Brenda Lee\u2019s name may not be as recognizable as some of the other music stars from the 1960s but when you think of Christmas, you\u2019ll know her song, and start humming her catchy tune, \u201cRockin\u2019 Around the Christmas Tree.\u201d\n\n\n\n

When Lee, now 78, first hit the stage, she wasn\u2019t old enough to drive but her powerful vocals steered her \u201cunprecedented international popularity\u201d as the most successful female artist of the 1960s.\n\n\n\n

Lee, whose voice defied her diminutive stature at only 4 foot 9, became a fan favorite when she was only 12
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Brenda May Tarpley, born in 1944, got her start in the late 1940s, became huge in the 1950s, and over her career\u2013that started before she left elementary school\u2013she topped the charts 55 times, earning the title as the most successful female recording artist of the 1960s.\n\n\n\n

When Lee was only eight (according to Rolling Stone), her father, a construction worker, was killed at work and little Brenda\u2013who then changed her last name to Lee\u2013became the family\u2019s primary provider.\n\n\n\n

Taking care of her younger brother, big sister and mother\u2013a cotton mill worker\u2013was not a duty, but something she wanted to do. She said that she was thrilled when she made her first $20, so she could help her family: \u201cEven at that young age, I saw that helped our life,\u201d Lee said, adding \u201cIt put some food on the table. It helped, and I loved it.\u201d\n\n\n\n

The Atlanta-born chanteuse, called a \u201cpioneer of early rock and roll,\u201d by the Georgia Encyclopedia, achieved \u201cunprecedented international popularity in the 1960s.\u201d\n\n\n\n

But, an incredibly humble human, Lee credits those who helped her achieve her dreams. When Christianity Today asked what she thinks about being a legend, Lee said \u201cI don\u2019t think of myself that way!\u201d She continued, \u201cI\u2019m just a girl who\u2019s been really blessed to be doing what I\u2019m doing, and there\u2019s a lot of people who\u2019ve sweated a lot of tears and put a lot of life\u2019s work into me to be able to have my dream. So, if I\u2019m a legend, then they\u2019re legends, too.\u201d\n\n\n\n

In 1956, the young girl joined country star Red Foley for a show at the Bell Auditorium near her home in Augusta, and she belted out \u201cJambalaya,\u201d by Hank Williams.
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She was then signed to appear on Foley\u2019s Ozark Jubilee, a country music show, where millions of viewers fell in love with the sassy 12-year-old whose talent was developed well beyond her age.\n\n\n\n

In the same year, Lee signed with Decca Records and the next year, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and fusing country with rhythm and blues\u2013highlighted by her hiccupping vocals\u2013she recorded early rockabilly classics like \u201cBIGELOW 6-200,\u201d \u201cLittle Jonah,\u201d and \u201cLet\u2019s Jump the Broomstick.\u201d\n\n\n\n

When asked if\u2013when as a young girl\u2013she was nervous performing in front of large crowds, she answered: \u201cNo, not really. Nobody ever told me to be nervous. The stage always felt like hometown to me because I had been in front of people ever since I was 3 years old, singing to people. So it was a very comfortable spot for me.\u201d
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In 1957, Lee earned the nickname \u201cLittle Miss Dynamite\u201d for her pint-sized powerhouse recording of the song \u201cDynamite,\u201d and in 1958, fans heard \u201cRockin\u2019 around the Christmas Tree,\u201d a genre and generation-crossing holiday standard, released when she was only 13.\n\n\n\n

Over the next couple of years, she charted with hits like \u201cSweet Nuthin\u2019s,\u201d \u201cAll Alone Am I,\u201d and \u201cFool #1.\u201d\n\n\n\n

Most of her songs, however, contradicted her experience as a young girl. Her mother didn\u2019t let her date and she graduated high school not understanding the heartbreak of young love.\n\n\n\n

She was only 16 when she said \u201clove could be so cruel\u201d in the song \u201cI\u2019m Sorry\u201d and only 16 when she said \u201cI want his lips to really kiss me\u201d in the song \u201cI Want to be Wanted,\u201d both back-to-back hits when she was still in school.\n\n\n\n

And when she turned 18, she met Ronnie Shacklett, whom she\u2019s now been happily married to for 60 years.\n\n\n\n

Life on the road for Lee as a youngster had its difficulties. She celebrated her 12th birthday in Las Vegas and speaking with the Las Vegas Journal, Lee explained her loneliness.\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course, I wasn\u2019t even allowed to walk through a casino, I was so young. So I really didn\u2019t even know what a casino looked like. They took me in the kitchen, then into the showroom. And then when my show was over, I was brought back out through the kitchen and back up to my room. Children weren\u2019t allowed \u2026 in the casino area.\u201d She continued, \u201cThere wasn\u2019t anything to do in Vegas for a kid. The most fun I had was on the stage.\u201d\n\n\n\n

Speaking on what she missed out as a child, the award-winning Lee said, \u201cMany times, I yearned to be with my friends rather than be out there on the road.\u201d\n\n\n\n

Turns out she made new friends on the road, like with the music group that opened for her at a 1962 show in Germany. \u201cI hung out with John,\u201d she says effortlessly, speaking of John Lennon. \u201cHe was extremely intelligent, very acerbic with his jokes, just a gentle person. When I found out that they later said they were fans of my music, I was just floored.\u201d\n\n\n\n

Elton John, who said after first hearing her perform: \u201cI was just stunned. I don\u2019t think I had ever heard anything like it.\u201d\n\n\n\n

Also, she\u2019s danced with Elvis Presley and was friends with Little Richard whom she\u2019s known since the 1960s.\n\n\n\n

In 2019, the two were honored at the Governor\u2019s Arts Awards, both artists receiving a Distinguished Artist award. It was Richard\u2019s last public appearance, he died at 87 in May 2020.\n\n\n\n

Honoring her friend, Lee wrote: \u201cI had been dancing to Little Richard\u2019s music at sock hops forever. How to summarize magic? \u2026 I didn\u2019t understand the words, or what they meant, I just knew that I loved how that music made me feel.\u201d The Hall of Famer continued, \u201cI\u2019m sure he\u2019s in heaven, he was such a man of God.\u201d\n\n\n\n

Lee, who leans on her faith, owes a lot of her success\u2013personally and professionally\u2013to her husband, whom she married in 1962.\n\n\n\n

The rest, she says is because of God. \u201cHe was looking out for me when I chose my husband. I wanted somebody with integrity, honesty, and somebody that loved me \u2026 and that would protect me and take care of me. I have found that. And I can only attribute that to God.\u201d\n\n\n\n

Lee is also a big part of Sunday Mornin\u2019 Country, a faith-based joint event with CMA Fest, which is going strong after 40 years.\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s also a role model to many young stars, like Taylor Swift, who adds to the book \u201cWomen Walk the Line, How The Women In Country Music Changed Our Lives,\u201d a \u201chighly personal essay\u201d and her assessment \u201cof the 1950s pop hitmaker turned country matriarch Brenda Lee, titled Rare Peer.\u201d\n\n\n\n

Today, Lee, who\u2019s retired from performing, will always be adored, especially at Christmastime for \u201cRockin\u2019 Around the Christmas Tree,\u201d a song that\u2019s been a Christmas staple for 65 years and counting.\n\n\n\n

In 2019, the song hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, 59 years after it was recorded. Lee told the New York Post, \u201cIt\u2019s crazy to be shopping in a department store and hearing yourself sing at the same time. It\u2019s pretty surreal. \u2026 It\u2019s just been a wonderful, wonderful gift.\u201d\n\n\n\n

Elaine Stritch, Barbara Cook, Brenda Lee, Margaret Whiting, and Maureen McGovern (Photo by Ron Galella\/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s incredible that decades later, Brenda Lee has provided fans with such happy music! \u201cRockin\u2019 Around the Christmas Tree\u201d is still a favorite and makes me wish for the holidays! What are your favorite memories of Lee?\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"