|
|
"I still get cold chills thinking about the first time I heard that voice." -- Red Foley |
"She has the greatest rock and roll voice of them all." -- John Lennon |
Brenda Lee's career started with talent shows and local radio in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1956, Red Foley saw her perform and got her signed to his Decca label and had here appear on his ABC-TV show, "Ozark Jubilee." Her first recordings for Decca didn't do much -- "One Step at a Time" in 1957 charted at #43. But she did get the nickname "Little Miss Dyanamite" from her recording of "Dynamite." The label decided to send her to perform in Paris in 1959. She was a smash hit and toured elsewhere in Europe, returning to the United States as an international star who hadn't as yet had a hit record. When she returned home, she went into the recording studio and in September of 1959, "Sweet Nothin's" was released. It steadily climbed the charts and made it to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April of 1960. She returned to the Nashville recording studio and produced two number one songs for 1960 -- "I'm Sorry" that arrived at the top spot on July 18 and "I Want to Be Wanted" that hit the top spot on October 24th. In 1958 and 1959 she had released "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." In 1960, her other hit records got this recording recognized. A seasonal song, it peaked at #14, but would become a Christmas classic. In her career she would have twelve top ten songs and another seven in the top 20. Unlike many other artists, Brenda continued to make the charts even after the arrival of the Beatles in 1964. And when the pop chart success diminished, she went on to great success in country music with such songs as "Big Four Poster Bed" which was a #4 record on the country chart. |
|
|