Biography
At age eleven, a Billie Holiday album received from her trumpeter brother-in-law planted the impulse that later flowered into a professional singing career for Della Griffin. She promptly shifted her weekly allowance away from movie tickets and toward purchases of every Holiday title, plus discs by Count Basie, Charlie Barnet, and other leading big bands of the period. Professional performances began while she was still based in South Carolina, where local clubs and dances provided her first stages.
Relocating to New York in the 1950s placed her in the Enchanters, a doo-wop group with whom she issued two recordings. Roadwork followed with tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest, known for “Night Train.” Finding constant touring incompatible, she joined the Del-Tones, whose membership then included Gloria Lynne, and rose to prominence through Slide Hampton’s arrangements. Sessions with Sonny Till & the Orioles also took place during those years.
In 1973 Griffin launched a run at Harlem’s Blue Book Club that lasted fourteen years until an automobile accident ended it. Persistent comparisons to Billie Holiday proved double-edged, since audiences kept demanding the same songs associated with the singer; the resulting pressure to limit her own repertoire eventually led Griffin to withdraw from performing. Reentering the scene in the 1980s, she collaborated with Etta Jones and Irene Reid and cut a record with Jones.
Those activities produced two Muse albums, I’ll Get By and Travelin’ Light, both produced by Houston Person. When Muse ceased operations, Griffin moved with many of its artists to the newly established HighNote-Savant label. Her debut Savant release, The Very Thought of You, appeared in 1998 under Person’s production and with his participation. The same year she received an invitation to perform at one of Finland’s major jazz festivals. Griffin made New York her home and continued appearing regularly at clubs and jazz events until her death on August 9, 2022, at the age of 100.
Relocating to New York in the 1950s placed her in the Enchanters, a doo-wop group with whom she issued two recordings. Roadwork followed with tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest, known for “Night Train.” Finding constant touring incompatible, she joined the Del-Tones, whose membership then included Gloria Lynne, and rose to prominence through Slide Hampton’s arrangements. Sessions with Sonny Till & the Orioles also took place during those years.
In 1973 Griffin launched a run at Harlem’s Blue Book Club that lasted fourteen years until an automobile accident ended it. Persistent comparisons to Billie Holiday proved double-edged, since audiences kept demanding the same songs associated with the singer; the resulting pressure to limit her own repertoire eventually led Griffin to withdraw from performing. Reentering the scene in the 1980s, she collaborated with Etta Jones and Irene Reid and cut a record with Jones.
Those activities produced two Muse albums, I’ll Get By and Travelin’ Light, both produced by Houston Person. When Muse ceased operations, Griffin moved with many of its artists to the newly established HighNote-Savant label. Her debut Savant release, The Very Thought of You, appeared in 1998 under Person’s production and with his participation. The same year she received an invitation to perform at one of Finland’s major jazz festivals. Griffin made New York her home and continued appearing regularly at clubs and jazz events until her death on August 9, 2022, at the age of 100.
Albums