Ladies in Music Alphabet--Brenda Mae Tarpley (Lee)

In the charity ward of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, a very small 4 lb baby was born. This tiny infant was Brenda Mae Tarpley. Her family was poor, and work was hard to find. The family lived in a series of three room houses with no running water.

This tiny little girl was a musical prodigy. By the time she was two years old, she could whistle the tune of songs she heard on their old battery radio. The mom and sister would take her to a candy store, stand her on the counter, and she would earn candy and coins by singing. She also sang solos at church every Sunday.

At age six, she won a singing contest sponsored by the local elementary schools. Her reward was an appearance on "Starmakers' Revue", where she performed for the next year.

When little Brenda was ten years old, she was the primary breadwinner of the family, because her dad died in 1953. She performed at events on local radio and television shows. Her mom remarried in 1955, and the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Little Brenda's step-dad worked at the Jimmy Skinner Music Center. Brenda worked at the record shop on two programs being broadcast over station WNOP-AM. The family moved to Augusta, Georgia where Brenda appeared on "The Peach Blossom Special", another radio show.

The producer of the show, Sammy Barton, christened the little girl as Brenda Lee, instead of using her real name Tarpley. His reason was that her last name would be easier to remember. Brenda Lee was served fruit salads in her dressing room, but an awful fear of bananas would bring fits of rage; therefore, the bananas were removed.

Her big break into big-time show business came in 1955. She went to see Red Foley, a country music singer. He was convinced by a local DJ to let her sing for him. Foley was in shock to hear this tiny little girl sing "Jambalaya" on stage that night totally unrehearsed. The audience refused to let her leave the stage until she sang three more songs. Brenda made her network debut on Ozark Jubilee at ten years old. Just months later, Decca Records offered her a contract. The first record was "Jambalaya", followed by "I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus". Although she was actually ten years old, Decca credited her as "Little Brenda Lee (9 years old)."

Neither of her first releases reached the charts, but her first single in 1957 became a hit in both the pop music field, and country music field. "Dynamite" led to her lifelong nickname, Little Miss Dynamite.

Lee's first attention was performing country music, but her label management felt it best to market her as a pop artist. The result was that none of her best recordings were released to the country music field. Because of this, she did not have another country music hit until 1969 with "Johnny One Time". Her pop success, however, was magnificent. Her biggest hits included "Jambalaya", "Sweet Nothin's", "I Want To Be Wanted", "All Alone Am I", and "Break It to Me Gently". The biggest selling track of her career was a Christmas song called "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

Brenda's signature song, "I'm Sorry", was recorded in 1960. This was her first gold single, and was nominated for a Grammy. It was not released as a country music song, but it was among the first in the new Nashville sound with string orchestra.

Lee was very popular in the United Kingdom early in her career. She toured the UK in 1959, gaining much recognition and popularity. For a while, she was more popular in the UK, than in the United States. She can boast of something that not many people in the music business can do. Her opening act in a UK tour in the early 1960s was a little known group from Liverpool, they called themselves The Beatles.

Brenda re-established herself as a country music artist in the early 1970s. Starting with "Nobody Wins", she earned a string of top ten hits on the country music charts. Over the next few years, Lee continued to perform around the world.

Brenda Mae Tarpley, better known as Brenda Lee, is one of America's few musical child prodigies. She stands only 4 ft 9 inches, but her voice and personality make her tower above her audience. She was so correctly named Little Miss Dynamite. She is a member of the Rock and Roll, Country Music, and Rockabilly Halls of fame. Brenda Lee lives in Nashville.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Lee