Lizzo

Lizzo was born in Detroit on April 27, 1988. Her real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson, but most know her by her stage name. Lizzo combines a childhood nickname of Lissa and the Jay-Z song “Izzo.”
At age 10 she moved with her family from Detroit to Houston, where she developed a passion for music. It was there that she was first exposed to freestyle rap, which would feature prominently in her later work. While in the fifth grade, Jefferson attended a Destiny’s Child concert and that experience reportedly made her determined to become a performing artist.

Lizzo is a four-time Grammy Award winner who has created hit songs like “Good as Hell,” “Truth Hurts,” “Juice,” and “Rumors” with rapper Cardi B. Her first major label album, Cuz I Love You (2019), made it into Billboard’s Top 10. Her song “About Damn Time” from the 2022 album Special won the Grammy for Record of the Year, making Lizzo the first Black woman to win the award since Whitney Houston in 1994. Before making her mark in rap and pop, Lizzo was on track to become an orchestral flutist, and she still plays the flute in samples on her albums as well as live performances.