Portia G

When the Sweet Inspirations were searching for a new singer to join their group, Portia Griffin, was chosen as the new addition to the all women’s group in 1994. Cissy Houston, Whitney’s mother, was the leader of the original Sweet Inspirations a gospel group that went on to do backup for Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin. They went on to appear on hundreds of gold records in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Portia joined the Sweets in 1994 after meeting Myrna Smith who was one of the Sweets at a studio session. Along with Sylvia Shemwell and Estelle Brown, Portia became a Sweet Inspiration.

It all began when Portia began singing in the Nazarene Baptist church in Pittsburg, PA. In 1977, Portia moved to Los Angeles to pursue her professional music career. There she met Jeffrey Osborne where she got the opportunity to join his band, and worked for him for 18 years.  As a first call background vocalist in the LA studio scene, Portia‘s has performed on over 100 albums with various artists such as Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Quincy Jones to name a few.

Portia is releasing her own solo album “Portia Faces Life” on KulTone Records as a result of reconnecting with Makoto Horiuchi, a Japanese-American composer/writer who was an artist on Quincy Jones’ Qwest Records. Portia was a featured singer on Makoto’s album “Nside”. The two worked together on her new album after 35 years. You can now buy or listen to here album Click Here