Photo: Laurelrusswurm · CC BY-SA 3.0 · credits
Ranee Lee
Person · female · Canada · Brooklyn · born 1942 · recording since 1984
Canadian musician
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Also known as Рэни Ли
Timeline
1940s
1980s
· Debut release
Debut release: Live at the Bijou
First documented Album in the MusicBrainz discography.
source: musicbrainz
1990s
2000s
2020s
Biography
Biography
Ranee Lee, CM is an American jazz singer and musician who resides in Montreal, Quebec. She is also an actor, author, educator and television host. Referred as “Montreal's Queen of Jazz,” Lee is a Juno Award winner, two-time Top Canadian Female Jazz Vocalist by Jazz Report Magazine and was honored with the International Association of Jazz Educators Awards for her outstanding contribution to jazz music.
Biography
Born in Brooklyn, Lee moved to Montreal at the age of 28 in 1970. She toured North America in the 1970s as a jazz drummer and tenor saxophonist. She subsequently landed a starring role playing Billie Holiday in Lady Day, and won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for her performance. She subsequently began recording as a vocalist, releasing her first album Live at the Bijou
Live at the BijouSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Med-Lee (Live)6:302The Lady Is A Tramp (Live)4:213I Only Have Eyes For You (Live)3:304Hallelujah, I Love Him So (Live)4:435Ridin' High (Live)3:126Honeysuckle Rose (Live)5:277Guess Who I Saw Today (Live)4:278All Right, Okay, You Win (Live)6:289Loverman (Live)6:0710Summertime (Live)5:14 in 1984.
She wrote and starred in Dark Divas, The Musical, a tribute to the lives and careers of seven of the most popular female jazz singers of the 20th century: Josephine Baker, Billie Holiday, Pearl Bailey, Lena Horne, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan.
Her music appears in the animated short film Black Soul (2000).
She is also a children's book writer (author of Nana, What Do You Say?); an educator, long associated with the University of Laval in Quebec City and the Schulich School of Music of McGill University; and she hosted the television series The Performers.
Honors and awards
Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award in 1988 for her musical and actorial achievements. Lee was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2006. She received the International Association of Jazz Educators award in 2004 and 2008. She won a 2010 Juno Award for her album Ranee Lee – Lives Upstairs
Lives UpstairsSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1I Just Found Out About Love3:382In Love in Vain6:013A Time for Love6:254A Crooked Road8:485Four5:306Gershwin Medley9:367Fire and Rain6:108Beautiful Love4:429The Storm6:0510Dearly Beloved5:22.
Discography & profile
Normalised profile
Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 10 | 58.3th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 10 | 82.3th |
| Studio albums | 9 | 90th |
| Awards recorded | 3 | 95.4th |
| Timeline events | 12 | 88.9th |
| Recording span (years) | 38 | 78th |
| Genres | 3 | 80.4th |
Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.
Discography (10 release groups · 9 studio albums)
Albums · 9
1984 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 10 tracks · 49:59
1Med-Lee (Live)6:302The Lady Is A Tramp (Live)4:213I Only Have Eyes For You (Live)3:304Hallelujah, I Love Him So (Live)4:435Ridin' High (Live)3:126Honeysuckle Rose (Live)5:277Guess Who I Saw Today (Live)4:278All Right, Okay, You Win (Live)6:289Loverman (Live)6:0710Summertime (Live)5:141989 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 12 tracks · 50:24
1I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone5:322When a Woman Loves a Man4:103Crazy He Calls Me5:464What a Little Moonlight Can Do3:275God Bless the Child4:106Somebody’s on My Mind2:417Easy Livin’4:208Strange Fruit2:309Ain’t Nobody’s Business3:2210Them There Eyes4:4411Don’t Explain5:3612Deep Song4:06The Musicals: Jazz On Broadway
1992 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 12 tracks · 1:01:31
1Stomping At The Savoy5:582Last Night Of The World7:073I'm Flying3:254Distant Melody2:185I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues7:176All I Ask Of You4:597Jellicle Cat6:568Bring Him Home4:499Dog In The Quicksand3:3610Don't Cry For Me Argentina4:5711I Dreamed A Dream5:5412In A Sentimental Mood4:151994 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 12 tracks · 1:02:54
1One Note Samba5:152Polka Dots And Moonbeams7:053The Trolley Song2:524You Don't Know What Love Is6:085I Thought About You5:256No More Blues5:067Midnight Sun6:308Surrey With The Fringe On Top5:169The Island4:4810Nana, What Do You Say?3:3411Medley: A Child Is Born / Alice In Wonderland / Secret Love6:5612Smile3:591997 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 12 tracks · 1:08:24
1Let the Flowers Grow6:332Old Folks7:183Early Autumn4:034The Summer Knows4:295’Tis Autumn7:546A Beautiful Sight5:047Summer Me, Winter Me4:278A Dream Wish4:329My One and Only Love4:3310Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most7:0611Everything Must Change6:0812Seasons of Love6:172000 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 15 tracks · 48:06
1Honeysuckle Rose2:092J’ai deux amours2:533Riffin’ the Scotch1:394Fine and Mellow4:595It Was Just One of Those Things2:506One for My Baby4:187What Happened to the Hair on the Head of the Man in Love?2:388It Takes Two to Tango2:329Surprise Party2:5310Makin’ Whoopee3:5711Perdido2:2612If You Could See Me Now4:0813A‐Tisket, A‐Tasket2:4914Oh, Lady Be Good3:1615Yesterday When I Was Young4:39Maple Groove: Songs From The Great Canadian Songbook
2003 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 13 tracks · 54:46
1If You Could Read My Mind3:402Waltz for Debby4:373Maybe September4:314My Beat4:135It Looks Like Rain4:326Douce Pluie4:397Some of These Days2:438Put Your Dreams Away3:229Undun3:1810Hymn to Freedom4:4611Swinging Shepherd Blues3:2712Both Sides Now7:0413Spinning Wheel3:542021 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 10 tracks
1Silver Bells2Santa Baby3(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays4O Little Town of Bethlehem5Little Drummer Boy6What Child Is This?7A Christmas Day8Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas9The Christmas Waltz10Deck the Halls2022 · studio album
Search SpotifySearch YouTube Music
Tracklist · 9 tracks · 55:15
1My Heart Will Go On5:452I’m Alive4:583Tale as Old as Time4:154All by Myself6:015House of the Rising Sun / Je crois7:556Nature Boy5:117Because You Loved Me7:228The Power of Love7:059The Prayer6:43
Album · 1
| Cover | Year | Title | Notes | First release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Lives UpstairsSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 10 tracks · 1:02:171I Just Found Out About Love3:38 2In Love in Vain6:01 3A Time for Love6:25 4A Crooked Road8:48 5Four5:30 6Gershwin Medley9:36 7Fire and Rain6:10 8Beautiful Love4:42 9The Storm6:05 10Dearly Beloved5:22 | Live | 2009 |
Stats & PK
Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Ranee Lee head-to-head →
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 10 | 58.3th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 10 | 82.3th |
| Studio albums | 9 | 90th |
| Awards recorded | 3 | 95.4th |
| Timeline events | 12 | 88.9th |
| Recording span (years) | 38 | 78th |
| Genres | 3 | 80.4th |
Awards & honours
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Women of Distinction Awards | won | |
| — | Dora Mavor Moore Awards | won | |
| — | Member of the Order of Canada | won |
Where this record comes from
portrait—Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ranee_Lee_portrait.JPGaliases/urls—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/ee27b8b5-3766-414c-9478-9ce1b038079ddiscography—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/ee27b8b5-3766-414c-9478-9ce1b038079dcore—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q518437genre—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q518437seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranee_Leebiography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranee_Lee
Why this artist is in the database
- List of Canadian musicians
- List of disco artists
Tier rule: curated genre/region list
Image: Laurelrusswurm · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Wikidata: Q518437 · MusicBrainz: ee27b8b5-3766-414c-9478-9ce1b038079d
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