[3] Her father Mark Griffiths is the son of Jamaican immigrants who were part of the "Windrush generation" and her mother Kim is a first-generation migrant whose family moved to England amid the Vietnam War.

[5] Griff stated that her earliest memory of loving music was being given an iPod Shuffle with the Taylor Swift album Fearless (2008) downloaded to it,[6] when she was around the age of eight.

[7] She then taught herself to record and produce music on her older brother's laptop and used tutorials on YouTube to inform her on techniques.

[3] On using the stage name Griff, she stated: "Sarah Griffiths isn't that glamorous, I sound like I have a mortgage and 4 kids, it's very corporate".

[16] In March 2020, a song titled "I Love You's", that Griff co-wrote, was released by American singer Hailee Steinfeld.

[25] On 19 March 2021, Griff won the Brit Award for Rising Star and performed "Black Hole" at the 2021 ceremony.

[30] In November 2021, Dua Lipa announced Griff as one of her three supporting acts for the European dates of the Future Nostalgia Tour in 2022.

[32] In 2023, she also took part in the Music of the Spheres World Tour by British band Coldplay as opening act for a few European dates including Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands.

[36] Later that month, Griff announced her single "Astronaut", which was written in collaboration with Coldplay lead vocalist Chris Martin and released in December.

[42][43] On 22 June 2024, Griff opened for Taylor Swift as part of the Eras Tour in London alongside Paramore.