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Brenda was born Brenda Mae Tarpley on December 11, 1944.
Brenda's first public appearance was (1950) at the age of 5. Brenda represented Conyers (Georgia) Grade School in an annual talent contest at the Spring Festival conducted among several elementary schools in the area. Brenda donned a home-made evening gown and sang "Slow Poke" or "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" (according to different sources). Brenda won first prize in the talent contest and runner-up in the beauty contest.
Brenda's appearances on TV Ranch lead to her first professional paid job for Shriner's Club Luncheon for which she was paid $20.
In February 1956, a radio station in Swansboro, Georgia asked her to be a guest on the Peach Blossom Jamboree program for $30. Brenda turned down the offer to go see one of her favorite entertainers, country music singer Red Foley. Mr. Foley was visiting Augusta with the cast of the ABC-TV show Ozark Jubilee at the Bell Auditorium. Brenda met Mr. Foley and his manager, Dub Albritten. Peanuts Faircloth asked Foley if he would let Brenda sing a song on the show. Foley agreed to put her on the show. Foley said "I still get cold chills thinking about the first time I heard that voice." Mr. Foley introduced Brenda. "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." Brenda performed Jambalaya then another tune, then another, and still another. She left the stage with the crowd shouting for more. "The way I stood back and enjoyed watching her work I felt guilty for not going out to the box office and buying a ticket," said Foley.
After this show, Brenda was offered a guest spot on Foley's Ozark Jubilee. On Saturday, March 31, 1956, Brenda made her first network television appearance on the Ozark Jubilee from Springfield, Missouri. Brenda sang "Jambalaya" on the Junior Jubilee portion which featured younger talent. The producers of the show received three times the day's usual fan mail with nearly all asking to see Brenda on the show again. Also, Jack O'Brien, a New York columnist for the Journal American opened his TV review by saying that "I didn't catch the name of the 9-year-old singer on last night's Ozark Jubilee but she belts a song like a star." This led to bookings on the Perry Como Show and other national TV shows. The family moved to Springfield and Brenda became a regular on the Ozark Jubilee. Brenda appeared on the Ozark Jubilee (later Jubilee U.S.A. - by 1957) from 1956-1959 as a guest then as a regular.
On May 21, 1956, Paul Cohen, the A and R man at Decca Records, signed Brenda to a recording contract with Decca Records.
Brenda has sold over 100 million records. She has sold more records than any other woman in the history of recorded music.
She has had more double-sided hits than any other woman in pop music.and charted in more categories (including Pop/Rock, Rock, Easy Listening and Country) than any other female in the history of recorded music.
Brenda is the only female in both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In December 2007 Brenda was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Brenda has done charity work for practically every charitable organization including the Kidney Foundation, American Heart Association, American Lung Society, American Cancer Society, Dreammakers, Leukemia Society, Multiple Sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy, March of Dimes and YWCA for Abused Women.
2006 marked 50 years as a recording artist for Brenda.
Be sure and check out Brenda's original albums now on CD!
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