Karen Latchana Kenney - Lizzo: Award-Winning Musician

Movers, Shakers, and History Makers

AWARD-WINNING MUSICIAN

BY KAREN LATCHANA KENNEY

&

&

mo

ve

r

s

,

s

h

akr

,

i

t

o

y

m

e

r

I

Z

O

a

w

ad-

w

ing Musin

b

en L

c

n

nE

Capstone Captivate is published by Capstone Press, an imprint of Capstone. 1710 Roe Crest Drive North Mankato, Minnesota 56003 www.capstonepub.com

Copyright 2021 by Capstone. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on the Library of Congress website.ISBN: 978-1-4966-9581-9 (library binding) ISBN: 978-1-4966-9715-8 (paperback) ISBN: 978-1-9771-5457-6 (eBook PDF)ISBN: 978-1-9771-5803-1 (eBook)Summary: In September 2019, Truth Hurts became the longest-reigning solo female rap song at the number 1 spot on Billboards Hot 100. Since then, Lizzo has appeared on TV, at award shows, and on sold-out world tours. Learn more about this Grammy-winning artist and how she went from band kid to opening act to superstar.

Image Credits Alamy: TCD/Prod.DB, 40; Associated Press: Sipa USA/Daniel DeSlover, cover (front); Getty Images: Coachella/Frazer Harrison, 38, FilmMagic/Bonnaroo Arts and Music Festival, 31, FilmMagic/Jeff Kravitz, 34, FilmMagic/Tim Mosenfelder, 25, MTV/Randy Shropshire, 33 (top), Pandora/Charley Gallay, 37, Redferns/Richard E. Aaron, 6, The Recording Academy/Emma McIntyre, 42; Newscom: Avalon.red/Retna/B2820, 5, Icon Sportswire/Nick Tre. Smith, 10, Reuters/Caitlin Ochs, 41, ZUMA Press/Daniel DeSlover, 22, ZUMA Press/Jana Birchum, 21, ZUMA Press/Kyndell Harkness, 29, ZUMA Press/Maria Laura Antonelli, 26, ZUMA Press/Nancy Kaszerman, 13, ZUMA Press/Renee Jones Schneider, 27; Shutterstock: arvzdix, 17, Ben Houdijk, 1, Jacob Boomsma, 16, lev radin, 19, Nikola Spasenoski, 9, Rashad Ashur, 39, SkillUp, cover (background), VectorManZone, 15, 33 (bottom), VectorShop, 7

Editorial Credits Editor: Mari Bolte; Designer: Bobbie Nuytten; Media Researcher: Svetlana Zhurkin; Production Specialist: Katy LaVigne

Table of Contents

T

E

of

o

E

chapter One

here comes Lizzo .................................................... 4

chapter Two

Finding her sound ................................................. 12

chapter Three

Indie Groups to shinin solo ......................... 20

chapter Four

Freestyle Flow ...................................................... 28

chapter Five

You know You a star ................................... 36

Words in bold are in the glossary.

Chapter One Here Comes Lizzo

hp

T

e

r

n

oMe LiZo

In the summer of 2019, Lizzo looked out into a massive crowd. She was ready to perform at the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England. I love you. You are beautiful. And you can do anything, she told her audience. The crowd repeated the mantra.

Everyone needs to hear that kind of love. Lizzosinger, songwriter, rapper, and flutistknows it. We can save the world if we save ourselves first, she has said. But the Lizzo of today didnt always feel that self-love herself. It was a long journey to get to that kind of confidence and full-on star status. And it all started in Detroit, Michigan.

The artist known as Lizzo was born Melissa Viviane Jefferson on April 27, 1988. She grew up in Detroit. Her church introduced her to music. The music was spiritual, and that connection

stuck with her. Young Melissa also loved science and writing, and she studied hard in school. She read comics. She loved Sailor Moon . Sailor Saturn was her favorite character.

Lizzo performing at the Glastonbury Festival in 2019

When Melissa was 9 years old, her family moved to Houston, Texas. It was a big change from Detroit. While her parents worked hard building businesses, Melissa discovered the flute. I remember in the fifth grade, I just wanted to be really good. I was like, I want to be really good at the flute. Everybody else is so bad.

James Galway, from Belfast, Ireland, is nicknamed The Man with the Golden Flute.

The flute was Melissas start to making music. And she wanted to be the best. She started studying music by listening to it. She listened to James Galway, a famous flute player, and figured out the notes to play his songs on her flute. Later she learned how to read the notes on sheet music.

The flute was a difficult instrument to learn, but Melissa practiced, developed her own style, and excelled. Band was everything to her. Melissa became a proud band geek.

whE LiZo Li?

WHERE HAS LIZZO LIVED?

MinEplis, MinEotMusi e

r, MihnBon

Lo anLe, iFroig uM

aur, oodou

oTn, Tcol ad Ft

Minneapolis, Minnesota Music scene

Detroit, Michigan Born

Los Angeles, California Recording albums

Aurora, Colorado Mhouse

Houston, Texas School and Flute

Missy Elliott has won four Grammy awards and is one of the best-selling female rappers in history.

Eighth grade was huge for Melissa. Thats when she started calling herself Lizzo. And its when she formed her first rap crew with two friends from school. They were called the Cornrow Clique.

f

FACT

Melissas friends first called her Lizza. Jay-Zs song Izzo was popular at the time, so she combined them into Lizzo.

The piccolo is a smaller flute that can play higher notes.

f

FACT

Twerking is a modern form of West African dancing, similar to the Mapouka dance .

Kids would rap on the bus and in the cafeteria at Lizzos school. Lizzo learned how to freestyle too. She called into a local morning radio show to freestyle on air. Lizzo loved rapping on the spot, knowing that thousands of people were listening. At age 14, she learned how to twerk. It became one of her best dance moves.