Jef Lee Johnson was born on June 26, 1958, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a city whose musical culture provided the backdrop for a career that would span multiple genres. A United States citizen throughout his life, Johnson developed his professional identity within the rich traditions of American popular and improvisational music, working across blues, jazz, jazz fusion, funk, and soul.

Johnson worked as a musician, guitarist, and singer, bringing a range of stylistic approaches to his performances and recordings. His work as a jazz guitarist placed him within a tradition that demanded both technical facility and improvisational range, while his engagement with blues, funk, and soul demonstrated a breadth of musical engagement that resisted easy categorization. As a vocalist in addition to a guitarist, he occupied multiple roles within the musical settings in which he worked, contributing to the genres he practiced both as an instrumentalist and as a singer.

Johnson remained connected to Philadelphia throughout his life, and it was in that city that he died on January 28, 2013. The Library of Congress catalogues his work under the authorized label "Johnson, Jef Lee," a designation that anchors his recorded output within the formal structures of American archival practice. His career as a guitarist and singer working across jazz, blues, jazz fusion, funk, and soul represents a sustained engagement with several of the most enduring forms of American music, rooted in the city of Philadelphia from his birth in 1958 to his death there more than five decades later.