50’s Nostalgia:Little Miss Dynamite-Brenda Lee

Somehow when I think about the 50’s, I remember Brenda Lee. There is just something about that huge voice trapped in the body of a tiny child that is haunting. She was a singer from the very beginning, first at her church but a talent like Brenda’s just couldn’t be hidden. In 1955 when she was just ten, a local Georgia DJ talked country music great Red Foley into letting her sing on his show Ozark Jubilee. He was transfixed.

“I still get cold chills thinking about the first time I heard that voice. One foot started patting rhythm as though she was stomping out a prairie fire but not another muscle in that little body even as much as twitched. And when she did that trick of breaking her voice, it jarred me out of my trance enough to realize I’d forgotten to get off the stage. There I stood, after 26 years of supposedly learning how to conduct myself in front of an audience, with my mouth open two miles wide and a glassy stare in my eyes.”

The audience refused to let her stop.  She sang three encores before they let her leave the stage.  The rest is history.

Brenda Lee Dynamite
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Her recording career began soon after and she hit the charts in 1957 with Dynamite giving her the nickname of Little Miss Dynamite. Although Brenda peaked in 1960 with ‘I’m Sorry.”, she has had a long performing career which hasn’t stopped and a successful marriage with two daughters and some grandchildren. This is another hallmark of her 50’s heritage – good values. Brenda has a great story and sets a great example for a talented performer.