Biography
During the 1990s, Russ Lee earned recognition in contemporary Christian music circles for the fervor he brought to performances as much as for his vocal delivery. After serving multiple years as lead singer of the hitmaking CCM band Newsong, he launched a solo path in the late '90s. Beyond the Dove Award nomination he received for Best Male Vocalist and the successes he logged with Newsong, Lee achieved further traction through his first solo release, Words in Time, whose rousing track "Live What I Believe" soon emerged as an anthem embraced by both the artist and countless CCM listeners.
Born in Cleveland, TN, Lee spent his childhood in a modest Smokey Mountains community. Hardship marked his teenage years when he assumed responsibility for his younger siblings amid his mother's mental illness and his father's alcoholism. Seeking greater autonomy and steadiness, he took on outside employment already in his early teens. Around that same period he began playing guitar in a bar band and experimenting with drugs, yet growing discontent with his circumstances eventually prompted a turning point. Lee started attending church, became an ordained minister, and redirected his life.
His passion for ministry combined with his affinity for music steered him first into the Christian group Truth and then, in the early '90s, into Newsong. Serving as lead vocalist, he toured extensively and contributed to multiple albums with the band. By the late '90s Lee chose to go solo, relocating from Atlanta, GA, to Tennessee with his wife and children, settling in Nashville. There he signed with Sparrow Records, EMI's Christian imprint, and teamed with producers Brian McCloud (Sheryl Crow) and Glen Rosenstein (Caedmon's Call) for his debut album, Words in Time (2000). The project consists of original songs except for his cover of the Mike and the Mechanics hit "The Living Years," blending his pop influences with a faith-based message. The opening track, "Live What I Believe," gained quick favor on Christian radio and even stronger resonance in concert settings, functioning as a signature anthem for Lee and his listeners. Late 2000 found him touring alongside the vocal group Avalon while preparing to portray King Herod in a musical dramatizing the birth of Jesus.
Born in Cleveland, TN, Lee spent his childhood in a modest Smokey Mountains community. Hardship marked his teenage years when he assumed responsibility for his younger siblings amid his mother's mental illness and his father's alcoholism. Seeking greater autonomy and steadiness, he took on outside employment already in his early teens. Around that same period he began playing guitar in a bar band and experimenting with drugs, yet growing discontent with his circumstances eventually prompted a turning point. Lee started attending church, became an ordained minister, and redirected his life.
His passion for ministry combined with his affinity for music steered him first into the Christian group Truth and then, in the early '90s, into Newsong. Serving as lead vocalist, he toured extensively and contributed to multiple albums with the band. By the late '90s Lee chose to go solo, relocating from Atlanta, GA, to Tennessee with his wife and children, settling in Nashville. There he signed with Sparrow Records, EMI's Christian imprint, and teamed with producers Brian McCloud (Sheryl Crow) and Glen Rosenstein (Caedmon's Call) for his debut album, Words in Time (2000). The project consists of original songs except for his cover of the Mike and the Mechanics hit "The Living Years," blending his pop influences with a faith-based message. The opening track, "Live What I Believe," gained quick favor on Christian radio and even stronger resonance in concert settings, functioning as a signature anthem for Lee and his listeners. Late 2000 found him touring alongside the vocal group Avalon while preparing to portray King Herod in a musical dramatizing the birth of Jesus.
Albums