NASHVILLE, TN – Country Music legend Brenda Lee received a historic honor on this week (Monday) at the Tennessee State Capitol. Her iconic holiday hit, “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree,” was officially declared the state’s holiday song. Lee recorded “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” in 1958 at just 13 years old, working with legendary producer Owen Bradley in Nashville during a hot summer to prepare the track for the holiday season. Last year, the song reached an unprecedented milestone by climbing to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, 65 years after its release, marking the longest span in history between a song’s debut and its top-charting moment.
State Representative Jason Powell (D-Nashville) spearheaded the effort to recognize “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” as Tennessee’s official holiday song, introducing House Bill 1613 last December. The legislation passed nearly unanimously in March and was signed into law by Governor Bill Lee the next month.
Lee, a longtime resident of Nashville, has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and was the first woman inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame (1997) and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2002).
