Halestorm is an American hard rock band from Red Lion, Pennsylvania, founded in 1997 by siblings Elizabeth Lzzy Hale and her brother Arejay Hale — one of the most relentlessly touring and consistently album-releasing rock bands of the past two decades, and one whose story is rooted in a kind of old-school musical upbringing that is increasingly rare. Lzzy was thirteen and Arejay was ten when they started playing together, both having begun piano at age five. Their father Roger played bass in the band's early years before bassist Josh Smith joined in 2004 and guitarist Joe Hottinger joined in 2003, completing the lineup that has remained constant since. The band spent years building their following through sheer live performance, often logging 250 shows a year, working their way up from Pennsylvania clubs to support slots with Shinedown, Disturbed, Seether, Papa Roach, Three Days Grace, Avenged Sevenfold, and dozens of other hard rock and metal acts before establishing themselves as headliners.
The band signed with Atlantic Records on June 28, 2005 and released a live EP, One and Done, before their self-titled full-length debut in 2009, which featured the single I Get Off and introduced Lzzy Hale's voice — a powerful, technically accomplished instrument capable of both grit and melodic range — to a national audience. The Strange Case Of... (2012), produced by Howard Benson, was the commercial breakthrough. Love Bites (So Do I) became the first single by a female-fronted band to reach number one on the Active Rock airplay chart — a milestone in the genre — and won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance at the 55th Grammy Awards in 2013. Into the Wild Life (2015), produced by Jay Joyce, peaked at number five on the Billboard 200, their highest chart position to date. Vicious (2018) debuted at number eight, their second consecutive top ten album. Back from the Dead (2022), produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Mastodon, Alice in Chains), addressed mental health, survival, and personal reckoning across its eleven tracks, with Hale describing the album as having evolved from songwriting exercises into a matter of literal survival for the band. Everest, their sixth studio album, was released in August 2025.
Lzzy Hale has become one of the most visible and vocal advocates for women in rock, speaking consistently about gender equality in the industry and the need for inclusion. She has collaborated with Alice Cooper, Slash, Taylor Momsen, and other rock artists, and refers to herself as an Ambassador for Rock. The band's music has surpassed 2.5 billion streams globally. They sold out their first headlining arena show in 2016 and have since headlined international tours and festival stages around the world. AllMusic described them as having become a fixture of American rock radio.
Wayne Dennon photographed Halestorm as part of an archive that values bands who earn their audience the right way. Halestorm's story is one of two kids from rural Pennsylvania who started playing music before they were teenagers and then outworked almost everyone in their genre to get where they are — and Lzzy Hale's voice is the kind that you recognize instantly and do not forget.
