Neil Perry Says Sister Kimberly Pushed Him Out of The Band Perry

Neil Perry says his sister Kimberly Perry fired him from The Band Perry, replacing him in the sibling trio with her husband, Johnny Costello.

In a series of Instagram posts published on 11 August, Neil Perry laid out a detailed account of his departure from the group he helped found in 2010 with Kimberly and their brother Reid. He also used the posts to promote music under a new moniker, Wolves of June (Billboard).

The Band Perry broke through in the early 2010s with multiplatinum country-pop hits including 'If I Die Young,' which reached No. 1 on both the Hot Country Songs and Adult Contemporary charts, and 'Better Dig Two,' which topped Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay. The group went on hiatus in 2023, after which Kimberly Perry launched a solo career and released the project 'Bloom.' In a March 2026 interview on 'Nashville Now,' Kimberly said she 'couldn't live with' the band's disappearance and explained her decision to reform the group with Costello (iHeartCountry).

According to Neil Perry's account, the fractures ran deep. He wrote that by May 2024, none of the siblings were consistently on speaking terms, and Reid had stopped engaging in both personal and business matters. Neil said he was presented with three options for the band's future: moving forward as a duo, holding auditions for a new member, or having Costello step in. He said he was fine with the first two (Billboard).

Instead, Neil said, Kimberly wanted Costello to take Reid's place. Weeks later, the day after his birthday, he was terminated. Neil said Reid then rejoined the band through conversations he was not part of, and he was given three days to decide whether to continue under those terms. He concluded that touring was no longer a realistic option and that he would soon be forced out by the band's two-thirds partnership agreement — a structure in which any two of the three siblings could outvote the third (Billboard).

Neil said he did not agree to losing his financial interest and access to the business he had spent his life helping to build. He also stated that he explicitly asked his sister not to misrepresent his support for the current version of the band (Billboard). In one Instagram video, he sat in front of shelves displaying The Band Perry's awards, with on-screen text reading: 'Preparing for my Netflix documentary about how The Band Perry went from three siblings to my sister and her husband' (Billboard).

Neil also said he had witnessed instability and broken trust that fundamentally changed his ability to continue with the group (Stereogum).

The current lineup of The Band Perry has not publicly responded to Neil Perry's statements. Kimberly Perry's most recent project, 'PSYCHOLOGICAL,' was released earlier this year (iHeartCountry).

For a group that began as three siblings sharing a stage, the split now sits at the intersection of family, business and creative control — the kind of dispute where the partnership agreement and the holiday dinner table are the same room.