People Who Went To Penn: Tammi Terrell

Ain’t no mountain high/Ain’t no valley low/Ain’t no river wide enough baby/To keep me from getting to you…

Though we’d like to point out that the 38th Street Bridge, really any valley, and the Schuykill River are all high, low, and wide enough to keep us from going anywhere without wifi, who are we to argue with Penn's beloved alumna Tammi Terrell?

Born Thomasina Montgomery, Tammi quickly ditched her first name at twelve. She changed her last name later because her producers thought it was too long to fit on a single and a new name would give her greater sex appeal (we can only guess it’s because double T’s rhymes with double D’s).

At Penn, Terrell was already a semi-celebrity in the R&B world, having accomplished more before arriving in West Philly than most of us ever will when/if we make it out. At fifteen she had signed her first record label and released her first charting single, “I Cried.” Though it only hit #99, if Penn knows anything its not about your actual rank but that fact that you ranked at all.

After two years at Penn, Tammi did what all parents fear their children will do and left school for showbiz. Lucky for her it worked out. Today her songs are belted, slightly off-key, in showers across the nation.