Terri Gibbs

Teresa Fay "Terri" Gibbs (born June 15, 1954) is an American country music artist who was born blind. Between 1980 and 1990, she recorded seven studio albums, including four for MCA Records and one for Warner Bros. Records. She also charted thirteen singles on the Billboard country singles charts in that timespan, including her debut single "Somebody's Knockin'", which reached No. 8 on the country charts, No. 13 on the pop charts and No. 3 on the Adult Contemporary charts. She also entered the country top 20 with "Rich Man", "Mis'ry River", "Ashes to Ashes" and "Anybody Else's Heart but Mine."

Biography

Gibbs was born in Miami, Florida but raised in the Augusta, Georgia suburb of Grovetown. Born blind, she learned to play piano at age three. As a child, she sang in the church choir and at talent contests, and at age seventeen, she opened for Bill Anderson. Her parents wanted her to be treated no differently from sighted people and she was sent to public school, graduating from Butler High School in Augusta in 1972. She performed in and around the Augusta area and eventually, she met Chet Atkins, who advised her to move to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a country music career, which she did at age eighteen. After failing to find a record deal, she returned to Miami and joined a band called Sound Dimension. She continued to perform locally, later forming a band called the Terri Gibbs Trio, which performed at a Steak & Ale in Augusta, Georgia. Gibbs then sent a demo tape to record producer Ed Penney of MCA Records, signing to the label in 1980. Penney was a former Boston disc jockey and a long-time songwriter. He liked her voice on her demo, but felt she needed stronger material. He co-wrote "Somebody's Knockin'" for her and also produced the song.