Two Turquoise Houses

Brenda Mae Tarpley was born December 11, 1944, in the charity ward of Atlanta’s Grady Hospital. She only weighed four pounds, eleven ounces. Brenda’s early years were spent in three-room rentals without running water, moving every time her dad needed to find work. When Brenda was a toddler, her mom or sister would bring her to candy stores and lift her onto the counter, where she would sing for pennies or sweets. Her dad died in a construction accident when Brenda was eight. Before she turned ten, she was the family’s primary bread winner, singing on radio and TV shows. Under the professional name Brenda Lee, her recording career spans five decades. But her biggest-selling track was one she laid at age thirteen: Johnny Marks’ “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” a song that’s even more popular today than when it was new. Today is Brenda Lee’s eightieth birthday. I’ll be celebrating by listening to her music.