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Melissa Viviane Jefferson (born April 27, 1988), known professionally as Lizzo (), is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, and actress. Born in Detroit, Michigan, she moved to Houston, Texas, with her family at the age of 10. After college, she moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she began her recording career in hip-hop. Lizzo released two studio albums, Lizzobangers (2013) and Big Grrrl Small World (2015).

In 2016, Lizzo signed to Atlantic Records and released her first major-label extended play (EP), Coconut Oil. Her third studio album, Cuz I Love You (2019), peaked at number four on the US Billboard 200 and won three Grammy Awards. It spawned the multi-platinum single "Juice", while its deluxe version included the 2016 single "Good as Hell" and the 2017 single "Truth Hurts"; the latter became a viral sleeper hit two years after its initial release and topped the US Billboard Hot 100. Her fourth studio album, Special (2022), was led by her second US number-one single, "About Damn Time", which also won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. After a hiatus, she released her third mixtape, My Face Hurts from Smiling (2025), followed by her fifth studio album Bitch (2026).

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.

Early life and education

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 10 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.

Career

2011–2013: Career beginnings and Lizzobangers

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. 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."