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ABOUT LESLIE FRAM:
Leslie Fram serves as Senior Vice President of Music Strategy and Talent for CMT, overseeing all music integration within the CMT brand, including original programs, CMT.com and music video airplay across all screens.
Since joining CMT in 2011, Fram has negotiated key partnerships with major and indie label acts for world premieres and exclusive digital content. She champions new avenues to showcase rising acts and 4 years ago launched the first female-powered initiative for the network, CMT’s “Next Women of Country” to give voice to emerging female artist that now includes a tour and digital performance component.
Respected for both her hit intuition and hard-driving passion for music, Fram was the first woman to receive the TJ Martell Award in recognition of outstanding performance in the music industry in 2000, and was presented with the NARAS-Atlanta Chapter Heroes Award for her outstanding contributions to music and the music community. In 2009, she was honored as a Lifetime Achievement Inductee in the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame. She will also be one of the recipients of the very first ‘Innovation In Music’ Awards held June 6th in Nashville. Leslie currently serves on the Board of the Academy of Country Music, the Recording Academy/ Nashville Chapter, Board of Directors for The Sports Authority, the Nashville Film Festival Music Committee, and an alum of Leadership Music Class of 2014. Fram is an avid philanthropist and spokesperson, using her voice to support numerous non-profits and causes. Fram is co-founder of ‘Change the Conversation,’ a movement aimed at supporting and promoting female artists.
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ABOUT TRACY GERSHON:
Tracy Gershon is a noted music business professional with a wide-ranging career discovering, nurturing and developing influential talent as an A&R and music publishing executive as well as an artist manager. During her A&R career at Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, Gershon signed award-winning platinum-seller Miranda Lambert and help guide the careers of Blake Shelton, Randy Travis, Gretchen Wilson, The Wreckers, Faith Hill , Big & Rich and Lori McKenna. As a creative executive at both Sony Music Publishing and EMI Music, she helped to secure hundreds of cuts while working with writers like Harlan Howard, Gretchen Peters, Tom Douglas, Carlene Carter and The Mavericks. As head of the Nashville office of Warner Music Publishing she inked award-winning artist Kacey Musgraves. While at Sony Music she served for two years as an on-air judge and associate producer on the USA Network’s “Nashville Star.” Gershon recently helmed the A&R department at indie label Rounder Records, where she signed or worked with artists as diverse as Blackberry Smoke, Sean McConnell, and Jerry Douglas,
2014, she co-founded “Change The Conversation,” a coalition addressing gender bias within the music industry. The group fosters a community of female executives and artists, showcases rising female talent, and has hosted special events with groundbreaking singers Wanda Jackson and Reba McEntire, and Sara Evans.
Tracy, in association with Redlight Management, oversees the career of Country artist, Natalie Stovall. Gershon is also consulting the country division for Atlas Music publishing, as well as running One Riot Music , a new publishing company which has recently announced a joint venture with Brandi Carlisle.
She has been an active, committed NARAS board member for over 20 years, currently serving her second term as National Trustee. She has served on the boards of Leadership Music, The Nashville Music Council, The Actor’s Bridge and Crossroads.
Gershon has been the recipient of numerous awards, including Nashville Business Journal’s “Woman in Music City” in 2015, 2016 ,2017, and 2018 as well as Nashville Lifestyles Magazine’s top ten “Women In Business” award in 2016.
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ABOUT CASSADEE POPE:
In 2017, everything shifted for GRAMMY® Award-nominated platinum-certified country hit maker Cassadee Pope. She restructured her team, parted ways with the major label that served as her home for five years and endured the dissolution of a relationship. In the aftermath, she doubled down creatively and channeled those changes into the boldest, brightest, and biggest music of her career empowered by newfound confidence, inspiring independence, and true happiness.
The singer’s powerhouse voice, inimitable presence, and endless charm transformed her into a force of nature beloved by millions worldwide. Following her victory on Season 3 of NBC’s The Voice, her 2013 full-length debut, Frame By Frame, bowed at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums Chart and Top 10 on the Billboard 200 all-genre chart. Its lead single “Wasting All These Tears” not only notched an RIAA platinum certification, but it also achieved “Breakthrough Video of the Year” at the CMT Music Awards in 2014. Additionally, she would receive nominations at the American Country Awards and People’s Choice Awards, to name a few.
During 2016, she also teamed with Chris Young for the No. 1 hit “Think Of You” and garnered a 2017 GRAMMY® nod in the category of Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Along the way, she toured with everybody from Tim McGraw and Dierks Bentley to Young and Rascal Flatts, as well as making fiery appearances at Stagecoach and the UK’s C2C: Country to Country.
Cassadee is finishing production on her independent album set for release early 2019.