Edna McGriff (December 16, 1935 – March 1980) was an American rhythm and blues singer and pianist. She recorded mainly in the 1950s. She was a true "one-hit wonder". Although she had a fine voice and made many recordings, she'll always be remembered for "Heavenly Father", a tune she wrote when she was just 16. .The record sold over 500,000 copies.
She released her first single, "Note Droppin' Papa" / "Come Back", on Jubilee Records in September 1951 with Bennie Green's band. Her second recording took place late that same year, when she sang with Buddy Lucas and His Band of Tomorrow on "Heavenly Father" / "I Love You". She was aged 16 at the time. The single was released in early 1952, and sales started to soar. The track entered the US R&B chart in April 1952, peaking at No. 4 in a 13-week stay. Various cover versions of "Heavenly Father" appeared, recorded by Fran Warren, The Four Lads, and also Evelyn Knight.
McGriff appeared on stage at the Earle Theater in Philadelphia. Various shows followed, where she was placed on the bill with Alan Freed. Separately in June 1952, McGriff recorded six duets with Sonny Til of The Orioles, including "I Only Have Eyes for You", "Once in a While", "Picadilly" and "Good".
Her next solo release was "Pray For A Better World" / "In A Chapel by the Side of The Road", followed by "Edna's Blues" / "Why Oh Why" (1953). Several other releases flopped and she moved to Josie Records, who issued "I'll Be Around" / "Ooh, Little Daddy" (1954), and then onto Favorite Records, but without any further chart activity.
Sometime in 1955 Edna married Leon Dixon in Manhattan. On April 16, 1956, they had a daughter, Doria Yvonne Dixon. Bell Records took up her contract, and issued "The Fool" / "Born to Be with You" (1956), and these were followed by many other cover versions, including Laurie London's "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and Huey "Piano" Smith's "Don't You Just Know It", however she had stopped recording with Bell by the time she was 22 years old.
In 1958, she recorded a one-off single for Felsted, followed by another one-off for Savoy, this time dueting with long-time friend Buddy Lucas on "No Change" / "Ah-Ah-Ah". Also in1958, the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical "Flower Drum Song" opened on Broadway and was a smash hit. In February 1959, Rondo Records released a Flower Drum Song LP on their Rondo-lette subsidiary. Although uncredited, Edna sang the part of Linda Low on three songs: "I Enjoy Being A Girl", "Grant Avenue", and "Sunday".
In the meanwhile Edna and Leon Dixon had gotten divorced somewhere along the line. On March 7, 1959, Edna married Thomas Leroy Minors in Stamford, Connecticut. She had two additional children with him: Roselle and Steven. Since Roselle was born at the end of 1959, Edna took 1960 off.
Thereafter her career gradually wound down, with a small sprinkle of recordings spread over two record companies - Willow Records in 1961 (a remake of "Heavenly Father"), and Capitol during 1964-1965 which were her final records. And that was it for Edna McGriff. From March of 1965 to April 1980, there are neither further recordings nor a single mention until her obituary in the New York Amsterdam News. On March 25, 1980, Edna McGriff Minors died (possibly from lymphoma) at her home in Jamaica, New York. She was 44 years old.
In August 2012, a compilation album of her recordings was issued by Bear Family Records.
(edited from Wikipedia & Marv Goldberg)