Pianist Jeffrey Grice was born in 1954 in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 1966, his family moved to Auckland where he attended Sacred Heart College in Glen Innes, counting among his classmates the future founding members of NZ's iconic rock band Split Enz. While studying languages (English, French and German) at Waikato University in Hamilton from 1971 to 1972, classical piano became his passion as he began to perform in lunchtime concerts on campus. Waikato University having no music faculty back in the 1970s, he auditioned in 1972 for the music department of the University of Auckland where, from 1973 to 1976, he studied with Janetta McStay and Bryan Sayer, graduating in French and Music. With a Queen Elizabeth Arts Council grant and a French Government scholarship, Grice left New Zealand