John Raymond David Griff was born in 1940 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was raised in Winfield, Alberta. Griff began songwriting in the early 1960s and had early cuts by Johnny Horton, Jim Reeves, and others. Griff moved to Nashville in 1964 to pursue his music career full-time. His first records as a singer were released in the late 1960s and Griff had his first hit, "Patches", a remake of the Clarence Carter soul hit in 1970 which peaked at No. 26 in "Billboard". Griff recorded for the small country label Royal American and later moved on to Dot Records without much success. His stint at Capitol Records from 1975-1979 proved more successful, racking up eight more country top 40 hits, the most successful being 1976's "If I Let Her Come In" which peaked at No. 11.