Singer Brenda Lee, 80, gets candid about growing up ‘poor’ after holiday hit reaches 1 billion streams
Brenda Lee revealed she “never realized” how poor she was growing up.
When her hit, Rocking around the Christmas Tree dominates the airwaves this holiday season, the Christmas legend, 80, opened up about it about growing up with a single mother after her father died in a construction accident when she was just eight years old.
The singer reflected on her childhood in rural Georgia and how, despite hard times, she and her siblings never felt like they were living in poverty.
‘[My mom] handled it all very well, and I think she did that thanks to us. She had three children. We never knew we were poor,” she told d Southern life.
‘And I’m always poor, poor, poor. With three O’s! Because back then, in the South, if you didn’t have anything to eat or times were a little tough, you just went to your aunt’s house or your uncle’s house. Or your friend’s house down the street.”
“So we never realized we were poor because everyone was in the same boat,” the singer admitted.
Brenda Lee revealed she ‘never realized’ how poor she was growing up; seen in November 2023
Instead, the Grammy Award-winning artist remembers the positive moments and special moments from her childhood.
Brenda said her mother was a “great cook” and insisted that she and her siblings could always rely on a neighbor when she had to work to earn money for food.
She added: “My mother was a great cook and we always had food. There was a wonderful black lady who lived at the end of our dirt road, and if we didn’t have food. We knew we could always go home.
‘She had about ten children. When we were hungry, we would go to her house so Mom could raise enough money to buy food.”
The Atlanta resident said she “enjoyed” eating at the neighbors’ house as a child because she didn’t understand the circumstances.
‘I liked it. I didn’t know we didn’t have the money, I just knew we were visiting someone we loved and having dinner. That’s it. A child doesn’t know!’ she shared.
On Wednesday, Brenda announced on Instagram that she had been awarded the Billions Club plaque by Spotify for her 1958 hit Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, which reached 1 billion streams on the platform.
She shared a video of herself using the plaque as a dish while munching on Christmas tree, snowflake and pretzel-shaped Christmas cookies.
On Wednesday, December 18, Brenda announced on Instagram that she had been awarded the Billions Club plaque by Spotify for her 1958 hit Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, which reached 1 billion streams on the platform.
Shockingly, Brenda was only 13 years old when she recorded Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree in 1958; seen in December 2023
The song was written by Johnny Marks, who also wrote the famous Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Holly Jolly Christmas (pictured in 1960).
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree played in the background of the clip as she got into the holiday spirit.
‘If you run out of Christmas crockery, you improvise! Thank you so much @Spotify for the “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” Billions Club plaque,” she wrote in the caption.
“Cookies from the 1B plaque are so queen of Christmas,” one fan wrote in the comments.
Another fan shouted: ‘One of the best Christmas songs ever .’
Shockingly, Brenda was only 13 years old when she recorded Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree in 1958.
The song was written by Johnny Marks, who also wrote the famous Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Holly Jolly Christmas.