Brenda Lee’s name may not be as recognizable as some of the other music stars from the 1960s but when you think of Christmas, you’ll know her song, and start humming her catchy tune, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
When Lee, now 78, first hit the stage, she wasn’t old enough to drive but her powerful vocals steered her “unprecedented international popularity” as the most successful female artist of the 1960s.
Lee, whose voice defied her diminutive stature at only 4 foot 9, became a fan favorite when she was only 12.
Brenda May Tarpley, born in 1944, got her start in the late 1940s, became huge in the 1950s, and over her career–that started before she left elementary school–she topped the charts 55 times, earning the title as the most successful female recording artist of the 1960s.
When Lee was only eight (according to Rolling Stone), her father, a construction worker, was killed at work and little Brenda–who then changed her last name to Lee–became the family’s primary provider.
Taking care of her younger brother, big sister, and mother–a cotton mill worker–was not a duty, but something she wanted to do. She said that she was thrilled when she made her first $20, so she could help her family: “Even at that young age, I saw that helped our life,” Lee said, adding “It put some food on the table. It helped, and I loved it.”
The Atlanta-born chanteuse, called a “pioneer of early rock and roll,” by the Georgia Encyclopedia, achieved “unprecedented international popularity in the 1960s.”
But, an incredibly humble human, Lee credits those who helped her achieve her dreams. When Christianity Today asked what she thinks about being a legend, Lee said “I don’t think of myself that way!” She continued, “I’m just a girl who’s been blessed to be doing what I’m doing, and there’s a lot of people who’ve sweated a lot of tears and put a lot of life’s work into me to be able to have my dream. So, if I’m a legend, then they’re legends, too.”
In 1956, the young girl joined country star Red Foley for a show at the Bell Auditorium near her home in Augusta, and she belted out “Jambalaya,” by Hank Williams.
She was then signed to appear on Foley’s Ozark Jubilee, a country music show, where millions of viewers fell in love with the sassy 12-year-old whose talent was developed well beyond her age.
In the same year, Lee signed with Decca Records, and the next year, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and fusing country with rhythm and blues–highlighted by her hiccupping vocals–she recorded early rockabilly classics like “BIGELOW 6-200,” “Little Jonah,” and “Let’s Jump the Broomstick.”
When asked if–when as a young girl–she was nervous performing in front of large crowds, she answered: “No, not really. Nobody ever told me to be nervous. The stage always felt like a hometown to me because I had been in front of people ever since I was 3 years old, singing to people. So it was a very comfortable spot for me.”
In 1957, Lee earned the nickname “Little Miss Dynamite” for her pint-sized powerhouse recording of the song “Dynamite,” and in 1958, fans heard “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree,” a genre and generation-crossing holiday standard, released when she was only 13.
“I knew it was magical,” she told Rolling Stone.
Over the next couple of years, she charted with hits like “Sweet Nuthin’s,” “All Alone Am I,” and “Fool #1.”
Most of her songs, however, contradicted her experience as a young girl. Her mother didn’t let her date and she graduated high school not understanding the heartbreak of young love.
She was only 16 when she said “Love could be so cruel” in the song “I’m Sorry” and only 16 when she said “I want his lips to kiss me” in the song “I Want to be Wanted,” both back-to-back hits when she was still in school.
And when she turned 18, she met Ronnie Shacklett, whom she’s now been happily married to for 60 years.
Life on the road for Lee as a youngster had its difficulties. She celebrated her 12th birthday in Las Vegas and speaking with the Las Vegas Journal, Lee explained her loneliness.
“Of course, I wasn’t even allowed to walk through a casino, I was so young. So I didn’t even know what a casino looked like. They took me into the kitchen, then into the showroom. And then when my show was over, I was brought back out through the kitchen and back up to my room. Children weren’t allowed … in the casino area.” She continued, “There wasn’t anything to do in Vegas for a kid. The most fun I had was on the stage.”
Speaking on what she missed out on as a child, the award-winning Lee said, “Many times, I yearned to be with my friends rather than be out there on the road.”
Turns out she made new friends on the road, like with the music group that opened for her at a 1962 show in Germany. “I hung out with John,” she says effortlessly, speaking of John Lennon. “He was extremely intelligent, very acerbic with his jokes, just a gentle person. When I found out that they later said they were fans of my music, I was just floored.”
Man Thinks He Found “Hornets” Nest In Attic, Turns Pale When He Realizes What is Inside
James was taken aback when he found Liam in tears in the attic, disrupting what had been an ordinary day. Little did he know, as he rushed upstairs to console his frightened son, that this incident would unveil a long-held secret lurking in their attic.
The tale began in 2018 when the family’s arborvitae trees were damaged by deer. While preparing to replace them, James and his family noticed something peculiar among the trees on the east side of their yard. Initially mistaken for an electrical box, it turned out to be something far more perplexing.
In May 2018, landscapers were brought in to remove the damaged trees and gain access to the mysterious metal box, as the family opted for bamboo trees that deer would not harm. To their surprise, the metal box turned out to be the entrance to a massive hornet’s nest, not just an ordinary electrical fixture.
The sheer size of the nest and the strange noises emanating from it, akin to a struggling car engine, astonished both James and Liam. Unlike any ordinary nest, this one seemed to hold something significant within its depths.
James called in a hornet control specialist for assistance, who initially seemed confident in handling the situation. However, upon entering the attic where the hornets had established their unique hive, the specialist quickly changed his tune, declining the job much to the family’s dismay
Frustrated with the lack of professional help and disturbed by the incessant noise the hornets were causing inside their home, James decided to take matters into his own hands.
However, his attempt to remove the nest himself proved disastrous. Clad in protective gear, James entered the attic and was immediately overwhelmed by angry hornets, suffering multiple stings and immense pain. He barely managed to escape and was found unconscious on the first floor by his family.
In a bold move, young Liam took it upon himself to smoke out the hornets, determined to resolve the problem and protect his family. Sneaking into the attic, he used a smoker to temporarily calm the hornets, but this inadvertently provoked them further as they emerged from their brief stupor.
As the situation escalated, Liam faced a critical decision: to retreat from the attic and seal the window, once again subduing the hornets. When the smoke cleared, however, he discovered something unexpected within their nest, something the hornets fiercely guarded.
James was both proud of Liam’s courage and concerned for his safety upon learning of his son’s actions. Yet, the discovery within the hornet’s nest not only complicated matters but also sparked a heated argument between James and his wife, Emma.
Emma’s shock and anger were directed not only at James for concealing the nest but also at the unsettling contents within. The heightened tension pushed James to take decisive action, wrapping the unsettling object in towels and driving off, leaving behind a cloud of unanswered questions.
In addition to testing the family’s bravery, the hornet’s nest incident unearthed a dark secret that could potentially alter their lives forever. Now faced with an unsettling discovery, the family grapples with the mystery surrounding the object hidden in their attic
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