At 13, he formed his first choir. He went on to study voice and classical music at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem and later at the Yuba College Conservatory School of Music in Marysville, California. Off campus, Kee performed short stints with groups like Donald Byrd & the Blackbirds and Cameo. However, those formative years proved to be turbulent times for Kee, who got caught up in the drug scene, both using and selling cocaine. It wasn't until he witnessed the slaying of a close friend in a drug deal gone wrong that he truly surrendered his life to Christ. Today, he recounts the experience as part of a powerful testimony to his vast youth following.
Material possessions no longer offered John any consolation, and the senseless violence that encompassed him became insufferable, so, by his early 20's, his life was turning around. Giving his life to the Lord at a revival meeting at PTL in Charlotte, John returned to the Church. He became very active in church, and in the mid 80's he started a community choir in Charlotte. This choir, which eventually evolved into the New Life Community Choir achieved rapid success. Albums titled "Wash Me," and "We Walk By Faith" carried him into the late '80s with a bang.
Kee's professional career began to take off in 1985, when he became the first artist to record lead vocals on two selections for the Gospel Music Workshop of America's annual mass choir recording. Next, he wrote and recorded "Jesus Lives in Me" for the Edwin Hawkins Music & Arts Seminar album, Give Us Peace. Fueled by their momentum, Kee financed a demo. He was subsequently signed to Tyscot Records, and in 1987, released his debut album, Wait on Him.
In early 1995, Pastor Kee released his gold award winning "Show Up" CD, which merely increased his popularity in the music industry. During this time, Pastor Kee was also realizing his call to minister and pastor the New Life Fellowship Church in Charlotte, NC. In early 1995, Bishop Norman Wagner prophesied to Pastor Kee, "Build It and I'll Come." "It was on that night that I knew to go forward and build a Fellowship Center in Charlotte, NC, to teach and preach the uncompromising Word of God," states Pastor Kee.
