She was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, the youngest of seven children.

As a child and young adult Battle was both a good student and a good singer, but her ambitions were not grand. She was awarded a scholarship to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in Ohio, but she chose to major in music education rather than risk a performance career. In 1971, with both bachelor's and master's degrees, Battle set out to teach music to Cincinnati's inner-city youth. While teaching 5th and 6th grade music, she continued to study voice privately, which resulted in an audition with Thomas Schippers (then conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra). He was so moved by Battle's remarkable voice that he hired the almost totally inexperienced singer to perform at the 1972 Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.

Battle is known for the silvery timbre of her lyric coloratura voice, "perfect" trill, and has been a particular favorite of conductor James Levine. While not a strong voice, hers captivated listeners in her portrayals of ingenues and heroines such as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and Zerlina in Don Giovanni. Both operas are by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Her repertoire embraces also sacred music, jazz and spirituals making her a five-time Grammy winner.

Kathleen Battle tells a story of her childhood. As a young child, her mother paid for her piano lessons and requested that she practice. When she did not practice and performed poorly at a piano recital, playing the same notes over and over, she vowed to never be unprepared again. This has followed her into her adulthood and career. Bernard Holland observed that many singers use rehearsals to learn what they will perform, Battle arrives at her first rehearsal "scrupulously prepared." She expects high standards of herself, and perhaps, of her fellow performers.

In February 1994 the Metropolitan Opera cancelled its contracts with Battle for alleged "unprofessional actions" which was highly publicized in the media. Battle's agent responded that she had not been told of unprofessional actions. That incident was an example of, for some, that she is "difficult." And to some she is characterized by diva temperament and poor treatment of staff. In one famous incident, she reportedly called her agent while riding in a car to have him call the driver to turn the air down. A Vanity Fair article entitled "Battle Royal" cited some of these difficulties: "Did you know, people asked one another, that Battle has an obsession with people looking at her mouth? Did you hear about the time she asked a conductor to play something for her while she sang along in her head - and then accused him of playing too fast? Or about the colleague whose Christmas card was summarily returned, with instructions that no mail was ever to be sent to her directly? Have you heard, went the gossip, the in-house nickname that people at Sony Classical gave “Baroque Duets,” the album that paired Battle with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis? “Trumpet and the Bitch.” Or about the time, at President Clinton’s inaugural festivities last year in Washington, when a stretch limo arrived to take Battle to the concert in which she was performing and she sent it back saying that it wasn’t long enough?" Yet to others she is an uncommonly talented, professional, and gracious individual who may have little tolerance for the unprepared colleague.

Kathleen sang the title song, 'Lovers', for the Chinese action movie, House of Flying Daggers, which was played on the end credits.

Battle is the recipient of six honorary doctorates from American universities and, in 1999, was inducted into the NAACP Image Hall of Fame.