Willie Edward Lee Jr., 64, a religious and gospel radio personality known as “Bill Doc Lee” on one of Chicago’s first major black radio stations, died Sunday in St. Francis Hospital in Blue Island of complications from a stroke.
For 30 years, Chicagoans heard his popular baritone voice on WVON-AM during record introductions, interviews and commercials. He also directed the station’s religious programming and prayed with telephone callers live on the radio. He worked at the station from 1963 to 1993.
“They said he helped get them well through his prayers. That’s why they called him Bill Doc Lee,” said his friend and colleague Pervis Spann.
As a religious man, Mr. Lee prayed for many people during their sicknesses and sorrows and preached not from a pulpit, but through the radio, Spann said.
“He did preaching through the music that he chose to play,” Spann said. “He did his ministering through the music.”
Mr. Lee was an original member of WVON’s “Good Guys” team, the station’s first group of disc jockeys that helped with fundraising efforts for such organizations as the Urban League and the NAACP.
Mr. Lee and the other original disc jockeys helped make radio part of the educational, cultural and political life of Chicago’s black community.
“Whenever somebody needed a classy voice, they called on Bill Doc Lee,” Spann said. “What made him stand out more than any gospel radio announcer in the country is that he brought a touch of elegance and class in the way he announced records.”
At WVON, Mr. Lee hosted a variety of religious programs, including the “Highway to Heaven” gospel show, “Sunday Gospel Train” and “Gospel Open House.”
After leaving WVON in 1993, Mr. Lee hosted and did guest spots on other Chicago-area radio shows, including at WCEV-AM.
Before joining WVON in 1963, Mr. Lee conducted gospel music radio programs in New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Memphis, St. Louis and Harvey.
He also was involved in civil rights issues and helped raise money for Martin Luther King Jr.
Mr. Lee served in the U.S. Air Force for eight years.
Survivors include his wife, Renee Brantley; two daughters, Germaine Noah and Erika Lee; two sons, Arn and Ferrante; his mother, Caroline Austin; a sister, Geraldine Jones; a brother, Joe Austin; and six grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday at A.R. Leaks Funeral Home, 7838 S. Cottage Grove Ave., Chicago. A wake will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at Fellowship Baptist Church, 45th Place and Princeton Avenue, followed by a service at 11 a.m.
