BIOGRAPHY:

Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), famous professionals in the official sense Brenda Lee is an American singer. Singing rockabilly, pop and country, she had 47 hits on the US charts during the 1960s, ranking fourth that decade, behind only Elvis. Presley, The Beatles and Ray Charles. She is known for her 1960 hit “I’m Sorry” and her 1958 hit “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, which became a Christmas standard.

Standing 4ft 9in (approximately 145cm) tall, she earned the nickname “Little Miss Dynamite” in 1957 after recording the song “Dynamite” when she was 12 years old, and was one of the first pop stars to have a major contemporary international following. music.

In 1969, Lee returned to the charts with her recording of “Johnny One Time”, written by A.L. “Doodle” Owens and Dallas Frazier. The song peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also earned Lee her second Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Later success came with a return to her roots as a country singer, with a string of hits in the 1970s and 1980s. She is a member of the Rock and Roll, Country and Rockabilly Halls of Fame. She is also the recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Lee is the only woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll and Country Halls of Fame. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Early years and education:

Brenda Lee was born Brenda Mae Tarpley on December 11, 1944, in the Charity Wing of Grady Memorial Hospital. 3>in Atlanta, Georgia to parents Annie Grace (née Yarbrough) and Reuben Lindsey Tarpley. At birth she weighed 4 pounds 11 ounces. Lee attended elementary schools wherever her father found work, mostly between Atlanta and Augusta. Her family was poor. As a child, she shared a bed with her brother and sister in three-room houses without running water. Life centered around her parents, who found jobs, their family, and the Baptist church, where she began singing solo every Sunday.

Lee’s father was the son of a Georgia red clay farmer. Standing 5 feet 7 inches (170 cm) tall, he was an excellent left-handed pitcher and spent 11 years in the US Army playing baseball. Her mother came from a working class family in Greene County, Georgia.

Although her family did not have running water before her father died, they did have a battery. a powered tabletop radio that fascinated Brenda as a child. Both her mother and sister recalled taking her to the local candy store on numerous occasions until she was three years old. One of them would put her on the counter and she would receive candy or coins for singing.

Career:

Child performer

Lee’s voice, beautiful face and stage presence captivated her. wider attention from the age of five. At age six, she won a local singing competition sponsored by local primary schools. The reward was an appearance on the Atlanta radio show Starmakers Revue, where she performed for the next year.

Her father died in 1953 in a construction site accident, and by the time she was ten years old, she was her family’s primary breadwinner, singing at events and on local radio and television shows. During this time, she appeared regularly on the country music show “TV Ranch” on WAGA-TV in Atlanta; she was so short that the presenter lowered the microphone on the stand as low as possible and placed it on a wooden box in order to reach it. In 1955, Grace Tarpley remarried Buell “Jay” Rainwater, who moved his family to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked at the Jimmy Skinner Music Center. Lee appeared with Skinner at a record store on two Saturday programs broadcast on Newport, Kentucky, radio station WNOP. The family soon returned to Georgia, but this time to Augusta, and Lee appeared on The Peach Blossom Special on WJAT-AM in Swainsboro.

National exposure and stardom:

Lee’s break came in February 1955 when she turned down $30 to appear on a Swainsboro radio station to see Red Foley and a touring party promoting his ABC-TV Ozark Jubilee program in Augusta. Augusta’s disc jockey convinced Foley to listen to her sing before the performance. Foley agreed and agreed to let her perform “Jambalaya” on stage that night without rehearsing. Foley later recalled the moments following her performance:

I still get chills thinking about the first time I heard that voice. One leg began to stroke her rhythmically, as if she were stamping a fire on the prairie, but not a single muscle in this small body even flinched. And when she did this trick, breaking her voice, it brought me out of my trance so much that I realized that I had forgotten to leave the stage. I stood there, after 26 years of supposedly learning how to behave in front of an audience, with my mouth two miles wide open and a glassy look in my eyes.

On March 31, 1955, the 10-year-old made her online debut at Ozark Jubilee in Springfield, Missouri. Although her five-year contract with the show was ended by a 1957 lawsuit brought by her mother and her manager, she appeared regularly on the program throughout its run.

Less than two months later, on July 30, 1956, Decca Records offered her a contract and her first recording was “Jambalaya”, backed by “Bigelow 6-200”. Lee’s second single featured two innovative Christmas tunes: “I’m Gonna Lasso Santa Claus” and “Christy Christmas”. Although she turned 12 on December 11, 1956, both of her first two Decca singles credited her as “Little Brenda Lee (age 9).”

None of the 1956 releases charted, but her first release in 1957, “Step by Step”, written by Hugh Ashley, became a hit in both pop and country. Her next hit, “Dynamite”, which appeared in a 4ft 9in frame, led to her earning the lifelong nickname “Little Miss Dynamite”.

Lee first gained attention performing in country music venues and shows; however, her label and management saw fit to promote her solely as a pop artist, with the result that none of her most famous 1960s recordings were released to country radio, and despite her country sound, with Nashville’s leading sessions , she didn’t have another country hit until 1969 with “Johnny One Time”.

Biggest hits: 1958–1966:

Lee achieved her greatest success on the pop charts in the late 1950s and mid-1960s with rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll songs. Her biggest hits included “Jambalaya”, “Sweet Nothin’s” (No. 4, written by country musician Ronnie Self), “I Want to Be Wanted” (No. 1), “I’m All Lonely” (No. 3) and “Fool No. 1 “(No. 3). She had more hits with the more popular songs “That’s All You Have to Do” (No. 6), “Emotions” (No. 7), “You Can Count on Me” (No. 6), “Dum Dum” (No. 4), 1962’s “Break It Down for Me Softly” (No. 2) “Everybody Loves Me But You” (No. 6) and “As Usual” (No. 12). Lee’s total of nine consecutive top 10 finishes The Billboard Hot 100 from “That’s All You Have to Do” in 1960 to “All Alone Am I” in 1962 set a record for a female solo artist not matched until 1986 by Madonna.

The best-selling track of Lee’s career was the song Christmas. In 1958, when she was 13, she was asked by producer Owen Bradley to record a new song by Johnny Marks, who had had success writing Christmas tunes for country singers, most notably “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (Gene Autry) and “Merry Holly’s Christmas” (Burl Ives). Lee recorded “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” in July, featuring prominent guitar work from Hank Garland and a raucous saxophone solo by Nashville icon Boots Randolph. Decca released it as a single in November of that year. , but only sold 5,000 copies, and didn’t fare much better when it was released again in 1959. However, it sold over five million copies in subsequent years.

In 1960, she recorded her signature song, “I’m Sorry”, which reached number one on the Billboard pop chart. It was her first gold single and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Although it was not released as a country song, it was among the first big hits to feature what was to become the Nashville sound—string orchestra and legato harmonized backing vocals. A few months later, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” was seen on its third release and sales took off; the song remains a firm favorite every December and is the record with which modern audiences most identify.

Her last top ten single on the US pop charts was 1963’s “Losing You <3>” (No. 6), although she still had other charting hits such as 1964’s “As Usual” (which peaked at No. 12 No. 1 in the US and No. 5 in the UK), her 1966 song “Coming on Strong” (which peaked at No. 11 in the US) and “Is It True” (No. 17 in the US and UK) in 1964. The latter, featuring Big Jim Sullivan, Jimmy Page on guitars, Bobby Graham on drums, was her only hit recorded in London, England, and was produced by Mickie Most (but slide guitar and backing vocals were re-recorded in Nashville) . It was recorded at Decca Records’ second studio at their West Hampstead complex, as was the UK B-side, a version of the 1959 Ray Charles classic “What’d I Say?”, which was not released in America. Side A “Is It True?” was composed by renowned British songwriting team Ken Lewis and John Carter, who were also members of the British Ivy League hitmakers.

International fame:

Lee has been popular in the UK since the beginning of her career. She appeared on television in Britain in 1959, before becoming popular in the United States. Her first hit in the UK was “Sweet Nothin’s”, which reached number 4 on the UK singles chart in the spring of 1960. She subsequently had a UK hit (in 1961) with the song “”. “Let’s Jump the Broomstick”, a rockabilly number recorded in 1959 which failed to chart in the US but reached number 12 in the UK.

Leigh had two top ten hits in the UK that were not released as singles in her home country: the first song, “Speak to Me Pretty”, reached number 3 in May 1962 and became her biggest hit in the UK, reaching number one chart spot, quickly followed by “Here Comes That Feeling”, which peaked at No. 5 in the summer of 1962. The latter was released as the B-side of “Everybody Loves Me But You” in the US (which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100); however, “Here Comes That Feeling” also appeared on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 89 despite its B-side status in the US.

In 1962, during a tour of West Germany, she performed at the famous Star-Club, Hamburg as the opening act for the Beatles.

Leigh also had big hits in the UK with “I’m Lonely” (No. 7 in 1963) and “As Usual” (No. 5 in 1964).

Brenda Lee first visited England for three days in April 1959 as a last-minute replacement for Oh Boy! ” She toured the UK for the first time in March and April 1962 with Gene Vincent and Sounds Incorporated (as the support band), and in March 1963 she made a second national tour, this time. with support from Bachelors, Sounds Incorporated, Tony Sheridan and Mike Berry.

Brenda Lee also toured Ireland in 1963 and appeared on the cover of Irish dance and entertainment magazine Spotlight in April of that year.

After appearing at the annual Royal Variety Performance to Queen Elizabeth II at the London Palladium on 2 November 1964, Lee toured the UK again in November and December 1964, supported by (among others) Manfred Mann, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, John Barry Seven, Wayne Fontana and Mind Sculptors, Marty Wilde, Tornado and Heinz Bert.

Later career:

In the early 1970s, Lee re-established herself as a country musician. with the artist and became a top ten US hit on the country charts. The first was 1973’s “Nobody Wins,” which became a Top 5 hit that spring and became her last Top 100 pop hit, peaking at No. 70. The next album was Mark James. The composition “Sunday Sunrise” took 6th place on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in October of the same year. Other major hits included “Wrong Ideas” and “Big Poster Bed” (1974); and “Rock on Baby” and “He’s My Rock” (both 1975).

After several years of lesser success, Lee began another run into the top ten with the 1979 album Tell Me What It’s Like. Two sequels also reached the top 10 in 1980: “The Cowgirl and the Dandy” and “Broken Trust” (the latter featuring vocal support from the Oak Ridge Boys). The 1982 album The Winning Hand, which featured Lee alongside Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, became a surprise hit. reaching the top ten on the US country albums chart. Her last notable hit was the 1984 song “Hallelujah, I Love Her So” as a duet with George Jones (Lee had sung the song individually before and released it in 1960 on This Is… Brenda).

Last years:

Lee continued to record and perform around the world, previously breaking records in four different languages. In 1992, she recorded a duet (“Youll Never Know”) with Willy DeVille on his album Loup Garou. In April 2017, she was still performing and touring.

On October 4, 2000, Lee inducted fellow country legends Faron Young and Charley Pride into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

On December 13, 2017, Lee’s song “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” peaked at number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song did not chart. in the United States since 1961, although in the UK it has regularly returned to the top 40 in recent times.

Her autobiography, Little Miss Dynamite: The Life and Times of Brenda Lee, was published by Hyperion in 2002. (ISBN 0-7868-6644-6).

Lee was actively involved in the Country Music Hall of Fame, announcing the inductees annually and then formally presenting them with membership medallions at a special ceremony each year. Lee’s most recent inductees announced are Randy Travis, Charlie Daniels and Fred Foster in 2016.

June 25, 2019, New York T imes magazine listed Brenda Lee among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

On the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated December 21, 2019, “Rockin’ Around Christmas Tree” reached a new peak of No. 3 in the United States with 37.1 million streams and 5,000 digital sales sold. The following week it moved to #2, where it remained for the second week.

Confession:

On September 26, 1986, Brenda Lee was inducted into the Atlanta Music Hall of Fame at its fifth annual event. The awards ceremony took place at the Raddison Inn, Atlanta, Georgia. She has been named among many other notable musicians including Riley Puckett, Gid Tanner, Dan Hornsby, Clayton McMichen and Boots Woodall to name a few. Lee reached the final ballot for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and 2001 but was not inducted, but was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002.

Celebrating over 50 years as a recording artist, in September 2006, she became the second recipient of the Jo Meador-Walker Lifetime Achievement Award from the Source Foundation in Nashville. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997 and is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

In 2008, her recording of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” celebrated 50 years of celebration, and in February 2009, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presented Lee with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Personal life:

Lee met Ronnie Shacklett at a Bo Diddley and Jackie Wilson concert in November 1962 at the Nashville Coliseum and married him less than six months later, on April 24, 1963. Lee and Shacklett have two daughters, Jolie and Julie (named after Patsy Cline’s daughter), and three grandchildren, Taylor, Jordan and Charlie.

Leigh is also the cousin (from her mother’s second marriage) of singer Dave Rainwater of The New Christy Minstrels.

Discography:

Grandma, what great songs you sang! (1959)
Brenda Lee (1960)
This Is…Brenda (1960)
Emotions (1961)
All the Way (1961)
Sincerely, Brenda Lee (1962)
Brenda That’s All (1962)
I’m Still Lonely (1963)
… “Let Me Sing” (1963)
By Request (1964)
Merry Christmas from Brenda Lee (1964)
Brenda Lee Sings Teen’s Greatest Hits (1965)
Versatile Brenda Lee (1965)
Too Many Rivers (1965)
Bye Bye Blues (1966)
Coming On Strong (1966)
Reflections in Blue (1967)
For the First Time (1968) (with Pete Fontaine)
Johnny One Time (1969)
Memphis Portrait (1970)
Brenda (1973)
New Sunrise (1973)
Brenda Lee Now (1974)
Sincerely (1975)
Los Angeles Sessions (1976)
Even Better (1980)
Take Me Back (1980)
Only when I laugh (1981)
So Good (1985)
Brenda Lee (1991)
Precious Memories (1997)
Gospel Duets with Dear Friends (2007)