Brenda Lee Honored At 8th Annual Nashville Songwriter Awards
The NSAI President’s Keystone Award recognizes an individual who has given significant contributions to the industry for the betterment of all songwriters.
Brenda Lee has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI). Lee will be awarded with the NSAI President’s Keystone Award at the 8th annual Nashville Songwriter Awards. The ceremony will take place September 23, 2025 at the historic Ryman Auditorium.
The NSAI President’s Keystone Award recognizes an individual who has given significant contributions to the industry for the betterment of all songwriters. Lee was personally selected by NSAI Board President Lee Thomas Miller.
Lee signed her first deal with the legendary Decca Records label before her 12th birthday. She had huge pop hits from the late 1950s to the early 1960s including “Sweet Nothin’s,” “All Alone Am I,” “Break it to Me Gently” and “I’m Sorry.”
Lee sold more than 100 million albums globally and had nine consecutive top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits from 1960 to 1962, setting a record for a female solo artist that was unequaled until over two decades later. Though she found success in multiple genres, Lee had a number of country hits such as “Sunday Sunrise,” “Big Four Poster Bed,” and “Hallelujah, I Love Her So,” a duet with George Jones. Lee was the first woman inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Country Music Hall of Fames and she is a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement award.
Lee holds the record for the longest gap between No. 1 charting hits, with her first in 1960 (“I’m Sorry”) and the most recent in November 2023 (“Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”). With this, Lee broke several records, many of which were held by Mariah Carey and “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Lee claims the third holiday No.1 ever on the Hot 100 and at 79-years-old, she’s the oldest woman to top the chart, surpassing previous record-holders Cher (“Believe,” age 52) and Carey (“All I Want for Christmas is You,” age 53).
In February, Lee’s early-career hits collection Love You! debuted on streaming as a digital deluxe album.
