Born James Hawthorne in Yemassee, South Carolina,[1][2] Bey moved with his family to Brooklyn and then to Harlem, where he began playing drums and singing in church choirs.

[1] In the 1950s, Chief Bey performed in an international tour of Porgy and Bess along with his wife Louise Hawthorne, starring Leontyne Price and Cab Calloway.

Then he taught the Shékéré, a West African gourd percussion instrument, at the Griot Institute at Intermediate School 246 in Brooklyn.

He worked with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Nina Simone, Geoffrey Holder, Randy Weston, Reggie Workman, Sonny Morgan, Mongo Santamaria, Eddie Palmieri, John Coltrane.

[2] With Hamiet Bluiett With Babatunde Olatunji With others Jo Anna Hunter Iyanifa Omotinuwe, My Journey To Aganjú: The Orisa so Hard to Find http://www.blackmadonnaenterprises.com