Brenda Lee

史上唯一一位同時榮膺搖滾名人堂與鄉(xiāng)村名人堂的女性歌手，她表演生涯亦是一個美妙奇跡；她的成就來自于天賦異稟歌喉，6歲時便贏得喬治亞州歌唱比賽，開啟公開表演序幕。以11歲稚齡便受到頗負(fù)盛名鄉(xiāng)村歌手Red Foley發(fā)掘，替她簽下第一份正式合約。 Brenda Lee的歌聲就這么陪伴著世人至今。
 
6歲對一般人而言或許還在唱兒歌的年紀(jì)，Brenda Lee卻能超齡地投入感情來詮釋歌曲，讓她大放異彩，對她而言，一切只是發(fā)自內(nèi)心自然隨樂流泄。這也使她童年異于他人，并在不間斷的表演中度過；無論是電臺或是電視節(jié)目，甚至曾在賭城拉斯維加斯領(lǐng)銜駐場演唱。在11歲時正式與唱片公司簽約，晉身歌手行列，早期歌曲帶有Rckabilly味道，單曲《Dynamite》替她獲得「Little Miss Dynamite」封號。接下來的單曲更在榜上有顯著突破，性感甜蜜的＜Sweet Nothin's＞攀升至Top 4、抒情感人小品＜I'm Sorry＞創(chuàng)下第一首冠軍單曲。其后翻唱義大利文＜I Want To Be Wanted＞，同獲冠軍后冠，Brenda的觸角和天賦更深入其他語言歌曲，包括希臘文、俄語和法文，甚至遠(yuǎn)赴重洋到英國去錄音＜Is It True?＞，而當(dāng)時替她伴奏的樂手是后來赫赫有名Led Zeppelin的Jimmy Page。在發(fā)行一連串抒情或帶有搖滾風(fēng)味歌曲后，Brenda已成年也擁有豐碩排行榜成績，選擇回歸幼年熟悉的鄉(xiāng)村音韻。與她合作樂手向來非泛泛之輩，諸如Dolly Parton、Willy Nelson、K.D. Lang和近年越趨活躍的Loretta Lynn。重唱排行佳作＜Fool＞更替原唱者Loretta Lynn獲得個人唱片合約，轉(zhuǎn)戰(zhàn)鄉(xiāng)村的Brenda不僅如魚得水，在鄉(xiāng)村榜成績也不亞于流行榜，更進(jìn)一步打入成人抒情榜成為常勝軍。
 
by Richie Unterberger
 
One of the biggest pop stars of the early 60s, Brenda Lee hasnt attracted as much critical respect as she deserves. She is sometimes inaccurately characterized as one of the few female teen idols. More crucially, the credit for achieving success with pop-country crossovers usually goes to Patsy Cline, although Lees efforts in this era were arguably of equal importance. While she made few recordings of note after the mid-60s, the best of her first decade is fine indeed, encompassing not just the pop ballads that were her biggest hits, but straight country and some surprisingly fierce rockabilly.
 
Lee was a child prodigy, appearing on national television by the age of ten, and making her first recordings for Decca the following year (1956). Her first few Decca singles, in fact, make a pretty fair bid for the best preteen rock & roll performances this side of Michael Jackson. BIGELOW 6-200, Dynamite, and Little Jonah are all exceptionally powerful rockabilly performances, with robust vocals and white-hot backing from the cream of Nashvilles session musicians (including Owen Bradley, Grady Martin, Hank Garland, and Floyd Cramer). Lee would not have her first big hits until 1960, when she tempered the rockabilly with teen idol pop on Sweet Nothins, which went to the Top Five.
 
The comparison between Lee and Cline is to be expected, given that both singers were produced by Owen Bradley in the early 60s. Naturally, many of the same session musicians and backup vocalists were employed. Brenda, however, had a bigger in with the pop audience, not just because she was still a teenager, but because her material was more pop than Clines, and not as country. Between 1960 and 1962, she had a stunning series of huge hits: Im Sorry, I Want to Be Wanted, Emotions, You Can Depend on Me, Dum Dum, Fool #1, Break It to Me Gently, and All Alone Am I all made the Top Ten. Their crossover appeal is no mystery. While these were ballads, they were delivered with enough lovesick yearning to appeal to adolescents, and enough maturity for the adults. The first-class melodic songwriting and professional orchestral production guaranteed that they would not be ghettoized in the country market.
 
Lees last Top Ten pop hit was in 1963, with Losing You. While she still had hits through the mid-60s, these became smaller and less frequent with the rise of the British Invasion (although she remained very popular overseas). The best of her later hits, Is It True?, was a surprisingly hard-rocking performance, recorded in 1964 in London with Jimmy Page on guitar. 1966s Coming on Strong, however, would prove to be her last Top 20 entry.
 
In the early 70s, Lee reunited with Owen Bradley and, like so many early white rock & roll stars, returned to country music. For a time she was fairly successful in this field, making the country Top Ten half-a-dozen times in 1973-1974. Although she remained active as a recording and touring artist, for the last couple of decades shes been little more than a living legend, directing her intermittent artistic efforts to the country audience.