#20: Too Little Time by Brenda Lee

City: St. John’s, NL
Radio Station: VOCM
Peak Month: April 1966
Peak Position in St. John’s ~ #5
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #123
YouTube: “Too Little Time”
Lyrics: “Too Little Time”

Brenda Mae Tarpley was born in 1944 in Atlanta, Georgia. Her parents were poor. During her childhood, young Brenda shared a sagging iron bed with her brother and sister in a series of three-room houses. They had no running water. Here parents went from job to job. After the stock market crash in 1929, Brenda’s mother would recall “you could hardly buy a job.” The region was devastated by an infestation of the boll weevil. Brenda started singing solos each Sunday at the Baptist church where her family attended. In her 2002 autobiography, she wrote “I grew up so poor, and it saddens me to see the poverty that is still there. A lot of my family have never done any better. Some of them are just exactly where they were when I was a kid. And in a way, there is still something inside of me that is a part of that, the part that doesn’t expect much. Little things make them happy, and that’s the same with me.”

Her family moved to a tenant farm in Conyers, Georgia, about 25 miles southeast of Atlanta. Brenda’s father, Ruben Tarpley, had to quit carpentry after he broke his arm. And so, in 1951, he worked as a picker on a cotton farm. Brenda’s younger sister, Linda, learned about a talent contest between elementary schools in the district. Linda let Brenda know about the contest and Brenda decided to enter it, even though she was still six years old in the fall of ’51. In the school auditorium Linda Tarpley later wrote, “I’ll never forget that night of the show. It was the fall of the year and the school’s auditorium was packed with people – adults and kids. There was a microphone and stage lights and lots of little performers. But after Brenda sang the place just went nuts. They were really cheering.” Brenda Mae Tarpley sang “Too Young” by Nat King Cole and “Slow Poke” by Pee Wee King. The reward was a live appearance on an Atlanta radio show, Starmakers Revue, where she performed for the next year.

The family moved to a house with weathered clapboards, in Lithonia, about 6 miles west of Conyers. Brenda recalls “there wasn’t any paint on the house and the yard was mostly dirt. It had three rooms with an outhouse. You drew water out of the well, and the ice man would come by in a truck once a week with the ice.” She remembers making friends in town who had refrigerators. Her father died in 1953, in a construction accident. So that year Brenda got a gig singing at an event in Swainsboro, Georgia, for $35. This was more than a weeks wage.

A bus driver, who learned a little about the Tarpley family’s circumstances, suggested to Brenda’s mother, Grayce, that she meet WRDW-TV personality J.T. “Pee Wee” Devore, star of the Peach Blossom Special. Grayce Tarpley told Pee Wee about Brenda, and after listening to her, they were introduced to the program director Sammy Barton. He liked what he heard and suggested Brenda Mae Tarpley change her name to Brenda Lee when performing. The nine-year-old and her both mother agreed. Brenda Lee made her debut on the Peach Blossom Special in Augusta on August 27, 1954. She also began to appear on the TV Ranch show in Atlanta. By the time she turned ten, Brenda Lee was the primary breadwinner of her family through singing at events and on local radio and television shows.

Her mother remarried in 1955 and her new stepfather, Jay Rainwater, helped open the Brenda Lee Record Store on Broad Street in Augusta, Georgia. The family also briefly moved to Cincinnati, and Brenda appeared on a local radio station with the call letters WNOP.

In February 1955, Brenda Lee was introduced to country music singer, Red Foley, when he was in Augusta for a a touring show of his Ozark Jubilee on ABC-TV. After hearing her, Foley agreed to let her sing “Jambalaya” on stage during the show, unrehearsed. He recalls “I still get cold chills thinking about the first time I heard that voice. One foot started patting rhythm as though she was stomping out a prairie fire but not another muscle in that little body even as much as twitched. And when she did that trick of breaking her voice, it jarred me out of my trance enough to realize I’d forgotten to get off the stage. There I stood, after 26 years of supposedly learning how to conduct myself in front of an audience, with my mouth open two miles wide and a glassy stare in my eyes.” On March 31, 1955, the 10-year-old made her network debut on Ozark Jubilee in Springfield, Missouri.

In July 1956 Brenda Lee got a record deal with Decca Records. She recorded “Jambalaya” and “Bigelow 6-200”.

Brenda Lee was not only referred to as a “young lady” and a “young chick”, but also earned the nickname “Little Miss Dynamite”, after her next single release “Dynamite”. She toured with Jerry Lee Lewis. In early 1958 she had a regional Top 20 hit with “Rock The Bop” in Seattle, Kansas City and Nashville. But this, and several three other single releases in 1958 failed to chart nationally. This included “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree“, which was passed over by most radio stations who preferred to spin “The Chipmunk Song” by David Seville. While a few radio markets also played “Donde Esta Santa Claus?” by Augie Rios.

It was only in December 1960, when Brenda Lee had become a pop sensation that “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” became a hit at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single has returned to the pop charts on ten subsequent years since its 1958 release. Eventually, “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number-one on December 4, 2023. “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” has also topped the pop charts in Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, and New Zealand. The Christmas single had peaked at #2 in Australia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovakia, and Sweden, #3 in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and the UK, #4 in France, Italy and Portugal, and Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland and Norway. It has also cracked the Top Ten in Denmark, Iceland and Singapore. “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” has sold over 12 million physical sales, plus 4 million more from live streaming, for a total of over 16 million sales.

On October 17, 1959, WMPS in Memphis, Tennessee, began to chart “Sweet Nothin’s”. It quickly climbed into the Top Ten in Memphis in November. The single got a spin in Milwaukee and Albuquerque and climbed into the Top Ten in those radio markets in December ’59. “Sweet Nothin’s” climbed to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In June 1960 Brenda Lee had a double-sided hit in the Top Ten across the USA and Canada with “That’s All You Gotta Do”/”I’m Sorry”. Of the two sides, “I’m Sorry climbed to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Brenda Lee recorded “I’m Sorry” in early in 1960. However, Decca Records held it from release for several months out of concern that a 15-year-old girl was not mature enough to sing about unrequited love. When “I’m Sorry” was finally released in May 1960, it was as the B-side to the more uptempo “That’s All You Gotta Do”. Although “That’s All You Gotta Do” was a chart success in its own right, reaching #6 on the Hot 100, it was “I’m Sorry” that became the smash hit and is considered her signature song. “I’m Sorry” earned Brenda Lee a Grammy Award nomination for Best Vocal Performance Single Record or Track (Female)  in April 1961. The award was won by Ella Fitzgerald for her live recording of “Mack The Knife”.

Then, in October 1960, Brenda Lee was back on the top of the charts in the USA with another ballad titled “I Want To Be Wanted”. With four Top Ten singles in 1960, Decca Records re-issued “Rocking Around The Christmas Tree” to end the year with five hits for then 15-year-old Brenda Lee.

Over the next three years Brenda Lee returned to the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100, for a total of twelve songs. These included “Emotions”, “Fool #1”, “You Can Depend On Me”, “Break It To Me Gently”, “Losing You” and “All Alone Am I”.

In 1962, Brenda Lee went on a tour of Europe. While in West Germany, she appeared at the famous Star-Club, in Hamburg. Her opening act was the Beatles. After watching the Beatles perform, she approached John Lennon after her performance was over. Lee said to him, “I’ve been meaning to ask you, where do you get those songs?” Lennon replied, “Oh, we write them.” Brenda Lee and John Lennon became friends during their Star Club residency. Lee recalls, “I hung out with John. He was extremely intelligent, very acerbic with his jokes, just a gentle person. When I found out that they later said they were fans of my music, I was just floored.”

Brenda Lee made trips to the UK in 1959, 1962, 1963 and 1964. She appeared at the annual Royal Variety Performance before Queen Elizabeth II at the London Palladium on November 2, 1964. Afterward, she toured Britain in November and December 1964, sharing the stage with Manfred Mann, Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders, Marty Wilde, the Tornados and others. Back in Vancouver (BC) in November 1964, Brenda Lee had a Top Ten hit with “Is It True”, featuring Jimmy Page on guitar.

in the USA Brenda Lee toured with Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker, The Casuals, Duane Eddy and others. She appeared on American Bandstand numerous times. Brenda  Lee also came to Vancouver on several occasions in the mid-60s. Below is a poster from her April 6-17, 1965, visit to The Cave.

Poster courtesy of Brian Tarling

Her record sales began to flounder in the midst of the British Invasion back in the USA. In 1966, she released “Too Little Time”.

“Too Little Time” was cowritten by Marvin Hamlisch and Howard Liebling. Liebling and Hamlisch co-wrote “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” and “California Nights” – both Top 20 hits for Lesley Gore. Judy Garland sang “The Travelin’ Life” at a London Palladium concert in 1964, which was released on her 1965 album Judy Garland and Liza Minelli “Live” at the London Palladium.

Of the two, Marvin Hamlisch went on to hit the heights of stardom. Born in New York City in 1944, to Jewish parents, by age five, he began mimicking the piano music he heard on the radio. When he was still six, in 1951, he was accepted into what is now the Juilliard School Pre-College Division. His first job was in 1964 as a rehearsal pianist for Barbra Streisand, touring for Funny Girl. In 1968, he scored music for The Swimmer, and the Woody Allen films Take the Money and Run (1969) and Bananas (1971). In 1975, he wrote “Nobody Does It Better” for the film The Spy Who Loved Me, which became a #2 hit for Carly Simon in 1977. It was nominated for a Best Original Song Academy Award in 1978.

Hamlisch has scored music for nearly fifty films including Ordinary People (1980), Sophie’s Choice (1982), and A Chorus Line (1986), Shirley Valentine (1989), The Informant! (2009), and others. In 1974, for The Way We Were, Hamlisch won Academy Awards for both Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Original Song. That year, for The Sting, Marvin Hamlisch won an Academy Award for Best Scoring. Between 1971 and 1996, Marvin Hamlisch received eight Best Original Song nominations, winning one. He has also been nominated for Best Original Score on four occasions, winning twice.

Hamlisch has also been nominated for four Emmy Awards, winning four of these. Hamlisch has also received eleven Golden Globe nominations, and won two of these. In addition, he has been nominated for eleven Grammy Awards. He won four of these for: i) Song of the Year – “The Way We Were”, ii) Best New Artist, iii) Best Pop Instrumental Performance “The Entertainer”, and iv) Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media – with all of these awarded in 1974.

Marvin Hamlisch has also written scores for Broadway shows. This includes The Goodbye Girl, Sweet Smell of Success, They’re Playing Our Song, and The Nutty Professor. He has been nominated twice for a Tony Award, winning in 1976 for A Chorus Line. In 1976, Hamlisch also shared a Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his musical contribution to A Chorus Line. As a result, Marvin Hamlisch is one of only two people to receive a Pulitzer, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. The other person he shared that honor with is composer Richard Rodgers.

Marvin Hamlisch was also a Principal Pops Conductor for nine different symphony orchestras during his career. In 2012, at the age of 68, Hamlisch suffered a respiratory arrest and died.

“Too Little Time” is a song about someone who is alone and lonely. This is because when it came to love, they rushed into it and took too little time to get to know the person they were falling in love with. As a result, love has flown away from them.

“Too Little Time” peaked at #5 in St. John’s (NL), and #17 in Madison (WI).

Lee rebounded with her final Top 40 hit, “Comin’ On Strong”, which reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1966. It was her last Top 30 pop hit.

But in 1973 she made her first appearance on the Billboard Country chart Top Ten. Between 1973 and 1980 she charted nine singles into Hot Country Singles Top Ten.

In 1997, Brenda Lee was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. In 2008 her recording of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” marked 50 years as a holiday standard. In February 2009 the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave Lee a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award.

At present, Brenda Lee’s website shows no upcoming concerts, though she has not officially retired. Meanwhile, her 1958 seasonal Christmas hit, “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” reached its highest chart position, peaking at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, for the week of December 4, 2023. The song also set the record for the longest period of time between an original release and its topping the Hot 100 (65 years). In addition, it set a record for the longest time between number-one singles by an artist: 63 years, one month and two weeks. “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” has sold over 25 million records in over sixty-seven years. Throughout her career Lee has sold more than 100 million records. Aside from her uptempo rockabilly numbers, Brenda Lee will be forever remembered for her torch ballads that always ended with a sense of resolve.

March 30, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
Brenda Lee, Little Miss Dynamite: The Life and Times of Brenda Lee, (Hyperion, 2002).
“Brenda Lee: The Lady – The Legend,” Rockabilly Hall of Fame.com.
Jonathan Bernstein, “Inside the Life of Brenda Lee, the Pop Heroine Next Door: She Awed a Young Elton John, Influenced Taylor Swift and Had the Beatles Open for Her. So Why doesn’t Brenda Lee Get More Respect?,” Rolling Stone, February 20, 2018.
“Singer Learned Young How to Rock the House,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, August 16, 2009.
Judy Garland and Liza Minelli, “The Travelin’ Life“, Capitol Records, 1965.
Elaine Woo, “Marvin Hamlisch dies at 68; award-winning composer of popular music,” Los Angeles Times, August 8, 2012.

VOCM 590- AM St. John’s (NFLD) | April 1, 1966 – Newfoundland’s only Official Survey