“She is living proof of how important you can be and how long you can last if you are talented, work hard and truly love people,” country singer Tanya Tucker said in an email. Lee inducted Tucker into the Country Music Hall of Fame in October, and people are still talking about the dry delivery and devastatingly comic timing of her speech. Lee has, Tucker added, “the best sense of humor any man (or woman) knows.”
For the past four years, “Rockin'” has peaked at No. 2, but in honor of its 65th anniversary, Lee’s label is giving the song an extra boost, including a new music video in which Lee lip-syncs to the song, which she recorded as a teenager and even a TikTok account. Only a woman and her pipe register seem to be standing in the way of this decades-old song reaching No. 1.
“Now I have to worry about Mariah,” Lee said with a lively laugh. “Get out of here, girl!” She became more serious and added, “Oh, there’s room for everyone. Your song is good too. I love her singing.”
Lee and Carey have never met, but they would certainly have a lot to talk about—like what it feels like to have a groundbreaking, storied career that is reduced to a seasonal novelty in the popular imagination. Because Brenda Lee may be a Christmas queen, but she is so much more.
MANY PEOPLE have stories. Brenda Lee has stories. She first met Elvis Presley in 1957 (“He was Handsome Elvis back then”) when she was 12, on the night she made her Grand Ole Opry debut; he watched in the wings. “I’m never impressed by anyone, and I’ve met the greatest,” she said. “But I was speechless when I met him.”
Patsy Cline was her early tourmate and mentor (“a good old broad, in the best sense of the word”). While still a teenager, Lee shared bills with Little Richard, Chubby Checker and Dusty Springfield – the list is seemingly endless. In 1962, at the height of their worldwide popularity, The Beatles opened for them during a tour in Hamburg. “They were musically raw,” she said, “but they were fabulous.” The admiration was mutual: years later, John Lennon declared in an interview with Rolling Stone that Lee was “the greatest rock ‘n’ roll voice of all ” have.