Brenda Mae Tarpley, later known as Brenda Lee, was born on December 11, 1944, in the charity ward of Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital.
Lee attended grade schools largely between Atlanta and Augusta, which is where her father got employment.
Her family wasn’t wealthy. She grew up in a string of three-room homes without running water where she shared a bed with her brother and sister.
Her priorities in life were her family, helping her parents find work, and attending the Baptist church, where she started singing solos every Sunday.
She was already singing and memorably reciting songs she had only heard once or twice by the time she was three years old.
The aspiring musician took home the top prize in a singing competition in Conyers, Georgia, at the age of five.
Who is Brenda Lee related to?
Lee is also related to The New Christy Minstrels singer Dave Rainwater through her mother’s second marriage.
