death_date residence article_title name occupation
20 june 2012 nashville , tennessee donna hilley
 donna hilley music publishing executive
donna hilley

donna hilley was an american music publishing executive who served as ceo of sony/atv music publishing from 1994 to her retirement in 2005 .
originally from birmingham , alabama , hilley began her career at wkda in nashville and went on to work in country music publishing .
her exact age at her time of death was unknown , as she `` often fibbed about her age . ''
`` the tennessean '' reported that she was 65 when she died , although she may have been in her early 70s .
a graduate of jones valley high school in birmingham , hilley was inducted into the alabama music hall of fame in 1999 .
she had been married to her high school sweetheart from birmingham for over 40 years .
donna was born donna jean whitten in montevallo alabama on june 30 , 1940 -lrb- she did often fib about her age , but this is accurate -rrb- .
her father , john truman whitten , was a lineman for the alabama power company .
her mother , janie mae whitten -lrb- née sizemore -rrb- was a stay at home mom when donna was born at home after a long difficult labor -lrb- many births occurred at home in the rural south in those days -rrb- .
her parents came from very poor psychosocial situation , and donna 's parents had moved up the socioeconomic ladder only a bit .
her brother , jimmy whitten , was born 5 years later , and a sister diane whitten , was born 14 years later .
by this time the family had moved to birmingham for her dad 's job .
donna married her high school boyfriend and moved to nashville -lrb- he was at vanderbilt -rrb- immediately after high school .
though armed with only a high school degree and no experience , she began working at a radio station in nashville .
two young girls , vickie and debbie , were born soon after .
the couple was quite poor .
with a husband in school and donna at a low paying but fun job , the money was scarce .
several years later donna followed one of the disc jockeys from wkda into his advertising firm , bill hudson and associates .
she moved up the hierarchy in that position .
several years later her previous boss at the radio station had also been running a music publishing company , tree .
when mr stapp -lrb- owner of tree -rrb- called donna to say his secretary had taken ill and had stated only one person could do her job , and that person was donna hilley , donna moved over to tree publishing .
the position was `` executive assistant '' to jack stapp .
not so slowly , but in a very dedicated and determined style that became two well known character traits in donna .
the music business was historically a man 's world , especially in those days .
donna worked her way up to president and ceo later of tree publishing .
