Terry Ellis was born in Houston, Texas. She is the daughter of Lennie James Ellis and the former Evelyn Marie Patton. Ellis graduated from Worthing High School of Houston in 1982 and she received a degree in Marketing from Prairie View A&M University in 1990. During her years at Prairie View A&M University, Terry honed her vocal skills under the tutelage of Dr. Ruby Hebert and Professor George Edwards, Director of the Marching Storm Band, where she was lead vocalist. Additionally, through the auspices of the Office of Student Activities and guidance of its Director, Frederick V. Roberts, Terry participated in several talent showcases, performed on special programs including the Miss and Mr. Prairie View A&M University Pageants and also sang as an opening act for many major concerts on the campus. In 1988, Ellis performed in a lecture/concert with Kashif, Grammy Singer, Songwriter and Producer, which turned out to an onsight audition for a proposed singing group to be created by Kashif and friends. \n', '

In 1988, Ellis auditioned to sing in a forthcoming female group. Initially producers Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy had already selected singers Dawn Robinson, Maxine Jones, and Cindy Herron to be in a three-woman girl group, but added Ellis after hearing her sing. After adding Ellis to the line-up, the group became a quartet and originally chose the name "For You, later changed to En Vogue. Ellis sang lead vocals on the intro of the group\'s first single "Hold On", which peaked at number 2 on Billboard\'s Hot 100 chart, and sold over a million copies becoming platinum certified by the RIAA. Later that year, the group released their debut album Born to Sing, which went platinum. Ellis also sang lead vocals on the singles "Lies" and "Don\'t Go", both of which charted in top-five positions on Billboard\'s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.\n', '

The group released their second album Funky Divas in 1992, which sold over 3.5 million copies in the United States. Ellis shares lead vocals on one of the album\'s top-charting singles "Free Your Mind". "Free Your Mind" won two MTV Video Music Awards, for "Best R&B Video" and "Best Dance Video". En Vogue released an EP in the fall of 1993, entitled Runaway Love.[citation needed] \n', '

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