Klee Benally

Klee Benally (born October 1975) is the lead vocalist and guitarist of Navajo punk rock band Blackfire. Benally is also an activist, artist, silversmith, and filmmaker. He also performs traditional Navajo dances and is a champion fancy war dancer.

Benally was born in 1975. His parents are Jones, a traditional Navajo medicine man, and Berta Benally, a folk singer and songwriter born to Russian-Polish Jewish parents. His sister is Jeneda and his brother is Clayson. They are Jewish born for Navajo. On their father's side they are of the Wandering People, and born for the Bitter Water Clan. Together they grew up on Black Mesa, Tusayan, and Flagstaff, AZ but their father is from Black Mesa, Navajo Nation. Benally is featured as a model in contract photographer John Running's work from the 1990s to 2000s.Benally and his family have been photographed by Running as part of an agreement with Canyon Records that distributes music by their band Blackfire. Klee now lives with his wife, Princess, in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Klee, Jeneda, and Clayson formed the punk band, Blackfire in 1989. They have toured internationally. They incorporate aspects of traditional Navajo music in their songs. They were also influenced by bands such as Ramones, Dead Kennedys, Subhumans, Crass, Bad Brains, and other punk bands. The name refers to the pollution, especially from coal mining, on the Navajo Nation.

Benally has made many documentary shorts. He directed a documentary called "The Snowbowl Effect," which addresses proposed ski area development on Arizona's San Francisco Peaks. He is currently in production of a feature film he wrote and directed called "Power Lines."

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