Lee was born in Chicago, but as a child moved to Detroit with her mother, Ernestine Rundless, the founder of a leading gospel group, The Meditation Singers. Featuring Della Reese, they were the first Detroit gospel group to perform with instrumental backing. The group recorded on the Specialty label in the mid-1950s appeared on the LP Della Reese Presents The Meditation Singers in 1958, and in the early 1960s recorded for Checker Records.