1. Brenda Lee's accolades include a Grammy Award, four NARM Awards, three NME Awards and five Edison Awards.
34 Facts About Brenda Lee
1. 2.
Brenda Lee Mae Tarpley was born on December 11,1944 in the charity ward of Grady Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia to parents Annie Grayce and Ruben Lindsey Tarpley.
3.
Brenda Lee weighed only 4 pounds 11 ounces at birth.
4.
Brenda Lee's father was a farmer's son in Georgia's red-clay belt.
5.
Brenda Lee's mother came from a working class family in Greene County, Georgia.
6.
Brenda Lee's performance received positive reviews, leading her to make regular appearances on local radio and television shows.
7.
Brenda Lee's father died in 1953 in a construction accident and by the time she turned ten, she was the primary breadwinner of her family by singing at events and on local radio and television shows.
8.
Brenda Lee performed with Skinner at the record store on two Saturday programs broadcast over Newport, Kentucky, radio station WNOP.
9.
Brenda Lee's breakthrough came in February 1955, when she turned down $30 to appear on a Swainsboro radio station in order to see Red Foley and a touring promotional unit of his ABC-TV program Ozark Jubilee in Augusta.
10.
Brenda Lee's next hit, "Dynamite", coming out of a 4-foot 9-inch frame, led to her lifelong nickname, Little Miss Dynamite.
11.
Brenda Lee first attracted attention performing in country music venues and shows; however, her label and management felt it best to market her exclusively as a pop artist, the result being that none of her best-known recordings from the 1960s were released to country radio, and despite her country sound, with top Nashville session people, she did not have another country hit until 1969 with "Johnny One Time".
12.
Brenda Lee achieved her biggest success on the pop charts in the late 1950s through the mid-1960s with rockabilly and rock and roll-styled songs.
13.
In 1958, when Brenda Lee was 13, producer Owen Bradley asked her 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" and "A Holly Jolly Christmas".
14.
Brenda Lee was popular in the United Kingdom from early in her career.
15.
Brenda Lee performed on British television in 1959, before she had achieved much pop recognition in the United States.
16.
Brenda Lee's first hit single in the United Kingdom was "Sweet Nothin's", which peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart in the spring of 1960.
17.
In 1962, while touring West Germany, Brenda Lee appeared at the Star-Club, Hamburg, with the Beatles as the opening act.
18.
Brenda Lee had big hits in the UK with "All Alone Am I" and "As Usual".
19.
Brenda Lee first toured the UK in March and April 1962 with Gene Vincent and Sounds Incorporated, and she toured the country for a second time in March 1963, this time supported by the Bachelors, Sounds Incorporated, Tony Sheridan, and Mike Berry.
20.
Brenda Lee toured in the Republic of Ireland in 1963 and appeared on the front cover of the Irish dancing and entertainment magazine Spotlight in April that year.
21.
In 1992, Brenda Lee recorded a duet with Willy DeVille on his album Loup Garou.
22.
Brenda Lee's most recent album release was a gospel collection in 2007.
23.
On October 4,2000, Brenda Lee inducted fellow country music legends Faron Young and Charley Pride into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
24.
Brenda Lee is often called upon to announce the annual inductees to the Country Music Hall of Fame and then officially present them with their membership medallions at a special ceremony every year.
25.
The most recent inductees announced by Brenda Lee were Randy Travis, Charlie Daniels and Fred Foster in 2016.
26.
In November 2023, to celebrate the song's 65th anniversary, Brenda Lee released a music video featuring her lip-synching to the original recording at a house party with Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood.
27.
Brenda Lee has joined social media platform TikTok to promote the song, where she posts videos reminiscing about her song's history and success.
28.
At 78, Brenda Lee became the oldest female artist and oldest artist overall to top the Hot 100, feats formerly held by Cher and Louis Armstrong, respectively.
29.
Also in December 2024, Brenda Lee was honored at the Tennessee State Capitol, where the song was named the Official Holiday Song of Tennessee.
30.
On September 26,1986, Brenda Lee was installed in the Atlanta Music Hall of Fame 5th Annual Awards Ceremony held at the Raddison Inn, Atlanta, Georgia.
31.
Brenda Lee was named among many other recording artists including: Riley Puckett, Gid Tanner, Dan Hornsby, Clayton McMichen and Boots Woodall.
32.
Brenda 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.
33.
Brenda Lee met Charles Ronald "Ronnie" Shacklett in November 1962 at a concert by Bo Diddley and Jackie Wilson hosted at Nashville's Fairgrounds Coliseum.
34.
Brenda Lee is the cousin-by-marriage to singer Dave Rainwater from The New Christy Minstrels.