Kathy Griffin was born in Prince George, but her family moved to Nanaimo in 1973 where she lived for 7 years. Her parents parted and in 1980, she moved to Vancouver at age 15 to live with her father. She attended Britannia high school and since then, has lived in East Vancouver. She is currently working as a library assistant at the Vancouver Central library.
Kathy’s family includes a younger sister who lives on Vancouver Island. Kathy herself is married with one adult daughter, and has a 2-year-old granddaughter for whom Kathy and her husband are devoted babysitters.
Her family has always been musically inclined. Kathy’s mum was a professional pianist who played in high-end restaurants; her specialty was jazz standards — everything from the ‘20s to the ‘80s. Kathy’s father enjoyed harmonizing with herself and her sister; his preferred style of music was primarily from the ‘60s and ‘70s. All kinds of music, though, was enjoyed by the entire family. From a very young age, Kathy tells me she harmonized to all sorts of sounds whether it was a train whistle, radio jingles, or even a plane overhead!
Kathy started playing guitar when she was 11 but only had a couple of lessons as she learned to play entirely by ear by playing along with songs on the radio. Her singing journey, however, didn’t start until she was an adult and joined her first choir — an a cappella folk/world music choir that sang in over 20 languages.
Since then, she has sung tenor or baritone in countless folk groups, choirs, and choruses. In 2011 Kathy was introduced to Barbershop quartet singing — famous for their style of harmony which certainly fit with her natural talents. In 2012, she was invited to join an all men’s choir: "The Vancouver Thunderbird Chorus”. She was the only woman in the chorus and she sang baritone. It has now become a mixed choir and she still sings with them.
In 2013, she joined an a cappella quartet called “Second Inversion.“ Her quartet placed 1st in the 2018 Barbershop Division contest representing BC and Washington. They continue to do performances around the lower mainland.
In addition, she belongs to a folk trio called "Fraser Union" which has a strong emphasis on vocal harmonies, guitars, and mandolin. Their repertoire draws heavily from Canadian sources which focus on people's struggles, triumphs, and social justice. They have a strong presence in the Vancouver folk scene, and encourage audience members to sing along with them!
A significant change in her life was at age 47 when she quit her full-time job in order to devote the next three years to study music full-time at Vancouver Community College School of Music. At age 50 she graduated, college diploma in hand. Interestingly enough, even though Kathy had voice lessons for three years at school, she will still occasionally take singing lessons, since she recognizes that over the span of one’s lifetime, the voice can change.
How did Kathy arrive in our midst? In 1996, she joined Alison’s Summerchor as the only female tenor (this was a bigger deal back then!). It was there where she met her husband in 1997 . . . and, of course, Alison then asked if she’d like to sing with our choir as our tenor section leader.
We’ve had Kathy with us since 2022. We hope she remains as part of the NSUC family!