Lee-ve it to Brenda

Louis Chunovic

Friday, June 5, 1998 | 4:27 a.m.

Miss Brenda Lee, the sweet-voiced, natural-born singer with the gracious, down-home manner, is back in Las Vegas on Saturday, gracing the stage at the Flamingo Hilton, where she first headlined as a 12-year-old, more than 40 years ago.

Lee is probably best known to pop and country audiences for such infectious hits as "Sweet Nothins" and "I'm Sorry," as well as for such holiday standards as "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and "Jingle Bell Rock."

"We do some country, we do some rock 'n' roll, we do some pop, we do some gospel, we do some R&B, we do some audience-participation type things," Lee says of her stage show.

"I always look forward to coming to Vegas and I always, fortunately, draw a lot of locals, so that always makes me happy," Lee says by phone from Nashville, while one of her two "grandbabies," 18-month-old Jordan, who seems to have inherited the family pipes, whoops in the background.

"I tell you what ... through the years I have made some very dear friendships with fans of mine. They come to my home, I go to their home. We write each other, we call each other."

Lee, who also has a place in pop music history as one of the first female rock 'n' rollers, has been coming to town since the mid-'50s, and it was in Las Vegas that she became friends with Elvis Presley. "All the girls loved him, of course," she says.

Her stage show will include tributes to Presley, Chuck Berry and Little Richard, as well as Patsy Cline, Ray Charles, Ray Price and Tanya Tucker -- and for the fans, all her old hits.

At home Lee listens to classical and big-band music, and especially to the songs of her late friend Ella Fitzgerald, but her tastes also run to Celine Dion, Bonnie Raitt and Aretha Franklin, among others. "In rock, I'm a big Aerosmith fan," Lee says. "You know what? Some of the rap I really like. I love some of the stuff that M.C. Hammer did. I love Puff Daddy. I love some of the stuff that Tupac did."

So what does the woman who recorded "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" listen to when the holidays roll around? "The standards -- Bing Crosby and stuff like that ... and a lot of instrumental Christmas stuff, and I listen to mine, too. We play 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree' every Christmas here at the house."

Lee, born Brenda Mae Tarpley in the charity ward of an Atlanta hospital, has been wowing audiences since the age of 6. She has international record sales in excess of 100 million units and 13 gold- or platinum-selling U.S. albums. For Las Vegans it'll be Christmas in June at Saturday's 8 p.m. performance. Tickets are $20, $25 and $30 plus tax, and may be purchased by calling the box office at 733-3333.