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Brenda Lee
Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Primarily performing rockabilly, pop, country, and Christmas music, she achieved her first Billboard hit at age 12 in 1957, and was given the nickname "Little Miss Dynamite". Some of Lee's most successful songs include "Sweet Nothin's", "I'm Sorry", "I Want to Be Wanted", "Speak to Me Pretty", "All Alone Am I", and "Losing You". Her festive 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.
Having sold over 100 million records globally, Lee is one of the most successful American artists of the 20th century. Lee was the second woman ever to top the Billboard Hot 100 (after Connie Francis) when her song “I'm Sorry” reached number one in 1960. Her U.S. success in the 1960s earned her recognition as Billboard's Top Female Artist of the Decade and one of the four artists who charted the most singles, behind Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Ray Charles. Her accolades include a Grammy Award, four NARM Awards, three NME Awards, and five Edison Awards. In 2023, she was named by Rolling Stone as one of the greatest singers of all time.
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", leaving Tarpley to help provide for the family through her singing gigs. Without a car, they traveled by bus from Lithonia to Atlanta on a weekly basis so Tarpley could perform. A local television producer during this time suggested a stage name because "Brenda Tarpley" was hard to remember. Soon she adopted the stage name "Brenda Lee". Her mother then remarried and her family briefly moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Augusta, Georgia. In Augusta, she attended North Augusta Elementary School and junior high school. Her stepfather became her manager in 1955 and booked shows around the Atlanta area.
Lee's breakthrough came in February 1955, when she turned down $30 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, Foley signed her as a regular cast member of the Ozark Jubilee in 1956. Lee and her mother then traveled by bus to Springfield, Missouri, where she made her debut on the program, singing Williams's "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)". Lee's new manager, Lou Black, and her stepfather attempted to get her a recording contract, but were turned down by every label. According to Lee, many companies were hesitant about signing a child performer. Foley then coaxed his Nashville record label to watch Lee perform. Lee was then signed by his company, Decca Records, in May 1956.
Despite being 11 years old, Decca issued her debut single, "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)", under the title Little Brenda Lee (9 Years Old). 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. Among the first gigs Albritten booked for Lee was at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas in December 1956.
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Brenda Lee
Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Primarily performing rockabilly, pop, country, and Christmas music, she achieved her first Billboard hit at age 12 in 1957, and was given the nickname "Little Miss Dynamite". Some of Lee's most successful songs include "Sweet Nothin's", "I'm Sorry", "I Want to Be Wanted", "Speak to Me Pretty", "All Alone Am I", and "Losing You". Her festive 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.
Having sold over 100 million records globally, Lee is one of the most successful American artists of the 20th century. Lee was the second woman ever to top the Billboard Hot 100 (after Connie Francis) when her song “I'm Sorry” reached number one in 1960. Her U.S. success in the 1960s earned her recognition as Billboard's Top Female Artist of the Decade and one of the four artists who charted the most singles, behind Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Ray Charles. Her accolades include a Grammy Award, four NARM Awards, three NME Awards, and five Edison Awards. In 2023, she was named by Rolling Stone as one of the greatest singers of all time.
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", leaving Tarpley to help provide for the family through her singing gigs. Without a car, they traveled by bus from Lithonia to Atlanta on a weekly basis so Tarpley could perform. A local television producer during this time suggested a stage name because "Brenda Tarpley" was hard to remember. Soon she adopted the stage name "Brenda Lee". Her mother then remarried and her family briefly moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Augusta, Georgia. In Augusta, she attended North Augusta Elementary School and junior high school. Her stepfather became her manager in 1955 and booked shows around the Atlanta area.
Lee's breakthrough came in February 1955, when she turned down $30 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, Foley signed her as a regular cast member of the Ozark Jubilee in 1956. Lee and her mother then traveled by bus to Springfield, Missouri, where she made her debut on the program, singing Williams's "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)". Lee's new manager, Lou Black, and her stepfather attempted to get her a recording contract, but were turned down by every label. According to Lee, many companies were hesitant about signing a child performer. Foley then coaxed his Nashville record label to watch Lee perform. Lee was then signed by his company, Decca Records, in May 1956.
Despite being 11 years old, Decca issued her debut single, "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)", under the title Little Brenda Lee (9 Years Old). 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. Among the first gigs Albritten booked for Lee was at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas in December 1956.
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