The Surprising Connection Between Brenda Lee and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?

Almost everyone is familiar with “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Who can resist singing along when the song comes on the radio or our holiday playlists?

But did you know there’s a surprising connection between Brenda Lee and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”?

What Do An American Singer and a Fictional Reindeer Have in Common?

Johnny Marks, an American songwriter, actually penned both “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Amazingly, those aren’t the only holiday hits that can be attributed to Marks’s pen. He also wrote the ever-popular “Holly Jolly Christmas”, “Silver and Gold”, and “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”

Even more interestingly, Marks’s brother-in-law is the person who invented Rudolph. In 1939, Robert May, a thirty-four-year-old copywriter who worked at a department store in Chicago, wrote Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer as a promotional gift for customers. Inspired by May’s experiences with childhood bullying, the story is about how a quirk can be a blessing.

While many Christmas song enthusiasts continue to enjoy “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” every holiday season, you might not be able to listen to Gene Autry’s rendition if his wife hadn’t intervened. Although Autry—nicknamed “The Singing Cowboy”—didn’t want to record it, his wife convinced him to do so. The song hit number one on the music charts the week of Christmas in 1949, so we have to imagine Autry was eternally grateful for her interference!

Watch Next: “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee

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