Little Brenda: a big (and long-lasting) star
In the old days, there were familiar routes to power. It helped to be older … and bigger … and male.
Brenda Lee was none of these. She signed her first record deal at 11; years later, she still didn’t fit the image of a teen pop star.
“I was singing all these unrequited-love songs,” Lee, who turned 80 on Dec. 11, says on “American Masters,” at 10 p.m. Monday (Dec. 16) on PBS, “and I’d never had a date …. I was 4-foot-9.”
But in the recording studio, she stood tall. She helped decide what songs to sing and how to sing them. The results were impressive. Read more…
