Lee appeared on Broadway, at the Apollo Theater, and was known as "Queen of the Soundies" due to her numerous performances in the films.

[2] Her high school music teacher was Graham W. Jackson Sr. Amazed by her talent, he took her with him to perform, including for Franklin Delano Roosevelt to his vacation house in White Plains, Georgia.

The Whitman Sisters noticed her when she was performing at Top Hat, but her mother encouraged her to finish high school before moving to pursue her career.

[2] She moved to New York City with her mother in 1940 to pursue a career as a singer and dancer, and soon joined the chorus of the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

[3] Regarding her work at the Palladium, she says “I represented America in the nightclub scene, and Africa in the jungle scenes.”[3] She met Buddy Bradley in London and began teaching alongside him.

[2] In 1956, she fronted an uncredited vocal group on the rhythm and blues ballad “Dearest Dream,” cowritten by Billy Dawn Smith and released by Hull Records.

Her last performance was in July 2018 at Symphony Space in Manhattan as part of the New York City Tap Festival.