The Vaselines formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1986. Following the release of two EPs, Son of a Gun and Dying for It, and the first and only full-length album, Dum-Dum, in 1989, the band split up. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana was a big fan of the band, and covered three of their songs: “Molly’s Lips”, “Son of a Gun” and “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam”. He also named his daughter after McKee.

Following a post-Vaselines break, she began making music with Vaselines bass player James Seenan, writing material of a more-mellow flavour. These songs were released under the name Suckle, initially coming out on 4AD offshoot Detox Artefacts. This coincided with a John Peel session.

Against Nurture, the only Suckle long player, was released in 2000 on Chemikal Underground.

On 10 April 2006, McKee released her first solo album, Sunny Moon.