Post by erik on Dec 25, 2021 22:48:32 GMT -5
Brenda Lee's first major recording (though it wouldn't be a hit until two years after she had recorded it) is in this final Pop Music Hits Spotlight segment for 2021, and it is a hit that has remained a Christmas staple on the radio for over six decades.
ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE (Brenda Lee; Decca; 1960)—Known from the very beginning as “Little Miss Dynamite” because of a huge voice as a teenager that was to influence many a female singer for decades to come, Brenda Lee’s rise to legendary status, while cemented to the same Nashville Sound format that made Patsy Cline a legend, actually began with one of the first and biggest holiday hits of the rock and roll era. That song was “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”. The song’s writer Johnny Marks was no stranger to holiday favorites, given the fact that he penned “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer”, “Run Run Rudolph”, “Silver And Gold”, “A Holly Jolly Christmas”, and “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day”. And although Lee’s output after 1960 and up to 1972 (when she shifted to mainstream country music) largely hewed to Nashville-style pop, “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” was pure late 1950’s rockabilly in the style of Elvis (whose Christmas Album was well on its way to becoming the biggest selling album of its kind in history). Although recorded in Nashville in October 1958, it only really became a standard after its release in October 1960, where, to no one’s surprise except maybe for Brenda’s (having just hit with “Sweet Nuthins” and “I’m Sorry”), it managed to peak at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 just in time for Christmas that year. For six decades-plus, the song has remained in constant Christmas rotation. It has also been recorded since then by artists as diverse as LeAnn Rimes, Kacey Musgraves, Meghan Trainor, and Kim Wilde, to name just a few.
ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE (Brenda Lee; Decca; 1960)—Known from the very beginning as “Little Miss Dynamite” because of a huge voice as a teenager that was to influence many a female singer for decades to come, Brenda Lee’s rise to legendary status, while cemented to the same Nashville Sound format that made Patsy Cline a legend, actually began with one of the first and biggest holiday hits of the rock and roll era. That song was “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”. The song’s writer Johnny Marks was no stranger to holiday favorites, given the fact that he penned “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer”, “Run Run Rudolph”, “Silver And Gold”, “A Holly Jolly Christmas”, and “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day”. And although Lee’s output after 1960 and up to 1972 (when she shifted to mainstream country music) largely hewed to Nashville-style pop, “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” was pure late 1950’s rockabilly in the style of Elvis (whose Christmas Album was well on its way to becoming the biggest selling album of its kind in history). Although recorded in Nashville in October 1958, it only really became a standard after its release in October 1960, where, to no one’s surprise except maybe for Brenda’s (having just hit with “Sweet Nuthins” and “I’m Sorry”), it managed to peak at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 just in time for Christmas that year. For six decades-plus, the song has remained in constant Christmas rotation. It has also been recorded since then by artists as diverse as LeAnn Rimes, Kacey Musgraves, Meghan Trainor, and Kim Wilde, to name just a few.