On this day 66 years ago a teenager became a sensation when her hit I’m Sorry reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
Brenda Lee was already becoming a household name when she delivered her first big ballad – one that helped push her into superstardom.
“Prior to that we had done Sweet Nothin’s and I had a hit with that, and we had also done Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree, and that became a hit, but it really hadn’t done anything [on the charts] up to that point,” she admitted.
Brenda Lee Named One of the Greatest Singers of All Time
Rolling Stone listed Lee as the No. 161 greatest singer of all time.
“Lee’s legacy as the first woman to be inducted into both the Country Music and Rock & Roll Halls of Fame speaks for itself. As an 11-year-old, in 1956, she tore into Hank Williams’ Jambalaya (On the Bayou), showing off an already-polished blend of bubblegum sweetness and growling intensity that she’d channel into early hits like That’s All You Gotta Do and Dum Dum,” Rolling Stone wrote.
Her signature song reaching No. 1 inspired fans to listen to her other works.
“So when I’m Sorry came out and became such a huge hit, that made Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree start selling. Then that became a huge, huge hit,” Lee, who was just 16 years old when she hit No. 1, said.
“I look back on that now, and it seems pretty amazing. But you know, I had been singing since I was 3 years old, so my love of singing was always there. But I never expected to have a big old record like that. I didn’t really have an agenda for my talent. I just wanted to be able to sing. That I had those hits was the icing on the cake,” she said.
Lee admitted that if she didn’t perform the iconic song her audiences would be “upset.”
Related: 1956 Classic, Turned Down by John Wayne, Named One of the Greatest Westerns of All Time
This story was originally published by Men’s Journal on Jul 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men’s Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.