Benee attended an all girls Catholic school, St Mary's College, where music was compulsory for four years. Benee later became interested in writing and recording music at the age of 17, after deciding that she did not want to pursue a career in water polo.
She claims it "was life" and that she at one point hoped to represent New Zealand competitively. Eventually, Benee dropped all music in order to prioritise water polo. From the age of eight, Benee began taking guitar lessons in primary school before starting saxophone lessons in high school. She grew up in a "really musical" family with parents who would expose her to the catalogs of Radiohead, Björk and Groove Armada.
Stella Rose Bennett was born and raised in the suburb of Grey Lynn in Auckland.