Jon Jeffrey Grier holds a B.A. from Kalamazoo College, an M.M. in Composition from Western Michigan University, and an M.M. in Theory and a D.M.A. in Composition from the University of South Carolina, where he studied with Dick Goodwin, Sam Douglas, and Jerry Curry. He was Instructor of Music Theory, History, and Composer in Residence at the Greenville Fine Arts Center, a magnet high school of the arts in Greenville, South Carolina, from 1988 to 2019. He continues as a substitute instructor at the FAC and as a board member of the Sigal Music Museum.

Jon was the winner of the 2024 Renee Fisher Piano Composition Competition, the 2016 South Carolina Arts Commission Fellowship in Music Composition, the 2016 Composer Commission from the South Carolina Music Teachers Association, the 2014 Carl Blair Award for Excellence in Arts Education from the Metropolitan Arts Council, and winner of the 2009 Rapido! Composition Contest sponsored by the Atlanta Chamber Players. He has composed commissions for the Greenville Symphony, the Kandinksy Trio, October Sky Ensemble, and Virginia Tech pianist Rick Masters, among others.

Jon continues composing chamber music, songs, and jazz in Greenville, where he lives with wife Marion and rescue mutt Penny Lane.