Song Of The Day #251

Ranch Radio's featuring 12 year old Ryan Holladay yesterday got us to thinking about child prodigies. Any such discussion would have to include Brenda Lee. She had been singing professionally since 5, and after her father passed away became her family's primary source of income at 10, and recorded her first song for Decca Records at 11. Discovered by Red Foley, here's how he remembered her first performance on his Ozark Jubilee singing Jambalaya:

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.

Her next big hit came when at age 13 and was the Christmas tune Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, which sold 5 million copies.

The tunes, recorded in 1956 and 1958, are available on her two disc set Anthology (1956-1980)