Brenda Lee revealed she “never realized” how poor she was as a child.
Like his hit song, Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree, dominates the airwaves during the Christmas season, the Christmas legend, 80, spoke about about growing up with a single mother after her father died in a construction accident when she was just eight years old.
The singer recalled her childhood in rural Georgia and how, despite going through difficult times, she and her siblings never felt like they were living in poverty.
‘(My mom) handled everything very well, and I think she did it because of us. He had three children. We never knew we were poor,” he told 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 would just go to your aunt’s house, or your uncle’s house. Or your friend from down the street.
“So we never realized that we were poor because, so to speak, we were all in the same boat,” the singer admitted.
Brenda Lee revealed she “never realized” how poor she was as a child; seen in November 2023
Instead, the Grammy Award-winning artist remembers the positive moments and special cases from when she was a child.
Brenda said her mother was a “great cook” and insisted that she and her siblings could always count on a neighbor if she had to work to earn money to eat.
And he 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.
‘He had about 10 children. If we were hungry, we would go to her house so mom could raise 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 funny. I didn’t know we didn’t have the money, I just knew we were visiting someone we loved and we were eating. That’s all. A child doesn’t know!’ she shared.
On Wednesday, Brenda took to Instagram to reveal that Spotify had awarded her the Billions Club badge for her 1958 hit Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, which reached one billion streams on the platform.
She shared a video of herself using the plate as a plate while munching on Christmas tree, snowflake, and pretzel-shaped Christmas cookies.
On Wednesday, December 18, Brenda took to Instagram to reveal that Spotify had awarded her the Billions Club badge for her 1958 hit Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, which reached one billion streams on the platform.
Surprisingly, 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 had also 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 Christmas spirit.
‘When you run out of Christmas tableware, you improvise! Thank you very much @Spotify, for the Billions Club plaque “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree,” he wrote in the caption.
“Plate 1B cookies are the queen of Christmas,” one fan wrote in the comments.
Another fan chimed in: “One of the best Christmas songs of all time .”
Surprisingly, Brenda was only 13 years old when she recorded Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree in 1958.
The song was written by Johnny Marks, who had also written Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Holly Jolly Christmas.