Lee Ann WomackBirth Place: Jacksonville, Texas, USA Date of Birth: August 19, 1966 Heritage: American Contact Lee Ann Womack | 
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LEE ANN WOMACK NEWS:
- WILLIAMS IMPRESSED WITH WOMACK'S COUNTRY 'GRIT' - 06/19/2006More News...
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I Hope You Dance Background: “I'm not afraid to go out on a limb, style-wise or with lyrics. I don't ever want to be afraid to cut those types of songs because radio might not play it.” Lee Ann Womack Rising to prominence as a staff writer for Nashville's Tree Publishing, two-time Grammy award-winning country/pop singer and songwriter Lee Ann Womack enjoyed her first breakthrough as a performer with the platinum album “Lee Ann Womack” (1997), which produced her first Top 2 country hits “The Fool” and “You've Got to Talk to Me.” For her work in the album, she won an Academy of Country Music Award, an American Music Association Award and a British Country Music Award. Following the gold album “Some Things I Know” (1998), recognized for the hit singles “A Little Past Little Rock” and “I'll Think of a Reason Later,” Womack reached the peak of her fame with her third and triple platinum album “I Hope You Dance,” which spawned a major country/pop crossover hit of the same name. The song won Womack her first Grammy Award in addition to three Academy of Country Music Awards, three Country Music Association Awards and a Billboard Music Award. The mother of two girls received her next Grammy in 2002 with “Mendocino County Line,” a duet sung with Willie Nelson. Since “I Hope You Dance,” Womack has had a platinum album with “Something Worth Leaving Behind” (2002) and two gold albums with “Greatest Hits” (2004) and the award-winning “There's More Where That Came From” (2005), which featured the country hit “I May Hate Myself in the Morning.” Her duet with George Strait in the single “Good News, Bad News” brought Womack her third Country Music Association Award in 2005. Womack's newest album, “Finding My Way Back Home,” has been suspended since 2006. 5' 1” Womack has been married twice. She has a 17-year-old daughter, Aubrie Lee Sellers, from first husband, musician Jason Sellers, whom she was married to from 1990 to 1997. As of November 1999, she is married to music producer Frank Liddell, with whom she has a 9-year-old daughter named Anne Lise Liddell. Womack is a fan of the TV show “Andy Griffith Show” and the movie “Gone with the Wind.” Her favorite sport is tennis.
Childhood and Family: Lee Ann Womack was born on August 19, 1966, in Jacksonville, Texas, to a disc jockey father. It was through her father that young Lee discovered a love for country music. She frequently helped her dad in his studio picking out records to play. She also enjoyed listening to the Grand Ole Opry on her stereo. During this period, Lee, known by family and close friends by the nickname Lu, idolized Ray Price, Glen Campbell and Bob Wills. Led by her mounting passion for country music, she visited Nashville as a senior in high school and toured Music Row. After high school, Lee studied commercial music at South Plains Junior College in Levedlland, Texas, and joined the school band, Country Caravan, with which she toured throughout southwest and southern California. She furthered her studies by attending Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she enrolled in the music business program, before relocating to Nashville permanently in 1990. In 1990, Lee married singer-songwriter Jason Sellers, whom she met at Belmont University. The marriage ended in separation in 1997 after producing one daughter, Aubrie Lee Sellers (born in 1991). She gave birth to her second daughter, Anne Lise Liddell, in January 1999, who was fathered by producer Frank Liddell. The couple eventually married on November 6, 1999.
Career: Introduced to country music at an early age, Lee Ann Womack began performing in junior college by joining a college country band called Country Caravan. She then worked as an intern in the A&R department at MCA Records in Nashville, Tennessee, before deciding to permanently stay to give her music career a shot. While waiting for a break, the Texas native showcased her talent in clubs. It was her ability in songwriting that first gained Womack attention and in 1995, she was signed to Tree Publishing. From then, she co-penned songs with big names like Ed Hill, Bill Anderson, Sam Hogin and Mark Wright (her producer). Womack's first break as a performer arrived a year later when she landed a contract with Decca Records. Her debut album, “Lee Ann Womack,” was released in 1997 and went on to peak at No. 9 on the Top Country Albums’ chart. It spawned country hits like the first single “Never Again, Again” (#22) and the Top 2 songs “The Fool” and “You've Got to Talk to Me.” Eventually, “Lee Ann Womack” received platinum certification from RIAA and the singer was handed a British Country Music award for Best International Country Album of the Year, an Academy of Country Music award for Top New Female Vocalist (both 1997) and an American Music Association for Favorite New Country Artist (1998). Womack moved to MCA Nashville after her old label closed. Her second album, ”Some Things I Know,” hit the music stores in 1998, but was considered less commercially successful than its predecessor. Despite the decline in sales, Womack enjoyed success on the Country charts with the singles “A Little Past Little Rock” and “I'll Think of a Reason Later,” both of which reached No. 2 on the chart. “(Now You See Me) Now You Don't,” the last single released from the album, hit No. 12 on the Country charts in 1999. However, Womack did not score her biggest victory until she launched her third album, “I Hope You Dance” in 2000. The album burned up both the Country Albums charts and the Billboard 200 charts and landed at No. 1 and No. 16, respectively. A huge commercial hit, it received triple platinum certification from RIAA thanks largely to the highly successful lead single “I Hope You Dance.” The title track hit No. 1 on the Billboard Country charts and stayed there for five weeks. It also quickly rose to No. 14 on the Billboard's Hot 100 and was a No. 1 hit on the Adult Contemporary chart. Counted as Womack's breakthrough Pop hit, the song brought the performer many honors such as two Country Music Associations for Single of the Year and Song of the Year (2000), three Academy of Country Music awards for Top Song of the Year, Top Single of the Year and Top Vocal Event of the Year, a Billboard Music for Adult Contemporary Song of the Year (2001) and her first Grammy in the category of Best Country Song (2001). She also was named Country Music Association's Female Vocalist of the Year (2001). Other singles released from the album were the country hits “Ashes By Now” (#4) and “Why They Call It Falling” (#13). Womack resurfaced in 2002 with another pop-oriented album, “Something Worth Leaving Behind.” The album, however, missed the Top 15 on the Billboard's Hot 200 and only reached No. 2 on the country music charts. It only had two charted singles, “Something Worth Leaving Behind” and “Forever Everyday,” which became the Top 20 and Top 40 Country hits. On the commercial front, “Something Worth Leaving Behind” was certified platinum by RIAA. Later that same year, Womack released a Christmas album called “The Season for Romance,” which further pulled her away from traditional country music. The album was unsuccessful. Womack's career suffered a setback, but she gained some resurgence with her Grammy-winning performance in the duet song “Mendocino County Line” (2002). With her partner, Willie Nelson, she jointly nabbed a nomination in 2002 in the category of Best Country Collaboration w/Vocals, in addition to an Academy of Country Music for Top Vocal Event of the Year and a Country Music Association for Vocal Event of the Year. After a short break, Womack returned in 2004 with her first “Greatest Hits” album, which went gold and became a Top 2 hit on the Country charts and a Top 30 on the Billboard's Hot 200. The album contained two new songs, “Does My Ring Burn Your Finger” and “The Wrong Girl.” In 2005, Womack made a triumphant comeback with her sixth album, “There's More Where That Came From,” which reached No. 3 on the Top Country Albums chart and No. 12 on the Billboard 200. The first single, “I May Hate Myself in the Morning,” became her first entry into the U.S. Country's top 10 hits since 2001 and won a 2005 Country Music Association for Single of the Year. Womack picked up two more Country Music Association awards that same year in the categories of Album of the Year for “There's More Where That Came From” and Best Musical Event for “Good News, Bad News,” a duet with George Strait. The success of “I May Hate Myself in the Morning,” however, was not followed by the follow-up singles “He Oughta Know That by Now” and “Twenty Years and Two Husbands Ago,” which respectively only peaked the country charts at No. 22 and No. 32. In 2006, Womack released “Finding My Way Back Home,” a first single from her new album of the same name. It reached No. 37 on the Country music chart. Her new album, which was scheduled to be released under Mercury Nashville Records in the fall of 2006, has since been delayed because Womack wanted to improve the material.
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