Brenda Lee revealed that she ‘never realized’ just how poor she was growing up.
As her hit song, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, dominates radio waves over the holiday season, the Christmas legend, 80, opened up about about growing up with a single mother after her father was killed in a construction accident when she was just eight-years-old.
The singer looked back on her childhood in rural Georgia and how, despite enduring tough times, she and her siblings never felt like they were living in poverty.
‘[My mom] handled it all real well, and I think that she did that because of us. She had three children. We never knew that we were poor,’ she told d Southern Living.
‘And I always poor, poor, pooor. With three O’s! Because back then, in the South, if you didn’t have anything to eat or times were a little hard, you just went to your aunt’s house, or your uncle’s house. Or your friend down the street’s house.’
‘So, we never realized that we were poor because everybody was in the same boat, so to say,’ the songstress admitted.
Brenda Lee revealed that she ‘never realized’ just how poor she was growing up; seen in November 2023
Instead, the Grammy Award-winning recording artist remembers the positive moments and special instances from when she was growing up.
Brenda said her mother was a ‘great cook’ and insisted that she and her siblings could always rely on a neighbor if she had to work to earn money for food.
She added: ‘My mom was a great cook, and we always had food. There was a wonderful black lady that lived at the end of our dirt road, and if we didn’t have food. We knew we could always go to house.
‘She had about 10 kids. If we were hungry, we went to her house so that mama could get up enough money to buy food.’
The Atlanta native shared that as a child she thought it was ‘fun’ to eat at her neighbors house because she didn’t understand the circumstances.
‘I thought it was fun. I didn’t know we didn’t have the money, I just knew that we were visiting someone we loved and we were eating. That’s all. A kid doesn’t know!’ she shared.
On Wednesday, Brenda took to Instagram to reveal that she had been awarded the Billions Club plaque by Spotify for her 1958 hit Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree reaching 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 holiday cookies.
On Wednesday, December 18, Brenda took to Instagram to reveal that she had been awarded the Billions Club plaque by Spotify for her 1958 hit Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree reaching 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 track was written by Johnny Marks, who had also famously written 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.
‘When you run out of Christmas dinnerware, you improvise! Thank you SO much @Spotify, for the “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” Billions Club plaque,’ she penned in the caption.
‘Cookies out the 1B plaque is so queen of Christmas,’ one fan wrote in the comments.
Another fan chimed in, ‘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 track was written by Johnny Marks, who had also famously written Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Holly Jolly Christmas.
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