Brenda Mae Tarpley, known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer, known for performing rockabilly, pop, and country music. Brenda Lee had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed only by Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Ray Charles. She is also a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. Lee is the first woman to be inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Country Music Halls of Fame.
Did Brenda Lee know Elvis?
Brenda Lee didn’t really know Elvis personally, but she and Elvis met at Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Ga., in March of 1956 when Elvis played for the first time there with June Carter and her mother and two sisters. She said meeting Elvis Presley for the very first time is said to be one of her fondest memories
Lee’s voice, face, and stage presence won her wider attention from the time she was five years old. She won a local singing contest sponsored by local elementary schools at the age of six and the reward was a live appearance on an Atlanta radio show, Starmakers Revue, where she performed for the next year.
