Terisa Griffin is a singer, songwriter, producer, actress and philanthropist who currently resides in Chicago, Illinois. Griffin is the second of four daughters born to a Baptist Minister in Monroe, Louisiana, where she began singing in church with her sisters at an early age. After graduating from Wossman High School, her love of music continued to grow as she attended Northeast Louisiana University on a vocal scholarship.

 

Prior to graduating from college, she made the decision to pursue her dreams of becoming a singer, actress and entertainer. Chicago was chosen by flipping a coin over a map, but once in the "Windy City" she found it difficult to make ends meet. While performing as a background singer, Terisa lived out of her car until the situation was brought to the attention of Jerry “The Iceman” Butler, who became her lifelong mentor. She also began earning a living creating jingles for businesses and is the voice behind the Doublemint gum commercials featuring American tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams.

​​

In 1998, Griffin released a five song debut CD entitled Songbird under her own label. The album was performed, produced and written by Griffin except the remake of Donny Hathaway's "A Song For You".

 

Griffin has toured with or opened for entertainers such as Will Downing, Isaac Hayes, Patti LaBelle, Musiq Soulchild, Jeffrey Osborne, The Whispers and Frankie Beverly & Maze. In a career changing moment, while singing background for Diana Ross on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2000, Griffin gained national exposure to Oprah's television audience when Ms. Ross spontaneously passed her the microphone to finish singing "Only Love Conquers All".

​

In 2006 Griffin released My Naked Soul, which is her first full length EP and is co-produced by Terry Hunter.

​

In 2002, Griffin produced several "One Woman/One Voice" shows as a tribute to many legendary performers who paved the way for other women to find their own success in the entertainment industry. "Fantasy: A Tribute to the Divas of Song and Stage" was dedicated to such pioneering greats as Josephine Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne and Sarah Vaughn. "Queens of R&B: A Tribute to the Queens of Rhythm and Blues" paid homage to powerhouse legends Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Donna Summer, Tina Turner, and Dinah Washington. "A Tribute to Famous Song Divas" showed respect for enduring songstresses Anita Baker, Natalie Cole, Phyllis Hyman, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle and Nina Simone.

​

​In 2007, Griffin established the non-profit organization, Better Love Yourself, Inc. (BLY) to provide college bound students with life skills as well as supplies to help them succeed. Annually, in cities such as Chicago, Illinois, Cleveland, Ohio, Houston, Texas, St. Louis, Missouri and her hometown of Monroe, Louisiana, hundreds of college freshmen have been provided with valuable knowledge from guest panelists, along with trunks filled with necessities to begin their post-secondary lives.   

 

​For more information regarding Better Love Yourself, please visit: www.betterloveyourself.com

​

Griffin released two albums in 2011 showing different facets of her vocal styles. Soulzophrenic (Personalities of Soul) contains Contemporary R&B songs, while Soulzophrenic (Dance) delivers more up-tempo grooves, and is co-produced by Terry Hunter and Maurice Joshua.

​

Griffin appeared in the 2011 independent film The Truth in which Hill Harper made his debut as a director. She composed and performed the title song for the film, “Can’t Stop Loving You”. The film was written by Randy Crumpton and Craig J. Harris, it was produced by Crumpton, Kenny Johnson, Sharon King and James Ramos.

 

In 2012, Griffin auditioned for NBC's series The Voice (Season 3) with her rendition of "Someone Like You" by Adele. Griffin advanced to The Battle round to compete for a lucrative recording contract as one of twenty remaining competitors, where she sang "Saving All My Love For You" by Whitney Houston.  

​

In 2013, Griffin joined Tony Award winner Jennifer Holliday, actor Thomas Mikal Ford, along with singers Christopher Williams and Dave Hollister in the musical play Standing In The Shadows of Love.

​

In 2015, Griffin's album Revival of Soul peaked at #6 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums chart, #14 on the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart and #33 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The album also reached #43 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart and #177 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. “Distant Lover” by by Marvin Gaye, is one of the ten singles included.  She recorded "Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool for You Baby)", to honor Aretha Franklin. In 2019, she received Grammy consideration for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in several categories for the song including "Record of the Year", "Song of the Year" and "Best Traditional R&B Performance".

​

Early in 2020, Griffin began hosting an internet cooking show "Tee Thyme" where she sings and interacts with her virtual audience. The show was conceived during the abrupt touring hiatus many entertainers experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which allowed her to continue connecting with viewers who were also quarantining. The Tee Thyme cookbook app, including recipes from the show, is scheduled for release in 2021.

​​

In February 2021, Griffin released a remake of the Aretha Franklin classic "Angel" on the Platinum Vybe produced compilation entitled The Soul Sessions. The song reached #1 on the U.S. Indie Soul Chart Top 30 and #28 on the U.K. Soul Chart Top 30. "I Feel the Love" with Tom Glide (which reached #3 on the Traxsource Soulful House Chart), and "Loving You" produced by Terry Hunter (which reached #2 on the Traxsource Soulful House Chart) were released in the summer.

​

**Biographical information was composed by TheRealJAG, photographs were obtained by permission of the artist**

©2021 Actualized Productions