Brian Kelly has left the American country music band Florida Georgia Line.
Brian Kelley of Ormond Beach, Florida, was a star pitcher on his high school baseball team, earning him a scholarship to Florida State University before transferring to Belmont University when it became clear that he would not succeed in baseball.
He began learning to play the guitar and writing music after being inspired by the Christian rock band Casting Crowns.
Tyler Hubbard, a Monroe, Georgia native, was a church worship leader who formed the hip-hop group Ingenious Circuit in his teens.
The pair met at Belmont University in 2008 through a campus worship group and decided to give themselves two years to succeed as a country duo after graduation.
Florida Georgia Line was founded in 2010 by Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard as a cover band.
They signed with the Big Loud Mountain label in December 2011. It’s Just What We Do, their second EP, was released in 2012 and charted on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
They signed with Republic Nashville, a division of the Big Machine Label Group, a few months later. Following that, the duo released a number of albums, including Anything Goes, Dig Your Roots, Can’t Say I Ain’t Country, and Life Rolls On.
Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard announced in February 2022 that they will be “taking a break” from recording music together and will be on an indefinite hiatus from touring following several live shows scheduled in 2022.