Lizzo is one of today’s most treasured performers, known for artistry in rapping, singing, acting, along with being a classically trained flautist, the exuberant singer has shown herself to be a multi-talented performer, who has taken the music industry by storm. True fans might know about the early days of her career in Minneapolis, but many might be wondering about Lizzo’s childhood and if she is from Detroit.
Lizzo is from Detroit. She was born and raised in the Motor City before her family relocated to Texas when the singer was nine. Given the city’s musical roots and the history of Motown, it’s no surprise that Detroit had an early influence on Lizzo, long before she was a Grammy Award winner.
Read more below about Lizzo’s childhood in Detroit, her musical beginnings in Houston, and the move to Minneapolis that kick started her career.
Motown and the Motor City
The city of Detroit has a rich musical history, with Barry Gordy Jr.’s Motown Records established in a building that would become known as Hitsville U.S.A., and
introduced the world to icons The Supremes, The Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, among other legendary musical acts. Though the heyday of Motown far preceded Lizzo’s birth, the city still remains one of the top music cities in the country.
Musical Beginnings
Lizzo was born Melissa Viviane Jefferson on April 27, 1988 in Detroit, Michigan. From the start of her childhood, her household was constantly filled with music, with her parents listening to gospel music. Though the family had relocated by the time she was 10-years-old, Lizzo considers Detroit her hometown and still loves to visit the city, saying, “I don’t think people in Detroit realize I’m from Detroit yet. I think that’s something they discover while I’m on stage or after the show or after they’ve discovered me,” she says. “I think that it’s gonna really feel like homecoming the more I come [to Detroit].”
A Hankering for Houston
Lizzo’s family settled in Houston, Texas in 1998. Though she had grown up surrounded by music, it was here that Lizzo began experimenting on her own and where she learned to play flute and joined the marching band.
It was also during this time that she formed her first rap crew, calling themselves the “Cornrow Clique.” Though she would be in several more girl groups over the years, Lizzo originally did not want to put in the effort to be a solo act, saying, “I told the universe I was never going to be a solo artist unless it was easy, because I had tried and it didn’t work. If I do this, it’s because it comes to me, not because I forced it.”
By the time she arrived at the University of Houston, where she was enrolled to study classical flute on a scholarship and played in the college’s marching band, Lizzo was not planning on becoming a famous singer, instead intending to join the symphony after graduation. Life, however, had a different plan, and Lizzo dropped out of the University of Houston in her junior year, after the untimely passing of her father.
Minneapolis or Bust
During an interview with CBS, Lizzo discussed her depression during that time in her life, saying, “I didn’t have a purpose, like I didn’t feel like I had a purpose for being a musician or anything.” The singer lived out of her car for a while, before deciding to move to Minneapolis to pursue her music career.
You can see Lizzo discuss the heartbreaking time in her life after her father passed away and what inspired her to keep making music in the YouTube video below.
Lizzo put in her dues in Minnesota, where she released her first solo album without the help of a record label. Though her success was mostly local, Lizzo toured the country, and then headed across the Atlantic Ocean to perform in the U.K., which snagged the attention of record executives.
City Girl to Superstar
Lizzo’s star rose rapidly over the next few years after she signed a deal with Atlantic Records and she ultimately skyrocketed to international fame with the release of her third studio album, Cuz I Love You, in 2019. The album was well-received by critics and fans alike, and was nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards.
Though it was Lizzo’s talent and passion that landed her where she is today, it’s clear all three cities she lived in influenced her and her musical roots. All three cities try to claim Lizzo as their own, but she’ll always originally be a girl from Detroit.