65 years after it was released, the popular Christmas tune known as “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” hit a milestone earlier this month – making the Billboard Top 100 for the first time.
Lee resets the record for the longest gap between Hot 100 No. 1 hits as “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” rocks its way to the top of the tally. Billboard reports that more than six decades have gone by since Lee last sat atop the ranking of the most-consumed songs in the U.S.
According to Forbes, the last time Lee was on the Hot 100 was back in October 1960. The success of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” also makes Lee the oldest musician to hit number one on the Hot 100.
The Country Music Hall of Fame reports that Lee was born in Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital and grew up in the Atlanta area. Her talent was known to many at a very young age, as she was able to sing songs after only hearing them twice. When Lee was nine, her father died in a workplace accident and her mother re-married, re-locating first to Cincinnati and then to Augusta, Georgia.
Rosie Young, a talented local artist told The Informer last week that Lee’s grandmother lived in Cedar Mills. “She told me one of the things she hated most is that she couldn’t spend time with her grandmother,” said Young.
