Terry Wayne Fator was born June 10, 1965, in Dallas, Texas, the son of Jephtha Wesley and Edith Marie Clifton, later known as Marie Sligh. He has an older brother, Jephtha Jr., and a younger sister, Deborah. Fator's second cousin is Chris Sligh, an American Idol season six finalist. Terry Fator says in his audio commentary of Terry Fator: Live from Las Vegas (2009) that he went to college at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Fator left the band and did a solo act combining comedy and ventriloquism but for many years had little success. "Fairs would stick me on a little stage in the back of fair and have me do three shows in the hottest part of the afternoon," related Fator. "I had heat stroke a couple of times, almost passed out."  The low point of his career, Fator said, was when he appeared at a 1,000 seat theater and had only one person in the audience. Discouraged, Fator contemplated pursuing another career, but his family encouraged him to continue. Terry entered the America's Got Talent competition with the hope that the exposure if he made it to the Top 20 might help his career and cause people to want to attend his shows.  Fator's success stems from combining singing, ventriloquism, and comedy. Fator was the lead singer in bands and often did impersonations of singers Garth Brooks, Etta James, James Taylor and Dean Martin, while ventriloquism had been just a comic side gig for him. In 2005, Fator decided to combine his talents, singing, ventriloquism, comedy, and impersonations. "I had one of my characters sing Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places" and the audience went crazy," Fator said. "Boy, that was when my life changed." After his initial success Fator revamped his act. "It took me six months and I completely rewrote the show," says Fator. "It was then that people really noticed and I started getting standing ovations at the end of every show,"  Prior to winning America's Got Talent, Fator opened for Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, Neal McCoy, and Styx. Fator also performed for corporate giants General Motors and AT&T.

Answer the following question by taking a quote from the article: What success did he see as a singer?
Fator's success stems from combining singing, ventriloquism, and comedy. Fator was the lead singer in bands and often did impersonations