Janelle Monáe

Grammy award winner, Kansas City Coterie Theater Young Playwright’s Roundtable, F.L. Schlagle High School, Outkast, soul

 

 

 

Growing up in a working class household in Kansas City, Kan., soul and R&B singer & songwriter, and Primetime Grammy award-winner Janelle Monáe definitely came from humble beginnings. Her mother worked as a janitor, her father a garbage truck driver with a crippling drug addiction. But her family’s hardships only inspired her to succeed. She started out her singing career at a local Baptist Church as a child and made her way to writing for the Kansas City’s Coterie Theater Young Playwrights’ Round Table. She graduated from F.L. Schlagle High School and moved to the East Coast after receiving a scholarship for the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. After only a short time in New York City, Monáe dropped out of school and moved to Atlanta where she spent her time producing her own self-titled demo and performing at local colleges. In 2005, all of her hard work paid off while she was performing at an open-mic night. After hearing her performance, Big Boi, from the hip-hop group Outkast, decided to feature her in two tracks of an upcoming album called Got Purp? Vol. 11, by the Purple Ribbon All Stars. Five years later, Monae was finally able to launch her first full-length album called The ArchAndroid, which was nominated for two Grammy awards. She released her second album, The Electric Lady, in 2013.