Lizzo

Lizzo received eight nominations at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards—the most for any artist that year—including nominations for each of the "Big Four" categories, and won the awards for Best Urban Contemporary Album, Best Pop Solo Performance for "Truth Hurts", and Best Traditional R&B Performance for the song "Jerome".

In 2021, Lizzo released the single "Rumors" (featuring Cardi B), which debuted in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100.

Her fourth studio album, Special (2022), was preceded by its lead single "About Damn Time", which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and made Lizzo the first black female singer since Whitney Houston in 1994 to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year.

Melissa Viviane Jefferson (born April 27, 1988), known professionally as Lizzo, is an American rapper and singer.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, she moved to Houston, Texas, with her family at the age of ten.

After college, she moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she began her recording career in hip hop music.

Melissa Viviane Jefferson was born on April 27, 1988, in Detroit, Michigan.

When she was ten, her family relocated to Houston, Texas.

She was classically trained as a flutist for eight years, from the age of ten until she graduated from Alief Elsik High School in 2006, where she had started rapping.

At age 14, she formed a musical group called Cornrow Clique with her friends.

At this time, she acquired the nickname "Lizzo", a variant of "Lissa", inspired by Jay-Z's "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)".

In college, she studied classical music, concentrating on flute, at the University of Houston.

At age 21, after her father's death, she lived out of her car for a year as she tried to break into the music industry.

In 2009 and 2010, she performed lead vocals and flute in the jazz/prog rock quintet Ellypseas.

She dropped out of college and moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2011.

While living in Minneapolis, Lizzo performed with groups including the electro soul-pop duo Lizzo & the Larva Ink.

During this time she helped form a three-piece all-female rap/R&B group, the Chalice.

In 2012, the Chalice released its first album, We Are the Chalice, which was locally successful.

Prior to signing with Nice Life Recording Company and Atlantic Records, Lizzo released two studio albums, Lizzobangers (2013) and Big Grrrl Small World (2015).

In 2013, Lizzo was one of five artists to form the hip-hop group Grrrl Prty, which released two EPs before playing its final show at Rock the Garden and disbanding in 2016.

Lizzo's hip-hop-focused debut album, Lizzobangers, produced by Lazerbeak and Ryan Olson, was released on October 15, 2013.

Killian Fox of The Guardian gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying: "At times joyfully nonsensical, Lizzo's stream-of-consciousness rhymes can also be lethally pointed."

The album topped Star Tribune 's "Twin Cities Critics Tally 2013" list.

Music videos were created for the songs "Batches & Cookies", "Faded", "Bus Passes and Happy Meals", and "Paris".

Lizzo toured the US and UK in the fall of 2013, opening for Har Mar Superstar and singng with his band.

In October 2013, Lizzo won City Pages' "Picked to Click" award for best new Twin Cities artist.

The next month Time named her one of 14 music artists to watch in 2014.

The album was subsequently re-released by Virgin Records.

Later that year, Lizzo shared the stage with St. Paul and the Broken Bones, performing "A Change Is Gonna Come" together.

Following the release of her first album, Lizzo immediately began working on new music.

Her first major-label extended play (EP), Coconut Oil, was released in 2016.

Around this time, her 2016 single "Good as Hell" also climbed the charts, reaching the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart.

The deluxe version of the album included Lizzo's 2017 single "Truth Hurts", which became a viral sleeper hit two years after its initial release.

It topped the US Billboard Hot 100 and became the longest-leading solo song by a female rapper.

Lizzo attained mainstream success with the release of her third studio album, Cuz I Love You (2019), which peaked at number four on the US Billboard 200.

The album spawned the singles "Juice" and "Tempo".

Along with her recording career, Lizzo has also worked as an actress; she performed a voice role in the animated film UglyDolls (2019), and appeared in the crime comedy-drama film Hustlers (2019).

She is also the host of the Amazon Prime Video reality television series Lizzo's Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Competition Program.

In 2019, Time named Lizzo "Entertainer of the Year" for her meteoric rise and contributions to music.

In addition to four Grammy Awards, she has also won a Billboard Music Award, a BET Award, and two Soul Train Music Awards.