Grammy Confusion: Lady A’s Charles Kelley Vs. Charlie Kelley

GAC host Nan Kelley (l) chats with Lady Antebellum on the set of Top 20 Country Countdown.

Feb. 3, 2009 — When Lady Antebellum debuted a year ago with "Love Don’t Live Here," it created a minor amount of confusion among country-music trivia buffs. The lead singer is Charles Kelley, whose name is significantly similar to that of Charlie Kelley, who was part of the Buffalo Club, another trio that earned a Top 10 hit in 1997 with "If She Don’t Love You."

Oddly enough, both Kelleys got nominated for Grammy Awards this year — Charles and Lady A are up for two, including Best New Artist, while Charlie’s a finalist for Best Polka Album as a member of the Boxhounds. Charles and Charlie — who’s married to Nan Kelley, host of GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown — were each in the room last week at a Nashville Grammy nominees party.

"It’s pretty funny," Charles says, of their near-twin names. "[Charlie’s] a really cool guy, but he says he gets a bunch of MySpace comments askin’ if [he’s] me, and vice versa."

Charles just got engaged in December. Charlie’s marriage took a strange turn that same month. He had surgery for colon cancer Dec. 1, while Nan was recovering from her own bout with cancer.

"I was stunned because we had just been through this," Charlie told the Associated Press. "You’re stunned and upset, but also numb."

Nan found out about Charlie’s diagnosis while she was working at GAC.

"I’m standing there in a wig, still a mess from my ordeal," she said. "It just didn’t seem real."

The Grammy nomination was a nice little extra for Charlie, though he was hardly aware of it. It came just days after his surgery, and musical partner LynnMarie Rink was visiting him at the hospital when they found out about it.

"I shook him — ‘Charlie, we got it, we got it,’" she told AP. "Nothing. He was out. I said ‘What do I do now?’ I waited 30 seconds and tried again and he woke up. I said ‘We got it,’ and he said ‘Got what?’ He was very happy and had a huge smile on his face. I had brought in a hat with a Grammy on it. We took a photo and celebrated a little bit, then he went back to bed."

Charlie intends to be at the Grammys on Sunday in Los Angeles. He also wants to turn the recognition the nomination brought him into something with a bigger purpose.

"A Grammy nomination is thrilling, and for it to come at a time in my life when the spotlight can not only be on the music but on the importance of early [cancer] screenings is truly exciting for me," he says. "It saved my life, and to be able to share my story and my music makes this nomination extra special."

With new positive developments in their lives, Charlie and Charles Kelley have something to talk about at the awards besides music — and besides their names.