Losing a talent competition to a tap-dancing cowgirl might bring some rockers down, but for siblings Lzzy and Arejay Hale, all it did was cement the idea that they were born to be performers. In a new interview with Beacon Audio, singer Lzzy Hale discusses the moment that helped shape the outcome of the rest of her life and she points to their very first live show as the official kick-off of Halestorm.

“Summer of '97, I was still in middle school, my brother and I had this brilliant idea to enter ourselves in a talent show at the county fair in Pennsylvania,” explains Lzzy. “But my brother, he was around ten at the time, said it wasn’t cool if we didn’t have a band name. So I said ‘What do you want to call the band name for the day?' We weren’t planning on starting a band, why would we do that?” laughed Lzzy in hindsight. Arejay suggested the name Halestorm, a play on their last name Hale, and Lzzy agreed. “Long story short, we played our show, had one song written called ‘Love Is Power,’ ended up losing to a tap-dancing cowgirl,” Lzzy recounts.

“But the moment was when we walked out on stage for the first time, not in front of our parents, not in front of our guests for Christmas, this was all new people, it was this big outdoor auditorium, I remember turning to my little bro and saying ‘We have to do this again, Do you think Mom knows anyplace else we could play?'," said Lzzy. And two of rock's rising stars were born. “We literally had tunnel vision from that day forward, to the point where that next day I went into school, and said, ‘Hey I’m Lzzy Hale and I’m in band called Halestorm, I started a band.” laughed Lzzy.

In the video clip seen below Hale also talks about being influenced by the star power of late greats like Queen’s Freddie Mercury. “I grew up on my parents’ music. I wear my roots on my sleeve most times.” explained Lzzy. “So you see old videos of Freddie Mercury and you see all these people that had such a larger than life personality and they were playing these huge stages with crowds that were singing along"

She continued, "I remember literally all the time just being like, ‘Wow, do you think anybody will sing along to our songs, do you think anybody will ever cover one of our songs?'” The answer to that is a definitive ‘Yes'! With Lzzy and Halestorm out on the Carnival of Madness tour all summer, the crowds have been joining her in sing-alongs from coast-to-coast, not to mention the popular TV show ‘Glee’ covering their song ‘Here’s to Us.’ “A lot of these dreams have come true,” admits Lzzy, and we’ve got a feeling this is only the start for this talented young band!

Watch Lzzy Hale Discuss Starting Halestorm with her Brother Arejay

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