BIO
LeVoties “LGIII” Griffin III is, quite literally, the voice of a generation. The first of his parents’ children and the n
amesake of his
patriarchal lineage, LG grew up under the loving if not strict guidance of his mother and father who led he and his siblings into
the soft angelic glow of music as ministry, often called on to tune up congregations before reverends and guest speakers would
take the pulpit to deliver their message. Though church-bred singers are the time-tested cornerstone of urban music, the Griffin
family being critical to the flow of Sunday services is what truly set LG apart from his midwestern peers. However, between
being awestruck at his father’s abilities and waiting patiently for his natural gift to arrive in its full form, LG began to grow
frustrated and displeased with his church voice, unaware of the amount of discipline and exposure to a range of influences it took
for his talent to reach its’ full maturity.
With no training, formal or otherwise, LG strengthened his raw talent through repetition and mimicking his influences that were
often limited to the gospel genre. When he would finally make time for developing his secular ear aside from what he’d hear over
the airwaves in passing it would be in clandestine playback of the burned CDs he bought from fellow students that he would play
on the way home and in his headphones around the house. Eventually, his mother intervened on behalf of LG and his more
mainstream tastes after she tired of his father routinely breaking his CDs in half. Able to convince Mr. Griffin of the usefulness of
their secular influences, LG began a sudden affair with the soulful music of his parents’ time, including “Voyage to Atlantis” by
the Isley Brothers, a song that he discovered in his young adulthood and would go on to be a signature of his vocal and
performance style.
After graduating high school and settling into a job at a local audio-electronics retailer, LG continued to pursue his musical
ambitions inside and outside the church. During his senior year, his mom was the grand prize winner of a talent competition on
the Oprah Winfrey Show and received a recording contract from a major label. The experience would serve as LG's introduction
to fame as well as a first-hand learning experience in record label politics and the realities of the music industry when label
administration would take advantage of the Griffins' naivety and inexperience. Mr. Griffin eventually took over management
responsibilities for his wife's recording career to safeguard against anyone taking advantage of them, essentially leaving LG to
look after his brothers and sisters while their parents hit the road.
LG found in his assumed responsibilities an opportunity to explore newfound freedom and a landscape of musical talent that
gathered inside bars, lounges, and warehouses of the independent music scene of his hometown Detroit. Invited to one such event
by a longtime friend who happened to be a poet, LG discovered his opportunity to prove his talent outside the walls of his
congregation. His first opportunity to immerse himself into the world of contemporary live performance came after accepting the
invitation from his poet-friend to sit in with a local band at Bert’s, a landmark in Detroit and global jazz history.
From there, things happened fast for LG, joining forces as the fronting vocalist for contemporary jazz outfits like The 313
Experience and Jukeboxx 313, signaling a changing of the guard locally that would put LG and his co-workers in high-demand
for private events and opening slots for touring acts stopping through Detroit. He would eventually hit the road, touring as a
background vocalist for nationally acclaimed artists like Kem and Charlie Wilson, in 2015, the same year that his father and
musical role model passed on. In the time since then, LG has refined his stage presence alongside soul behemoths while also
benefiting from their close mentorship after joining Charlie Wilson’s staff full-time into the present day. This has resulted in not
only the perfecting of his live performance but his full maturation as a songwriter and recording artist.
