JOHN P KEE

Pastor John P. Kee was born the 15th of 16 children to John Henry and Lizzie Shannon Kee, and he affectionately describes his childhood home as “outside the county line” in Durham, NC. Mrs. Ethel G. Shannon, John’s maternal grandmother, also played a pivotal role in his upbringing and remains a consistent source of spiritual guidance today. Music in the home and attending church highlighted the family’s weekly activities. John exhibited extraordinary talent at an early age; vocally, harmonically, and instrumentally. When John was 8 years old, a piano was purchased for two older siblings to take lessons in the home. Pastor John P. Kee was born the 15th of 16 children to John Henry and Lizzie Shannon Kee, and he affectionately describes his childhood home as “outside the county line” in Durham, NC. Mrs. Ethel G. Shannon, John’s maternal grandmother, also played a pivotal role in his upbringing and remains a consistent source of spiritual guidance today. Music in the home and attending church highlighted the family’s weekly activities. John exhibited extraordinary talent at an early age; vocally, harmonically, and instrumentally. When John was 8 years old, a piano was purchased for two older siblings to take lessons in the home. While they were both totally disinterested in it, John was fascinated by the instrument. John began mimicking a young pianist from Cleveland, Daryl Bailey, who was the church musician at the time. Drawing inspiration from the music he heard in church Kee began to play and write his own material by age 9. At age 13 John and his best friend at the time, jazz bassist Clinton “Chip” Shearon, started a jazz trio and a gospel community choir in the city of Durham. He would later be graced with the opportunity to study piano under the tutelages of the late Margaret Shearon, Yusuf Salim, and master of jazz Mary Lou Williams. An outstanding student, John was placed in a school for musically gifted children; The North Carolina School of the Arts, in Winston-Salem, NC. He went on to study further in Northern California with his older brothers at Yuba College in Marysville, who shared their tactical knowledge of writing, singing, and music production with their young sibling. As a very young man in of the late 70’s early 80’s, he was privileged to work with some of the Nation’s greatest Pop, Jazz and R&B groups. He landed a job as National Musical Director with Miss Black Teenage Pageants, a position that would bring him back to North Carolina. In his late teens, he drifted into a street lifestyle that brought him to Charlotte, NC. Once in Charlotte, he moved to the Double Oaks Community and began a life of corruption. The senseless violence that encompassed him became insufferable until material possessions offered John no consolation. After witnessing an untimely death to a very close friend, John knew it was time to change course.

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