Editing Brenda Lee (section)

===National exposure and stardom===
Lee's breakthrough came in February 1955, when she turned down $30 ($334 in 2022 value<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 19, 2008 |title=Consumer Price Index Data from 1913 to 2022 {{!}} US Inflation Calculator |url=https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/consumer-price-index-and-annual-percent-changes-from-1913-to-2008/ |access-date=November 28, 2022 |website=www.usinflationcalculator.com |language=en-US |archive-date=September 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922120528/https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/consumer-price-index-and-annual-percent-changes-from-1913-to-2008/ |url-status=live }}</ref>) to appear on a Swainsboro radio station in order to see [[Red Foley]] and a touring promotional unit of his ABC-TV program ''[[Ozark Jubilee]]'' in Augusta. An Augusta [[disc jockey]] persuaded Foley to hear her sing before the show. Foley did and agreed to let her perform "[[Jambalaya (On the Bayou)|Jambalaya]]" on stage that night, unrehearsed. Foley later recounted the moments following her introduction:

{{Pull quote|I still get cold chills thinking about the first time I heard that voice. 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.<ref>Jim Wesley, ''Radio Express'' (2011), p. 58.</ref>
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On March 31, 1955, the 10-year-old made her network debut on ''Ozark Jubilee'' in [[Springfield, Missouri]]. Although her five-year contract with the show was broken by a 1957 lawsuit brought by her mother and her manager,<ref>{{citation|first1=Brenda|last1=Lee|first2=Robert K.|last2=Oermann|first3=Julie|last3=Clay|title=Little Miss Dynamite: the Life and Times of Brenda Lee|publisher=Hyperion|year=2002|isbn=0-7868-8558-0|url=https://archive.org/details/littlemissdynami00bren}}</ref> she nevertheless made regular appearances on the program throughout its run.

Less than two months later, on July 30, 1956, [[Decca Records]] offered her a contract, and her first record was "Jambalaya", backed with "Bigelow 6-200". Lee's second single featured two novelty Christmas tunes: "I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus", and "Christy Christmas". Though she turned 12 on December 11, 1956, both of the first two Decca singles credited her as "Little Brenda Lee (9 Years Old)".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sexton |first=Paul |date=July 30, 2023 |title=Brenda Lee's 'Jambalaya': Little Miss Dynamite Debuts On The Bayou |url=https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/brenda-lee-jambalaya-song/ |access-date=December 3, 2023 |website=uDiscover Music |language=en-US |archive-date=December 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203143508/https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/brenda-lee-jambalaya-song/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Neither of the 1956 releases charted, but her first issue in 1957, "[[One Step at a Time (Brenda Lee song)|One Step at a Time]]", written by Hugh Ashley, became a hit in both the pop and country fields. Her next hit, "Dynamite", coming out of a 4-foot 9-inch frame, led to her lifelong nickname, Little Miss Dynamite.<ref name=Dynamite />

Lee first attracted attention performing in country music venues and shows; however, her label and management felt it best to market her exclusively as a pop artist, the result being that none of her best-known recordings from the 1960s were released to country radio, and despite her country sound, with top Nashville session people, she did not have another country hit until 1969 with "[[Johnny One Time]]".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.musicvf.com/song.php?title=Johnny+One+Time+by+Brenda+Lee&id=6877 | title=Johnny One Time (Song by Brenda Lee) ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts }}</ref>