In 1955, her family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where Brenda began working in Jimmy Skinner's Record Shop on two Saturday programs over WNOP in Newport, Kentucky. She sang the big Country music hits of the day. Later that year, the family moved to Augusta, Georgia, and Brenda landed a spot on The Peach Blossom Special on WJAT-TV. It was while appearing on this show that the name Brenda Lee was created by the show's producer, Sammy Barton. He felt that Tarpley was to difficult to remember and suggested that she shorten her last name. Her step-father, Jay Rainwater, opened a record store in Augusta and called it the Brenda Lee Record Shop. Station WRDW originated a program in the shop each week and Brenda sang on the show. Disc jockey Charlie Raiford "Peanuts" Faircloth was the announcer. Brenda composed her own theme song and although she received no money for these shows, the exposure led to several bookings.
In February 1956, a radio station in Swansboro, Georgia asked Brenda to be a guest on The Peach Blossom Jamboree program for $30. Brenda turned down the offer to go see one of her favorite entertainers, Country music singer Red Foley. Mr. Foley was visiting Augusta with the cast of the ABC-TV show Ozark Jubilee at the Bell Auditorium. Brenda met Mr. Foley and his manager, Dub Albritten. Peanuts Faircloth asked Foley if he would let Brenda sing a song on the show and Foley agreed. Brenda performed "Jambalaya", then another tune, then another, and still another. She left the stage with the crowd shouting for more. "The way I stood back and enjoyed watching her work, I felt guilty for not going out to the box office and buying a ticket," said Foley. After this show, Brenda was offered a guest spot on Foley's Ozark Jubilee. On Saturday, March 31, 1956, Brenda made her first network television appearance on the program from Springfield, Missouri. She sang "Jambalaya" on the Junior Jubilee portion which featured younger talent. The producers of the show received three times the day's usual fan mail with nearly all asking to see Brenda on the show again. Jack O'Brien, a New York columnist for the Journal American, opened his TV review by saying that "I didn't catch the name of the 9-year-old singer on last night's Ozark Jubilee, but she belts a song like a star." This led to bookings on The Perry Como Show and other national TV programs. The Tarpley family then moved to Springfield and Brenda became a regular on The Ozark Jubilee, appearing from 1956 to 1959.
On May 21st, 1956, Paul Cohen, the A&R man at Decca Records, signed Brenda to a recording contract and on July 30th of that year she recorded seven songs. "Jambalaya" was released as the first single on September 17th, 1956. She achieved moderate chart success in early 1957 with her third release, "One Step At a Time". It climbed to #43 on the Billboard Pop chart and #15 on the Country chart. The next single, "Dynamite", has importance because it gave her the nickname of "Little Miss Dynamite" because of her explosive stage act. The title is still used today to describe Brenda. "Dynamite" was the last chart success for the next 2-1/2 years. In 1957, Dub Albritten became her personal manager and remained so until his death in 1972. Brenda and her family also moved to Nashville that same year. Her first Grand Old Opry performance was in December, 1957 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. One of Brenda's fondest memories is of appearing on the show with Elvis. Owen Bradley became Brenda's record producer with the recording session of May 8, 1958. "Ring-A- My-Phone" and "The Golden Key" were recorded that day. "Little Jonah" was recorded on May 15, 1958. "Ring-A-My-Phone" b/w "Little Jonah" was the first single release with Bradley as producer. Bradley was Brenda's record producer for most of her recordings until 1976. Brenda's first album, "Grandma, What Great Songs You Sang" was released on August 3rd, 1958. On August 13th, 1959, Brenda recorded "Sweet Nothin's". The song was released on September 29th, 1959 and peaked at #4 on the Billboard charts in late April 1960. This single became the first of twenty-nine U.S. Top 40 songs for her. "Sweet Nothin's" was Brenda's first chart success in England, climbing to #4, and was also her first hit in Germany, where it peaked at # 34.
In 1959, Dub Albritten decided it was time to book her on an international level. On February 18, 1959 Brenda opened in Paris, France at the Olympia Music Hall with Gilbert Becaud. She was originally signed for three weeks, but ended up being held over for another five. The appearance almost ended before it started. Publicity pictures had been sent over that showed Brenda dressed in her typical schoolgirl clothes. The theatre kept writing, asking for more recent pictures because they could not believe that such a big voice could come from such a little girl. Albritten kept writing and said that these were recent pictures. Then Dub had an idea to manufacture a story which ran in the French paper, La Figaro, that Brenda was actually a 32 year old midget. Albritten denied the story. The result was great publicity for her. La Figaro compared Brenda favorably to Judy Garland. The response of the Paris engagement led to more European dates in Germany, Italy, and England, followed by a tour of South America. Jack Good's Oh Boy! TV show introduced Brenda to the British audience. In Brazil, she received the greatest reception ever accorded an American entertainer as she made a month-long tour with twenty-one performances. The tour netted fifty-one front page newspaper stories and features in nine magazines. Brazilian President Juscelino Kubitshek de Oliveira said she was "The best goodwill ambassador the U.S. ever had." After these tours, Brenda returned to the States as an international star.
On March 28th, 1960 Brenda recorded "I'm Sorry". The song was released on May 30th and hit #1 during that Summer. It stayed on the Top 100 for over six months. "I'm Sorry" was also Brenda's first Gold record, selling over one million records. On October 19th, 1958, at the age of 13, Brenda had recorded "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree", which was released as a single but failed to chart in either 1958 or 1959. The song was re-released in 1960 and this time became a big hit, climbing to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. This song has now become a Christmas standard and was ranked at #4 in the Top 10 All Time Christmas Songs. It is Brenda's second biggest selling record.
Brenda made her film debut in the movie Two Little Bears in 1961 with Eddie Albert, Jane Wyatt and Jimmy Boyd. One of Brenda's songs was "Speak To Me Pretty". This tune became a big hit in Great Britain and was actually her most popular UK single release, climbing to the #3 position on the charts. Strangely, the song was never released as a single in the United States. She did however place six records on Billboard's Top 40 chart that year, including "Emotions" (#7), "You Can Depend On Me" (#6), "Dum Dum" (#4") and "Fool #1" (#3). 1962 brought more chart success with "Break It Too Me Gently" (#4), "Everybody Loves Me But You" (#6) and "All Alone Am I" (#3). The following year saw six more Top 40 hits including "Losing You" (#6). During a Jackie Wilson concert at the old Fairgrounds Coliseum in Nashville, Tennessee, Brenda met her future husband, Ronnie. They were married on April 24, 1963 at Radnor Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee.
When The Beatles led what would become known as The British Invasion in early 1964, Brenda, like most other American acts, had a little more difficulty achieving hit records. She did however crack the Top 20 that year with "Is It True" (#17) and again in 1965 with "Too Many Rivers (#13). In July 1965, Brenda conquered Japan with her first of many tours. Her first Japanese recording, "One Rainy Night in Tokyo" became one of her many Gold records and one of many standards in Japan. In late 1966, with the American music scene dominated by Rock 'n' Roll groups, Brenda reached the Top 20 on the Billboard Pop chart for the last time with "Coming On Strong" (#11). Her final Pop chart appearance was in February, 1967 with "Ride, Ride, Ride", which made it to #37.
Just as her Pop presence was waning, Brenda broke onto the Country charts. Between 1973 and 1975 she had six consecutive Top 10 hits on Decca's successor label, MCA. She continued to inhabit the Country charts through the '80s and '90s with "Tell Me What It's Like", "The Cowgirl And The Dandy" and "Broken Trust" (with The Oak Ridge Boys) all going Top 10. Brenda also had a small role in the film Smokey And The Bandit 2 and sang one song, "Again and Again" in the movie. "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" was heard in the 1991 movie, Home Alone. "I'm Sorry" can be heard in the 1991 film, The Fisher King, and the the 1993 movie, This Boy's Life.
Apart from performing, Lee became a tireless supporter of the Nashville music community at large and of numerous charitable organizations. She served on the boards of the Country Music Association and the Recording Academy (the Grammy organization) and was active with the Kidney Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the Multiple Sclerosis and Cerebral Palsy organizations and The March Of Dimes. Brenda Lee was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997 and to the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Her autobiography, Little Miss Dynamite: The Life and Times of Brenda Lee, was published in 2003. Brenda maintained a vast army of fans and adds scores of new fans annually. They encompass a generation of baby boomers who grew up with Rock 'n' Roll, but perhaps the biggest surprise of all are the young people who populate her concerts and comb classic record bins to find her old singles.
In February, 2007, Brenda announced that she would be releasing her first Gospel album called "Gospel Duets with Treasured Friends", which included guests Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, George Jones, Pam Tillis, Charlie Daniels, Huey Lewis, and others. In 2008, her recording of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" marked fifty years as a holiday standard, and in February 2009, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave Lee a Lifetime Achievement Grammy. On November 23rd, 2015, "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" topped the Billboard Country Streaming Chart and the Billboard Holiday Airplay Chart. The song also re-entered the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, giving Little Miss Dynamite her first Top 40 hit since 1967's "Ride, Ride, Ride".
Brenda continued to live in Nashville with her husband, Ronnie and to perform to sell-out audiences. She remained involved with the Country Music Hall of Fame, announcing the inductees each year and then officially presenting them with their membership medallions at a special ceremony every year. In 2016, the inductees announced by Lee included Randy Travis, Charlie Daniels and Fred Foster. On January 25th, 2019, The Recording Academy announced that "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" would be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The December 23rd, 2019 edition of Billboard's Hot 100 chart showed that Brenda's holiday classic "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" had reached #2, second only to Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You". The song topped the chart four years later, on December 3rd, 2023, a whopping 65 years after it was first released. Brenda described the news as "amazing," and added "The song came out when I was a young teenager and now to know that it has resonated with multiple generations and continues to resonate, it is one of the best gifts I have ever received. Keep on Rockin' and Merry Christmas!" 2024 saw the song re-enter both the UK and Billboard Top 40 in late November.
For more, be sure to read Gary James' Interview With Brenda Lee
