In the next few years Brenda Lee would enjoy the height of her musical success aided by the Top 10 singles “I’m Sorry”, “I Want to Be Wanted”, “Emotions”, “You Can Depend on Me”, “Dum Dum”, “Fool #1”, “Break It to Me Gently”, and “All Alone Am I”. Working with some of Nashville's finest session musicians including Hank Garland, Floyd Cramer, and Owen Bradley, the singer earned her first hit in 1960 with rockabilly single “Sweet Nothin’s”. Credited to “Little Brenda Lee (9 years old)”, the singer went on to release a pair of Christmas singles, “I’m Gonna Lasso Santa Claus” and “Christy Christmas”, greatly increasing her exposure nationally. Lee subsequently signed a record deal with Decca Records in 1956 who issued her debut single “Jambayala” the same year, followed by “Bigelow 6-200”.

The singer’s breakthrough came after appearing on the ABC-TV program “Ozark Jubilee”, where the audience refused to let her leave the stage until she had sung three more songs.

Having won her first singing contest by the age of six, following the death of her father, by the age of 10 she was her family’s main breadwinner.