Terri Gibbs

Teresa Fay Gibbs (born June 15, 1954) is an American country music artist who is blind. Between 1980 and 2017, she has recorded eleven studio albums, including four for MCA Records and one for Warner Bros. Records. She also charted 13 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." Gibbs was born in Miami, Florida, United States, but raised in the Augusta, Georgia, suburb of Grovetown. Although initially having eyesight, she had been born premature and subsequently lost her eyesight in an incubator accident. In her own words, "I was quite small (2 lbs., 11 ounces) and, so, they had to put me in an incubator. At that point in time, they did not know to cover the eyes and my retinas were damaged." At six months of age, Gibbs was diagnosed with retrolental fibroplasia and declared blind. She learned to play piano at age three. As a child, she sang in the church choir and at talent contests, and she opened for Bill Anderson at the age of 17. Her parents wanted her to be treated no differently from sighted people, so she was sent to public school and graduated 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 moved 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 and 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 he felt she needed stronger material. He co-wrote "Somebody's Knockin'" for her and also produced the song.