Lonette McKee

Biography

Lonette Rita McKee is an American film, television and theater actress, music composer, producer, songwriter, screenwriter and director. McKee is best known for her role as Sister Williams in the original 1976 musical–drama film Sparkle. McKee also had notable roles in such movies as; The Cotton Club, Jungle Fever, ATL, Honey.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, McKee was the second of three daughters of Dorothy McKee, of Swedish descent, and Lonnie McKee, an African American bricklayer and auto manufacturer employee. Mckee’s older sister, Katherine “Kathy” McKee is also an actress and performer.

McKee has been married once and has no children. McKee dated actor and stand-up comedian Freddie Prinze for a time during 1976. McKee was married to youth counselor Leo Compton from February 1983 to 1990. In the mid-‘1990s, she was living in an Upper East Side brownstone with her companion, musician Bryant McNeil. The two had met while they were working together on McKee’s Natural Love album. McKee teaches a master acting workshop at Centenary College of New Jersey, where she serves as an adjunct professor in the Theater Arts department.