What if you did the most important thing in your life when you were 13?
Brenda Lee was born to a poor Atlanta family in 1944 and began singing to support them at the age of 9 after her father was killed by a falling hammer. One night in 1955 she turned down a $30 gig to watch Red Foley in a touring production of The Ozark Jubilee, and a local DJ convinced Red to listen to her sing before his performance. Shortly thereafter she was on a bus to Springfield, on her way to be a proper star of the show herself.
In 1958, after a couple of years with the Jubilee, Brenda recorded Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, at the age of 13. She would go on to have a long and storied career that started right here in Springfield, but the lasting legacy of that one thing she did at 13 has stayed with her more than almost anything else.
The song took a couple years to take off, first charting on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960, which it then did for the next few years.
Then, in 1990, the song surged in popularity once again due to its prominent use in the movie Home Alone.
Then, in 2015, Billboard changed its rules regarding older, consistently charting songs, and it has been in the Top 100 every Christmas since.
THEN, on December 2nd, 2023, she released a music video of her 65-year-old standard and became the oldest person ever to top the Billboard Hot 100, at the age of 78. Now, that record was broken a week later...but it was by her (she turned 79).
Sometimes we do our best work before we even know we’re doing it.
So, get in the holiday spirit, enjoy Brenda’s 2023 video below, and we’ll see you next week!
