[2][3] At the age of seven he started singing in the local church choir, he took up the guitar and did Johnnie Ray impersonations as a teen.

[3] In February of the following year, as Laurie Lee, he won a contest for "Australia's own Elvis Presley" and was soon under management of fellow rock 'n' roller, Johnny O'Keefe.

[2][3] The label issued his first single, "Ain't It So", which was written by O'Keefe and became a top 10 hit in Sydney in November 1959.

In July 1959 he made his first TV appearances on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's rock and roll show, Six O'Clock Rock,[3] as well as Nine Network's Bandstand and later that year appeared in Lee Robinson's feature length documentary Rock'n'Roll (1959) [6] His backing band, the Leemen, initially had Peter Bazley on rhythm guitar, Tony Gaha on drums, Johnny Ryan on bass guitar, Dave Scott on saxophone and Darby Wilson on lead guitar.

His song writing included work with Roy Orbison,[3] Cher, Florence Henderson and Glen Campbell[citation needed].

In 2008 he launched another show, Lonnie Lee's Cry!, which featured songs made popular by Johnnie Ray.

Lee takes on the role of a crooner and a singer of pop standards and the show, received positive reviews.

As well as that show he performed in others, The Best of Lonnie Lee, Solid Gold, The Hillbilly Cat and The Roots of Aussie Rock.

[6] In 2019 he released his album Back to Base X to celebrate his stage and recording debuts some 60 years ago.