大象传媒

by Bob Stanley

One of the hardy festive perennials is , a no.6 hit in Britain in 1962. Little Miss Dynamite's huge run of success is too easily forgotten these days - she had nine consecutive top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 from 1960 until 1962, a record for a female artist until Madonna broke it in 1986.

Brenda had recorded Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree at the tender age of 13 back in 1958. The song was written by Johnny Marks who, although he was Jewish, is possibly the most successful writer of Christmas songs in pop history: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Most Wonderful Time of the Year are also on his CV. Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree did next to nothing first time around, but was a US Top 20 hit in 1960, a year in which Brenda had broken through with Sweet Nothins, a no.4 in the US and the UK, and then scored two American number ones with country-pop ballads I'm Sorry and I Want To Be Wanted. By the time of the song’s 50th anniversary in 2008, Brenda’s version had sold over 25 million copies; it is apparently the fourth most downloaded Christmas single of all.

Fifty years ago, visited Britain to promote another, rarely aired Christmas single, called Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day. A year earlier, at the age of 18, she had married 18 year old Ronnie Shacklett (also 18) and the couple had just had their first baby. The two had met at a Jackie Wilson show in Nashville, and happily they are still married today. Interviewed by the NME she surprisingly said her favourite British group was Sounds Incorporated. Sadly, the promotional trip didn't make this fine single a hit, but it's well worth digging out, especially if you've overdosed on Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree.