A coin toss lands Terisa Griffin on top, in Chicago

Music is her passion, but coming from a small town in Louisiana, she knew she had to break ground in a larger market. So, with the flip of a quarter on a map, Terisa Griffin knew where she was headed.

Music is her passion, but coming from a small town in Louisiana, she knew she had to break ground in a larger market. So, with the flip of a quarter on a map, Terisa Griffin knew where she was headed.

That 25-cents flip brought the music starlet to Chicago, and the move has paid off ten-fold.

The rhythm and blues singer’s star has continued to rise ever since she planted her feet in the Windy City 15 years ago.

Griffin, one of five children who grew up singing in her father’s church, Green Grove Baptist, in Monroe, La., always loved to sing, but her career path was in the legal field. That was more of her father’s choice than hers.

She was 18 credit hours shy of graduating from college when she took a leap of faith and headed north.

“I loved music, and it was in my heart and soul. If I stayed in Monroe, my dad would’ve made me go to law school. I didn’t want to follow that plan. I truly believe that you should be doing what’s in your heart. I flipped a coin on a map and wherever it landed, that’s where I was going. It landed on Illinois, very close to Chicago,” Griffin told the Defender.

Griffin appeared on Oprah years ago, singing backup for Diana Ross. She paid tribute in song to the late comedian Bernie Mac at his public memorial last year and has opened for singers Patti LaBelle, Rahsaan Patterson, the late Isaac Hayes, Ashford and Simpson, Roberta Flack and Jerry “Iceman” Butler.

The thirty-something Griffin credits Mac and Butler with being invaluable mentors when she came to Chicago, making her feel as though she was part of their families.

Her soulful sound can also be heard on jingles for some popular commercials, such as the Doublemint gum spots featuring tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams.

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