Brenda Lee

Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Known for her musical versatility, she had commercial success with recordings in the genres of pop, country, rock and roll and gospel. She was also one of the best-selling music artists of the 1960s with songs that appealed to various age groups. Her Christmas song "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (recorded in 1958) topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 2023, making Lee the oldest artist ever to top the chart and breaking several chart records. Her diverse career has led to inductions in both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Lee was considered a child prodigy for her ability to sing from a young age. She gained notoriety after making appearances on 1950s television programs, which led to a recording contract with Decca Records (later named MCA) at age 11. Her earliest recordings were rock and roll, first acheiving a commercial breakthrough with the 1959 top-five single, "Sweet Nothin's". Her music shifted towards pop after topping US chart with "I'm Sorry" in 1960. That year, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was re-released and became a commercial success for the first time. This new style appealed to teens and adults. Through 1963, Lee had a series of top-10 hits in multiple countries including "Fool No. 1", "Break It to Me Gently", "All Alone Am I" and "Losing You". In the mid-decade she started recording in various foreign languages, including Japanese beginning with the top-10 Japanese single "One Rainy Night in Tokyo".

Lee then experimented with different musical styles, including an album of New Orleans music titled For the First Time (1968) and a soul-inspired project titled Memphis Portrait (1970). After several personal challenges, Lee was reinvented as a country music artist in adulthood. This began with the 1973 top-10 country song, "Nobody Wins". She had six top-10 US and Canadian country singles during the 1970s including "Sunday Sunrise", "Big Four Poster Bed" and "Rock on Baby". A failed pop album in the mid decade reverted Lee back to the country genre again in 1979. That year, she had another top-10 country hit with "Tell Me What It's Like". She had two more top-10 country songs through 1981 and recorded country-flavored albums until leaving MCA in 1986.

Warner Bros. signed Lee to a new contract and released an eponymous album (1991), which failed to become a commercial success. It was followed the same year by a Christmas collection. During this time, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" received another revival when it was featured in the film Home Alone. Since then, it has continued to garner radio airplay yearly during the holiday season. Lee recorded and performed with less frequencey during the 1990s and 2000s. Among her new material was a collection of gospel material titled Gospel Duets with Treasured Friends (2007). In 2023, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" topped US chart and Lee issued a music video to promote the track.

Early life Brenda Mae Tarpley was born on December 11, 1944, at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. She was the second of four children born to Annie Grayce Yarbrough and Ruben Lindsey Tarpley. Her father served in the United States Army for 11 years and then worked various labor jobs, including carpentry, factory work, and construction. Her mother also found factory work in cotton mills. When Tarpley was born, she was one month premature and weighed four pounds, 11 ounces. She was given the name Brenda by her mother and was nicknamed "Bootie Mae" by her father.

The family rented various three-room homes around the Metro Atlanta area as Ruben found carpentry work and survived on roughly $20 per week. After Ruben broke his arm in 1951, he was temporarily unemployed and the family lived on a tenant farm in Conyers, Georgia. Tarpley then attended Conyers Elementary School in 1951. After Ruben's recovery, the family moved to a clapboard house in Lithonia, Georgia, where Tarpley slept on one bed with her siblings. Most of her childhood toys were made by her father and her grandmother made many of her dresses.

Tarpley began singing along to the radio as early as eight months old and won her first talent contest at age five singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". She then entered a talent contest at Conyers Elementary School where she sang "Too Young" and "Slow Poke", but ultimately lost to an 18-month-old. She continued entering talent shows singing songs by Hank Williams and Peggy Lee. In 1952, she appeared at the Sports Arena venue in Atlanta with the Wranglers and debuted on local television the same year on Atlanta's TV Ranch singing Williams's "Hey, Good Lookin'".

In 1953, Tarpley's father was working a construction job when a hammer fell off a scaffold and struck him on the head. Knocked unconscious, he was brought to a hospital, where doctors performed brain surgery. He died shortly afterward and the family was left "penniless", to appear on a Georgia radio station to see Red Foley and a touring promotional unit of his ABC-TV program Ozark Jubilee in Augusta. An Augusta disc jockey persuaded Foley to hear her sing before the show. Foley did and agreed to let her perform "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" on stage that night. At age 11, Decca's second single also featured Lee billed under that title. Both the A-side and B-side were novelty Christmas tunes: "I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus" and "Christy Christmas". Her initial releases identified Lee with the rock and roll market. During this time, her Ozark Jubilee performances were seen by New York columnist Jack O'Brien, who wrote an article about her. That led to Lee being booked on The Perry Como Show, The Steve Allen Show, and The Ed Sullivan Show. After a performance at the Nashville Disc Jockey Convention, Lou Black died of a heart attack. She was connected to Dub Albritten, who became her personal manager the same year and remained in that position for many years. and number 15 on the Hot Country Songs chart. Its followup, "Dynamite", rose to number 72 on the US Hot 100 She returned to Nashville that summer to record the rock and roll tune "Sweet Nothin's" with Owen Bradley. The song became her first top-10 single in the US and the UK, peaking at number four in both countries. The A-side reached the top 10 in the US and Australia, while "I'm Sorry" became Lee's first US number one single, A third ballad, "Emotions", reached the US and Belgian top-10 charts in late 1960. Her hit recordings were then included on corresponding LPs, two of which made the top 10 of the US Billboard 200 chart: Brenda Lee and This Is...Brenda (both 1960).

Lee was among pop music's best-selling artists during the early 1960s. Her ballads appealed to teenagers and adults alike. Between 1961 and 1963, nine of Lee's ballads made the top 10 in the US, UK, or Australia: "You Can Depend on Me", "Dum Dum", "Fool No. 1", "Break It to Me Gently", "Speak to Me Pretty", "Everybody Loves Me But You", "Here Comes That Feeling", "All Alone Am I", and "Losing You". Lee and her touring band (The Casuals) regularly appeared in club venues across New York, Boston, and Las Vegas. They were often backed by full orchestras complete with comedy sketches and Great American Songbook medleys. A 1963 review by Billboard magazine compared her nightclub routine to that of early 20th-century performer Sophie Tucker. Lee also found work in Europe, including a 1962 Hamburg, Germany, performance that featured The Beatles. The same year, Mickie Most produced a single originally intended for the UK market, "Is It True". It later reached number 17 in both the US and the UK. Albritten also wanted Lee to record for the Japanese market because he believed it was "largely untapped" by US performers. In July 1965, "One Rainy Night in Tokyo" (recorded mostly in Japanese) rose into the top ten on the Japanese national chart. Lee then embarked on a 12-day tour of Japan, which attracted audiences of more than 5,000 per concert. Lee recorded several more albums of Japanese material over the next decade and toured there over the next 25 years.

Meanwhile, Lee was brought back to Nashville to continue recording for her main market. Decca issued two 1964 studio albums of Lee's material that made the US LP chart: By Request and Merry Christmas from Brenda Lee.

With declining radio airplay, Owen Bradley and Lee made attempts at expanding her musical style. In 1967, he brought in the Hollywood String Quartet to play on her blues-inspired project Reflections in Blue. She then experimented with New Orleans music on the 1968 Pete Fountain collaboration For the First Time. Lee remembered that both albums failed to gain attention from the public. But both received critical acclaim for showcasing Lee's music in new forms. Due to disappointing record sales and several failed attempts at success, Bradley temporarily stopped working with Lee. He helped her find Mike Berniker and Lee went to New York City to make her next album with him.

During this period, she heard Willie Nelson singing "Johnny One Time" on the radio and had the idea to record it from a woman's perspective. She went into the studio with Berniker to record the track. Lee's version of "Johnny One Time" rose to number 41 on the US Hot 100 and number three on the US adult contemporary chart in 1969, becoming her highest-peaking single in several years. while she also experienced vocal cord damage and abdominal issues. Song publisher Bob Beckham then brought Lee the Kris Kristofferson-penned tune "Nobody Wins" and she agreed to record it for the newly renamed MCA Records. The song rose to number five on the US country chart redefining Lee as a country music artist. which made the US country albums top ten in 1973.

Lee remained identified with the mainstream country genre over the next several years. presented a country accolade at the 15th Annual Grammy Awards (1973). and had five more top ten country singles between 1973 and 1975.

Through 1976, the singles "Bringing It Back" and "Find Yourself Another Puppet" made the US and Canadian country top 40 charts. During this time, Bradley retired from the music industry and MCA pressured Lee into being produced by Los Angeles-based Snuff Garrett. The resulting album was 1976's L. A. Sessions, which aimed to rebrand her as a 1970s pop recording artist. Its two singles failed to make the pop chart and instead made the US country chart but peaked outside the top 40, which released the single "Left Over Love".

Lee made a comeback in the 1970s when she returned as a country music artist. As a result, she had a string of top-10 and top-40 singles, including "Wrong Ideas" (pictured above).

1979–1987: Second country comeback In 1979, Jim Foglesong re-signed Lee to MCA Records. He teamed her with producer, Ron Chancey, and the pair had instant musical chemistry, according to Lee. Chancey brought in soul music elements to update her sound on the country single "Tell Me What It's Like". Reaching number eight on the US country chart, it became her first top-ten single in nearly five years The country comeback made Lee among several women of the era who made successful returns to the genre like Dottie West and Billie Jo Spears. Her next single, "The Cowgirl and the Dandy", was a reworking of Bobby Goldsboro's "The Cowboy and the Lady" that had first been recorded by Dolly Parton. Lee's version reached the top ten of both the US and Canadian country charts in 1980, Critics praised Lee's "powerful" and "torchy" vocals on the LP and highlighted its new and modern sound.

In 1980, Lee also made an acting appearance and performed in the soundtrack for the film Smokey and the Bandit II. MCA coaxed her back into the studio to make a followup to Even Better, Take Me Back (1980). The LP was her first in four years to make the US country chart, rising to number 30. Its lead single, "Broken Trust", featured The Oak Ridge Boys and rose into the US country top ten in 1981. The single version rose into the US country top 40 in 1981

Lee hosted her own radio show in 1982, Brenda Lee's Country Profile, which featured in-depth interviews with country artists and found airtime on 25 US radio stations. In an effort to save Monument Records from bankruptcy, Lee joined Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton to record the 1982 compilation The Winning Hand. The album featured new and previously recorded tracks by all four artists, along with solo and duet tracks. Lee and Nelson's duet "You're Gonna Love Yourself in the Morning" made the US country top 50 in 1983, Lee said she was never paid for recording The Winning Hand due to Monument Records' downfall after its release.

Between 1982 and 1984, most of Lee's singles made progressively lower US country chart positions. Songs like "Fool Fool", "Enough for You" and "Just for the Moment" reached positions outside the top 40. Its uptempo song selection was praised by music critics, but its singles only rose into the US country top 60. that was eventually settled out-of-court in 1989. Officially without a record label, Lee still found concert work with club dates both in the US and internationally. She also joined the cast of a Broadway-inspired show at Nashville's Opryland theme park called Music Music Music, claiming to play 1,200 shows for three seasons between 1988 and 1990. In 1990, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" received a revival in radio airplay when it was featured in the film Home Alone, leading to it to continuously garner airplay during the holiday season. Owen Bradley also sought her out during this period to appear on k.d. lang's album Shadowland, which attracted the attention of Carl Scott, a Warner Bros. executive who encouraged Lee to record again. She officially signed with Warner's Nashville division in 1989 and had interest from Mark Knopfler in producing her next project.

Lee poses with country artist, Clint Black, along with US Congresswoman, Steny Hoyer, and Recording Academy president, Neil Portnow (2006).

According to Lee, Warner Bros. had her travel to Los Angeles to receive a makeover. The company convinced her to dye her hair blonde and lose several pounds for the album cover. The resulting project was released in April 1991 as an eponymous disc that featured co-production from Jim Ed Norman and Eric Prestidge. Along with new material were reworkings of songs by Sophie Tucker, Lefty Frizzell and Billie Jo Spears. only made the top 90 on the Canadian country chart. Lee theorized her long absence from recording and being in her mid forties at the time contributed to the album's lack of success. The holiday album included a remake of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", along with 12 other covers like "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" and "The Little Drummer Boy".

As Lee devoted more time to domestic activities in the 1990s, she cut her performance schedule down significantly. She also dabbled in songwriting, and Kenny Rogers's 1999 release She Rides Wild Horses. Lee also performed in honor of Owen Bradley at the 1994 The Recording Academy where he received their Governors Award. In 1996, Lee self-released an album of re-recordings titled 21 All-Time Greatest Hits. She was then approached by Mel Tillis in late 1996 to be a co-headliner with him in his Branson, Missouri theater. Lee agreed to his offer and moved to Branson for the engagement, where the pair played 400 shows during the 1997 tourist season. Via her own label (Brenda Lee Productions), Lee released an album of gospel music in 1997 titled Precious Memories, which was sold at her Branson shows that year. In 1999, it was discovered that Lee had vocal cord cysts. She opted out of an invasive surgery and instead took time off from performing, which ultimately lessened the damage to her voice.

In June 2001, Lee was among 60 country and Christian music artists to participate in a recording of "America the Beautiful". The idea to record an all-star version was crafted by television producer, Norman Lear, and aired the song as part of a television special that was broadcast on July 4, 2001. The recorded version was released as a single and rose to number 58 on the US country chart in 2001. and Little Miss Dynamite: The Life and Times of Brenda Lee was released in March 2002. In 2007, she fulfilled a promise to her mother by making another gospel album, which was released by the Provident label called Gospel Duets with Treasured Friends. The collection featured duets with Emmylou Harris, Huey Lewis, Dolly Parton and others. Lee continued performing into the 2000s, including a 2005 two-holiday concert in Indiana, a 2006 Branson residency with Frankie Avalon and a 2009 Massachusetts holiday concert with Johnny Tillotson.

2010–present: Sporadic performing and holiday music revival Lee continued to remain semi-active in her career by performing roughly a dozen concerts a year. When Billboard modified its music chart recurrent rules in 2012, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" has regularly returned to the Hot 100 since 2015. On the Hot 100 chart dated December 21, 2019, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" reached a new peak of number three in the US with 37.1 million streams and 5,000 digital sales sold. The next week it moved up to number two, where it remained for a second week.

On the chart dated December 9, 2023, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" topped the Hot 100 for the first time, becoming Lee's third number-one hit and first since her 1960 single "I Want to Be Wanted". At 78, Lee became the oldest female artist and oldest performer overall to top the Hot 100, feats formerly held by Cher and Louis Armstrong, respectively. After two weeks off number one, on the week ending January 6, 2024, she returned to number one for an additional week. Lee released a music video to celebrate the song's 65th anniversary in 2023 that featured her lip-synching to the original recording at a house party with Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood. Lee has also joined TikTok to promote the song, where she posted videos reminiscing about its history and success. After a performing hiatus, Lee returned to sing the track at a benefit concert on December 5, 2023 and on December 7 for NBC's Christmas at the Opry television special.

Lee approved an AI-generated Spanish-language version, "Noche Buena y Navidad", that appeared on October 25, 2024. In December 2024, Spotify revealed that "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" is among the top 10 most-streamed holiday songs of all time, with more than a billion streams. The Recording Industry Association of America also certified "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" that month for 7× Platinum for US sales of 7 million copies of the digital single.

Personal life Dating, marriage and family life Lee had interest in dating in her teens but her mother would not allow it until she turned 16. After her birthday, she co-headlined a tour with teen pop singer, Fabian, and accepted his offer to a date. Lee recounted that on a stroll with Fabian, her mother, manager and members of her touring band could be seen hiding in shrubbery to make sure she avoided trouble. "Needless to say, it ruined my night," she later said. She later expanded on the situation in her autobiography, writing, "I don't think he even kissed me. He did seem fond of me, however." Lee also mentioned that Fabian attended her sixteenth birthday party and told the press he wanted her to co-star in a movie with him. However, the film never materialized.

Lee then met Charles Ronald "Ronnie" Shacklett in November 1962 at a Bo Diddley and Jackie Wilson concert hosted at Nashville's Fairgrounds Coliseum. Spotting him nearby, she passed him a note that read, "Hi, my name’s Brenda, here's my number. But I'm going to be gone for three months in Europe, working." When she returned, she went on her first "single date" with him Her family was not invited to the wedding in fear that they would disapprove. Lee and her mother later reconciled and she later reflected on the courtship, "Looking back, I know how much I hurt my mother. I will regret that the rest of my life." Although he spent the majority of his adulthood as a general contractor, who was named in tribute to her friend, Patsy Cline, whose own child had the same given name. At the time of her birth, Julie was found to have hyaline membrane disease and spent multiple days in critical condition. The couple sought the medical treatment of Dr. Mildred Stahlman, who had experiencing treating the son of President John F. Kennedy and she eventually made a full recovery. A grandson, Charley, was raised by Lee and Shacklett during his teenage years.

Health According to Lee, the constant pace of touring and performing during her teens took a toll on her health in early adulthood. In 1970, she spent time in a Nashville, Tennessee hospital recuperating after suffering from "exhaustion". She then had seven operations performed over the next several years for various ailments. She was then given emergency surgery and eventually made a full recovery. but according to her, the money could not be accessed by her mother because Tennessee state law protected child entertainers. The family went before a court judge and was appointed a legal guardian named Charlie Mosley (a friend of Albritten's). The judge granted her family a $75 allowance while the remaining amount went into a trust fund that Lee could not access until age 21. Battles over income continued for Lee into adulthood. After the death of Dub Albritten, The Bryan Times also reported that Lee was missing a total $236,000.

Artistry Musical styles Lee's music has been categorized in the fields of rock and roll, rockabilly, pop, country and gospel. "Her first few Decca singles, in fact, make a pretty fair bid for the best preteen rock & roll performances this side of Michael Jackson," said AllMusic's Richie Unterberger.

Influences Lee's primary musical influences were Hank Williams and Mahalia Jackson. She credited Jackson due to her appreciation for gospel music and her memories of singing it in church. Lee recalled that her earliest memories were of her mother singing Hank Williams gospel songs, which inspired her to perform his songs on her first television appearances. Lee also credited Judy Garland as an influence on her music and career. She recalled that Garland was friendly to her and gave her advice on her career. "You know, we have a lot in common. I started as a child entertainer too. Whatever you do, be a child. Don't let them take that away from you," Lee remembered Garland telling her.

Legacy, influence and awards

Unlike many singers of her era, Lee had a musical versatility that crossed genre lines between country, pop, rock and gospel. Her Nashville recordings with Owen Bradley also set a trend for how crossover music took shape in years to come. Holly Snaith of PBS wrote, "Throughout her extraordinary career, Brenda Lee has transcended genre boundaries and solidified her place as one of the most versatile female artists of the 20th century." Her recordings also helped prove that women could sell rock records at an equal level with their male counterparts.

Lee has been an influence on other music artists in various genres. "When I first heard Brenda Lee I thought, 'How can this be coming out of this person?' I just always think of her going 'Dynamite!' with that little growly thing she does all the time. Just unbelievable," said Pat Benatar when discussing Lee's influence. At 18 years old, Taylor Swift wrote an essay about how Lee influenced her, which was published in the book, Woman Walk the Line. "Brenda Lee is someone I always will look up to because of the way she shines. As Johnny Cash said in 1983, 'it’s almost like she’s golden'," Swift said. John Lennon once described Lee as "The greatest rock'n'roll voice of them all". Trisha Yearwood also spoke of Lee as influential artist. "She’s our history, she is to be revered and remembered. What this woman has done in her career is astonishing and she’s a true legend and hero," she said. Other artists who have cited her as an influence include Elton John, and Keith Urban.

On September 26, 1986, Lee was installed in the Atlanta Music Hall of Fame 5th Annual Awards Ceremony held at the Radisson Inn, Atlanta. She was named among many other recording artists, including Riley Puckett, Gid Tanner, Dan Hornsby, Clayton McMichen, and Boots Woodall. Lee reached the final ballot for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and 2001 without success, but was finally voted into the Hall of Fame in 2002. Celebrating over 50 years as a recording artist, in September 2006, she was the second recipient of the Jo Meador-Walker Lifetime Achievement award by the Source Foundation in Nashville. In 1997, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame 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" marked 50 years as a holiday standard, and in February 2009, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave Lee a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Lee 161st on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. Billboard ranked her 93rd on its 2025 "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" list. In December 2024, Lee was honored at the Tennessee State Capitol, where the song was named the Official Holiday Song of Tennessee. Legislation recognizing the song in this way was filed by Tennessee House of Representatives member Jason Powell in December 2023. It passed the state legislature and was signed into law by Governor Bill Lee.

Discography

Studio albums

Grandma, What Great Songs You Sang! (1959) Brenda Lee (1960) This Is...Brenda (1960) Emotions (1961) All the Way (1961) Sincerely (1962) Brenda, That's All (1962) All Alone Am I (1963) ..."Let Me Sing" (1963) By Request (1964) Merry Christmas from Brenda Lee (1964) Brenda Lee Sings Top Teen Hits (1965) The Versatile Brenda Lee (1965) Too Many Rivers (1965) One Rainy Night in Tokyo (1965) Bye Bye Blues (1966) Coming on Strong (1966) Reflections in Blue (1967)

For the First Time (1968) Johnny One Time (1969) Memphis Portrait (1970) Brenda (1973) New Sunrise (1973) Brenda Lee Now (1974) Sincerely, Brenda Lee (1975) L. A. Sessions (1976) Just for You Something Nice (1977) Even Better (1980) Take Me Back (1980) Only When I Laugh (1981) Feels So Right (1985) Brenda Lee (1991) A Brenda Lee Christmas: In the New Old Fashioned Way (1991) 21 All-Time Greatest Hits (1996) Gospel Duets with Treasured Friends (2007)