“She’s in our house every Christmas.”
That’s how music producer Neil Giraldo’s describes Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” the holiday classic recorded when Lee was 13. The ageless tune about a “Christmas party hop” knocked Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” out of the top spot on Billboard’s music chart last December.
PBS’ American Masters profiles the singer, who turned 80 last Wednesday, in an entertaining one-hour show tonight called Brenda Lee: Rockin’ Around (10 p.m., Channels 48, 16, 54).
“It is a good song, it’s a song that anybody can sing," Lee told The Associated Press on Dec. 11, her 80th birthday. "You can join in, you can sing it, everyone is happy. I sure am glad that I have it. I never thought in my life that a Christmas song would be my legacy. But I’ll take it.”
Lee’s vocal talent “helped pull her family out of poverty in rural Georgia” as a teenager, “ultimately becoming one of the leading female headlining acts in music,” according to the program description from New York’s WNET-TV, the presenting station.
Fellow vocalists, musicians and record industry veterans marveled at Lee’s career. American Masters interviewed Pat Benatar, Trisha Yearwood, Keith Urban, Tanya Tucker, Jackie DeShannon, TV host Lorianne Crook, SiriusXM host "Shotgun" Tom Kelly, and record historians Robert K. Oermann and Alan Stoker.
“Lee’s prolific artistry has been celebrated in the music world over the past six decades," says the WNET-TV media release. "She holds the distinction as the first woman to be inducted into both the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame and is also an esteemed member of the Pop Music Hall of Fame and Rockabilly Hall of Fame.”
The story of Lee’s six-decade career is told through archival film and video, performance clips, still photographs, some interviews with Lee and other celebrities and experts.
“No one says ‘Country artist Brenda Lee,’ or ‘rock ‘n’ roll star,’ she’s just 'Brenda,' “ Yearwood says.
From the release:
“Born in the charity ward of Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital, by the age of 10 Lee was belting out country songs in a voice that belied her age and tiny stature and she quickly became a musical sensation.
“Her determination and shining talents led her to career highlights including popular radio hits 'Sweet Nothin’s' and 'Break It to Me Gently,' memorable friendships with fellow music titans Patsy Cline and Elvis Presley, and even working with the Beatles as her opening act in Hamburg, Germany in 1962.”
Other holiday highlights for Monday, Dec. 16:
- Season of Light: Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir (4 p.m., Channel 48): With David Suchet, Lea Salonga and the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square.
- Christmas in New England (5:30 p.m., Channel 48): Lindsay Paris visits eight regional destinations.
- Office Christmas Party (5:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m., TNT): A manager (Jason Bateman) throws an epic Christmas party to keep the CEO (Jennifer Aniston) from closing his office.
- A Christmas Story (7:45 p.m., TNT): Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) wants a BB gun for Christmas.
- Little Big Town’s Christmas At The Opry (8 p.m., NBC): A new holiday concert taped at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.
- Operation Mistletoe (8 p.m., CW Channel 12.2): A business woman (Jen Lilley) and her old boyfriend (Nick Bateman) decorate the house he came home to sell at Christmas.
- Elf (8 p.m., AMC): An elf (Will Ferrell) searches for his family.
- Frosty the Snowman (8:45 p.m., Freeform): Jimmy Durante narrates the 1969 musical cartoon.
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (9:20 p.m., Freeform): Burl Ives narrates the beloved 1964 animated musical.
- Miracle on 34th Street (11:30 p.m., Freeform): Richard Attenborough as Santa in 1994.
