Annie Grayce (née Yarbrough) and Ruben Lindsey Tarpley welcomed Brenda Lee into the world on December 11, 1944, in the charity ward of Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital.

At birth, she weighed 4 pounds, 11 ounces. Lee attended grade schools largely between Atlanta and Augusta, which is where her father got employment. Her family wasn’t wealthy.

She grew up in a string of three-room homes without running water where she shared a bed with her brother and sister. Her priorities in life were her family, helping her parents find work, and attending the Baptist church, where she started singing solos every Sunday.

Brenda Lee’s parents: Meet Annie Grayce Yarbrough, Ruben Tarpley

Lee’s father was a farmer’s son from the red-clay region of Georgia. He pitched well left-handed and played baseball while serving in the US Army for 11 years. He stood 5 ft 7 inches (170 cm). In Greene County, Georgia, her mother came from a working-class family.

Although her family didn’t have indoor plumbing until after her father passed away, Brenda was charmed as a newborn by the family’s battery-operated table radio. Before she reached three, her mother and sister both recalled frequently taking her to a nearby candy store. She would receive sweets or cash for singing when one of them held her up against the counter.

ncG1vNJzZmifmJa7orLUqGWcp51kr7OxzZ2YZqSVmnqxrdGepa2rXaKypsCMmqWnoZVitLOt2JycZrGRp6%2Bzu9Sgn2aqpZeyr3nTmqmppJWufA%3D%3D