Editing Brenda Lee (section)

===Child performer===
Lee's voice, face and stage presence won her wider attention from a young age. At age five, she won first place at her school's talent show contest, where she sang "[[Take Me Out to the Ball Game]]". Her performance received positive reviews, leading her to make regular appearances on local radio and television shows.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brenda Lee |url=https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/hall-of-fame/brenda-lee |access-date=December 3, 2023 |website=Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum |language=en |archive-date=December 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203094350/https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/hall-of-fame/brenda-lee |url-status=live }}</ref>

Her father died in 1953 (when she was 8 years old) in a construction accident and by the time she turned ten, she was the primary breadwinner of her family by singing at events and on local radio and television shows.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brenda Lee |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/brenda-lee-b-1944/ |access-date=December 3, 2023 |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia |language=en-US |archive-date=December 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203094351/https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/brenda-lee-b-1944/ |url-status=live }}</ref> During that time, she appeared regularly on the country music show ''TV Ranch'' on [[WAGA-TV]] in Atlanta but she was so short, the host would lower a stand microphone as low as it would go and stand her up on a wooden crate to reach it. In 1955, Grayce Tarpley married Buell "Jay" Rainwater, who moved the family to [[Cincinnati, Ohio|Cincinnati]], Ohio, where he worked at the [[Jimmie Skinner]] Music Center. Lee performed with Skinner at the record store on two Saturday programs broadcast over Newport, Kentucky, radio station [[WNOP (AM)|WNOP]]. The family soon returned to Georgia but this time to [[Augusta, Georgia|Augusta]] and Lee appeared on the show ''The Peach Blossom Special'' on [[WJAT|WJAT-AM]] in [[Swainsboro, Georgia|Swainsboro]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brenda Lee |url=https://www.classicbands.com/brendalee.html |access-date=December 3, 2023 |website=www.classicbands.com |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125043111/http://www.classicbands.com/brendalee.html |url-status=live }}</ref>