, from Ormond Beach, Florida, was a pitcher on his high school baseball team, which got him a scholarship at Florida State University. Later on down the road he transferred to Belmont University after he realized that the sport was not for him. He then began to learn how to play guitar and writing his own music inspired but the Christian rock band Casting Crowns. Tyler Hubbard, the second of the two, grew up in Monroe, Georgia and was a church worship leader. He formed a hip hop group in his teens called Ingenious Circuit. Even though the two did not know each other, they both had a wide variation in music taste, from Garth Brooks and Alabama, to Lil Wayne and Eminem.
