Remembering ACM’s Lisa Lee
• We were saddened to hear that Lisa Lee, Senior Vice President of Creative and Content for the Academy of Country Music (ACM), died Saturday, August 21 from brain cancer. She was only 52 years old.
Born Alicia Faye Young in Cabot, Arkansas, on December 24, 1968, Lee earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and English from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and a master’s in broadcast journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She landed a reporting job at the Cabot Star-Herald newspaper straight out of school. Covering Country music events for various television affiliates led to her being hired by Jim Owens and Associates, the Nashville-based production company, where she worked as a reporter and producer from 1995-99. In 2000, Lee went to work for CMT and CMT.com as a news correspondent and producer. Always looking to create and expand the social conversation, Lee also wrote and produced the Prism Award-winning special Addicted to Addiction, as well as the TV news specials Sex in Videos: Where’s the Line and Controversy: Tammy Wynette. In 2004, Lee moved to Los Angeles, becoming the Hollywood-based correspondent and West Coast News Bureau Chief for CMT Insider.
In 2007, Lee accepted the ACM’s offer to draw on her experience as a TV journalist and producer to help the Academy establish and grow its own in-house creative and video production department. As the Academy’s lead staff producer, she oversaw all video production as well as the design, creation, and editing of ACM logos, digital and printed materials including ACM Tempo magazine, the ACM Awards program book, and both the ACM and ACM Lifting Lives websites. She was later named producer of the Academy of Country Music Honors, a live industry event dedicated to celebrating the Academy’s special award honorees, off-camera category winners, and ACM Industry and Studio Recording Awards winners. In 2014, Lee wrote and created This Is Country: A Backstage Pass to the Academy of Country Music Awards. The deeply researched coffee table book celebrated the 50th anniversary of the ACM Awards and included a forward by Reba McEntire.
Lisa Lee was a member of the Writers Guild of America and a Leadership Music alum. She was a devoted mother, wife and friend; always the first one with a smile, a quick laugh or a kind word on a long day. “The Academy has lost a huge part of its heart and soul with the passing of Lisa Lee,” said Damon Whiteside, CEO, Academy of Country Music. “She was a champion for Country Music and fiercely dedicated to the Academy’s mission for her over 15 years of service to the ACM. She is irreplaceable, but her heart and spirit will live on throughout our industry. ACM Honors was her favorite event, and I know she will be singing along and smiling down on us from above on Wednesday night.”
Lee is survived by her parents, Charlie and Faye Young; her husband (and high school sweetheart) Doug Lee; daughter Grayson, and son Jackson and many other family members. Visitation will be held this Friday from 5-8 pm at Moore’s Funeral Home, 700 North Second Street, Cabot, Arkansas followed by a memorial service on Saturday. To stay updated on details for next weekend’s services, the celebration of life to be held in Nashville at a later date, and to support her family by contributing to her memorial fund, please click here.
