Born August 4, 1965, in Medford MA; daughter of Sonny Carrington (a saxophonist and president of the Boston Jazz Society).

By the time drummer Terri Lyne Carrington released her solo debut, Real Life Story, in 1988 at the age of 23, she boasted a resume of which many jazz musicians can only dream. A child prodigy who entered the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston at the age of eleven, Carrington developed her skills in the classroom as well as on stage with some of jazz music's most legendary names.

Carrington has continued to tour and record with various musicians, most notably vocalist Cassandra Wilson and keyboardist Herbie Hancock, whose 2002 Future 2 Future tour she helped conceptualize. She also contributed both musically and conceptually to Hancock's Grammy-winning 1998 album Gershwin's World. In the late 1990s, following the cancellation of the Arsenio Hall Show, she became the in-house drummer for the late-night television show Vibe, hosted by comedian Sinbad.

Carrington released her second solo effort, Jazz Is a Spirit, on the German ACT label in 2002. Her third solo album, Structure, was released by the High Note label in the spring of 2004.