As a blues influenced jazz singer, Lee’s restrained yet soulful subdued singing style has been compared to Billie Holiday. Her long singing career virtually encompassed the history of American popular music between 1940 and 1970. In addition, she acted in films and revealed herself to be an accomplished songwriter. Born on a farm, Lee sang with the Four of Us in small clubs in the Mid-west and California, before being discovered by Benny Goodman in Chicago in 1941 and joining his band as replacement for Helen Forrest. Her first recordings with Goodman, included ‘How Deep Is the Ocean’ and ‘Why Don’t

You Do Right’ written by Lee, it revealed an individual style. She left the band and retired to raise a family, only occasionally recording. Among her first solo hits were ‘Mafiana’, ‘Bali Ha’i’ and ‘Lover’. In the early fifties, Lee formed a song writing partnership with composer Victor Young, which produced ‘Where Can I Go Without You’, among other songs.                        
   In 1955, she demonstrated her versatility and  was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as the fading singer in Peter Kelly’s ‘Blues’ and lent her voice to Walt Disney for his first full-length animated cartoon, ‘The Lady And The Tramp’, in which she sang her own compositions ‘He’s A Tramp’ and ‘The Siamese Cat Song’. On record, her material ranged from show tunes like ‘Mr. Wonderful’ and ‘Joey, Joey, Joey’, to big band blues such as ‘Alright, Okay You Win’ , based on Joe Williams and Count Basie’s interpretation.                 
   She also sang rhythm and blues including a version of ‘Fever’ and ‘Hallelujah I Love Him So’, and recorded collections of popular ballads, such as ‘The Man I Love’ and ‘The Folks Who Live on the Hill’. Lee’s openness to so many forms of music led her to become one of the first mainstream performers to record material by The Beatles and other contemporary songwriters. In 1969 she returned to the Top Twenty charts with her version of ‘Is That All There Is?’.