 Alice Tully was born in Corning, Steuben County, New York, the daughter of lawyer and State Senator William J. Tully (1870–1930) and Clara Mabel (Houghton) Tully (1870–1958) and had one younger sister Marion Gordon (Tully) Hoover Dimick (died Washington, 1981).She spent her high school years at the Westover School in Middlebury, Connecticut.Tully began her career as a mezzo-soprano, then became a soprano.