Home /  Bio /  Music & Lyrics /  Photos /  Tour Videos /  Site /  Links /  Forums /  Guestbook Lee Ann's Biography Check out Lee Ann's Wikipedia page article here! After spending several years as a professional songwriter, Lee Ann Womack became one of the breakout contemporary country stars of 1997 with her eponymous debut album (Lee Ann Womack). Born on August 19th, 1966 and raised in Jacksonville, Texas, Womack became infatuated with music at an early age, which is appropriate for the daughter of a disc jockey. Her father often took her to work, where she picked out records to play on the air. Following high school graduation, she attended South Plains Junior College in Levelland, TX. The school was one of the first in the country to offer degrees in country and bluegrass music, and Womack soon became a member of the college's band, Country Caravan. She traveled throughout the South and California with Country Caravan and stayed with the group until she left South Plains to study music business at Belmont University in Nashville. That led to an internship in MCA's A&R department. By 1990, she had settled in Nashville, where she married fellow singer/songwriter, Jason Sellers, and became a mother. She continued to attend Belmont, as well as write songs. Soon, she began singing on songwriting demos and performing her own showcase concerts. Eventually, Womack was spotted by Tree Publishing at one of her showcases. In 1995, the company signed her after listening to one of her original demos. While she was a staff writer at Tree, she co-wrote songs with Ed Hill, Bill Anderson, Sam Hogin, and Mark Wright. Her songs were recorded by Anderson (''It Feels So Good [To Feel So Good]'') and Ricky Skaggs (''I Don't Remember Forgetting''). Within a year after signing to Tree, Lee Ann Womack signed to Decca Records as a recording artist. Mark Wright was hired as the producer for Womack's debut album, Lee Ann Womack, which was comprised of both original material and songs written by professional songwriters. Mark Chesnutt, Ricky Skaggs, Sharon White, and Tony Brown, all appeared on the record, which created a buzz in the industry. Lee Ann's first radio single was the very traditional-sounding, "Never Again, Again", which had moderate airplay but was released at a time when pop-country was the norm and traditional country was being pushed away. The uptempo gritty cowboy tune, "Buckaroo" and the contemporary mid-tempo, "You've Got to Talk to Me" were released later on, as well as the traditional ballad, "The Fool", which was the highest-charting single from the album (#1 or #2 on the chart depending where you look). Lee Ann Womack's eponymous album (Some Things I Know was released in May of 1997, and shortly after its release, it reached the Top Ten on the country chart. The album included collaborations with Vince Gill, Buddy & Julie Miller, Joe Diffie, and others. The two biggest singles from that album would be the comedic bitter uptempo, "I'll Think of a Reason Later" and the leaving-you-on-the-road ballad, "A Little Past Little Rock". I Hope You Dance followed in mid-2000, which included the mega-hit, title track, with Sons of the Desert on background vocals, and was a huge crossover song. It's still her biggest hit to date. That album introduced Womack's fans to her diverse singing talents with traditional country, pop-country, bluegrass, and modern country displayed in the songs, and featured two remakes of the likes of Rodney Crowell ("Ashes By Now") and Don Williams ("Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good"), as well as vocals again by Ricky Skaggs and the Millers. Something Worth Leaving Behind appeared in mid-2002 and it was a sure fit for Womack to move into country mainstream for good. The title track had a very pop production and obviously was another attempt by her label to repeat the success of "I Hope You Dance" with its universal message and instrumentation. The album itself contained a wide mix of styles, ranging from pop, R&B, alternative country, traditional-ish country, modern country, and rock, with songs written by Brett Beavers, Bruce Robison, Julie Miller, Gretchen Peters, and Hank Cochran. Despite the great quality of this disc, it failed to be a commercial success, especially when compared to the previous album, which sold millions of copies. A Christmas album, A Season for Romance was released before the year's end, which was done with a big-band standard production (Lee Ann and Harry Connick, Jr. perform a sexy version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" on the CD). Soon, Womack was itching for the stage. In early 2003, Womack earned a small part on the CBS drama ''The District''. She also earned two Grammy nods: one for 'Best Female Country Vocal Performance' for "Something Worth Leaving Behind" and 'Best Vocal Collaboration (Country)' for her duet with Willie Nelson on ''Mendocino County Line.'' - above biography from All Music Guide's site with some big additions by me In 2004, after a break from the charts, Lee Ann came returned to radio with songs more of her country style, ''The Wrong Girl'' was released to radio on February 16th, 2004. That single was part of her Greatest Hits album, which was released on May 4th, 2004. She soon gave country radio a traditional country ballad about a one-night stand with twin fiddles and moaning steel guitar like her earlier work, the incredible ''I May Hate Myself In the Morning'' was released to radio October 18th, 2004. It did very well on the charts (made #8 on Radio & Records chart). A remarkable music video accompanied the single, which placed Lee Ann in her native Texas in Dallas, calling upon a male companion, played by fellow singer/songwriter/Texan, Jack Ingram, in a retro dance hall and motel room. Her highly anticipated album: There's More Where That Came From, was released in stores on February 8th, 2005, and it was produced by Byron Gallimore, who has produced works by Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Jo Dee Messina in the past, so the heavily-rooted traditional sound of the album was a delightful surprise . The album received a high amount of praise from a lot of critics and fans alike for it's retro traditional country sound that evoked classic Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, and Loretta Lynn (Lee Ann's influences). For the 2005 Academy of Country Music Awards, she was nominated three times; two for her song ''I May Hate Myself In the Morning'' and for 'Female Vocalist of the Year'. On April 11th, 2005, Lee Ann released ''He Oughta Know That By Now'' to country radio. Soon, she would make history by being the first female to ever record a duet with fellow Texan, and huge country legend, George Strait. The duet is called ''Good News, Bad News'', which she co-wrote with Dean Dillon and Dale Dodson. It's on Strait's album Somewhere Down In Texas. Not too long after that, she was nominated SIX times for the Country Music Awards in 2005, for 'Female Vocalist of the Year', 'Single of the Year' and 'Video of the Year' for ''I May Hate Myself In the Morning'', two nominations for 'Musical Event of the Year' for her TWO duets, ''I'll Never Be Free'' with Willie Nelson and ''Good News, Bad News'' with George Strait, and 'Album of the Year' for There's More Where That Came From. At the Awards in New York City on November 15th, 2005, Lee Ann won three of those awards: 'Single of the Year' for ''I May Hate Myself In the Morning'', 'Musical Event of the Year' for her duet with George Strait, and then 'Album of the Year' for There's More Where That Came From. That night, she performed her new single, ''Twenty Years & Two Husbands Ago'', with her oldest daughter, Aubrie, behind her singing background vocals. That song was officially released to country radio on November 21st, 2005. Unfortunately, t did not chart very high and was the last single from There's More Where That Came From. The album has been certified gold by RIAA, for shipments of half a million (500,000), though, and is considered by many to be their favorite album of Lee Ann's, and one of the best albums in years. In mid 2006, Womack released "Finding My Way Back Home" through Mercury Nashville Records. It contained a more contemporary pop-country production with drums and a Caribbean island sound to it and differed from her work on her previous album, so that might have contributed to its poor radio airplay. The song can be downloaded on iTunes here, but the album it was supposed to be a part of was delayed so it is not on any album as of yet. Eventually, on June 30th, 2008, a new single was released, "Last Call", which was more of the contemporary yet traditional-ish sound that people were more used to hearing from Womack, with lyrics that dealt with a past lover who consistently seems to have a tendency to call her when he's drunk and feeling lonely, and she doesn't like this foolishness. "Last Call" is the first track on the October 21st, 2008 album, Call Me Crazy, which includes new collaborations with George Strait ("Everything But Quits") and Keith Urban ("The Bees"), and will be produced by old friend, Tony Brown.