The daughter of an Italian father and Maltese mother, Terry was born in Cairo and at nine years old moved with her family to Rome, where she studied at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, graduating in piano in 1947.

[1] She continued to take part in numerous radio and television programs throughout the 1950s, including Totò-Club and Canta Lilian Terry, in which she was accompanied on piano by Romano Mussolini.

[1] In 1962 Terry hosted the musical variety show Abito da sera, where she duetted with numerous internationally renowned jazz musicians.

[1] In 1983 Terry founded the Dizzy Gillespie Popular School of Music in Bassano del Grappa, which was active until 1996.

[2] In 2017 she released her autobiography, Dizzy, Duke, Brother Ray and Friends, published by University of Illinois Press.