These Hot and Rising Stars Are All From St. Louis

Before becoming a four-time-Grammy artist, SZA, who was the first female artist signed with the venerable Top Dawg Entertainment, was born in St. Louis, but grew up in Maplewood — Maplewood, New Jersey, that is. But the R&B star has always repped the Lou, recently telling the crowd at Enterprise Center, “This means more to me than Madison Square Garden. It means more to me than Barclay’s. It means more to me than any other city.” Her fame began as she caught buzz over her EPs See.SZA.Run and S before exploding into the mainstream with her debut full-length, 2017's Ctrl. This year, SZA won a grammy for Best R&B Song for her song “Snooze,” Best Progressive R&B Album for SOS and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Ghost In The Machine.”

The American Horror Story and Dahmer star Evan Peters has received various awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Peters was raised in Ballwin before moving with his family to Grand Blanc, Michigan.

26-year-old St. Louis native Sexyy Red, known for her bright red hair and raunchy lyrics, rose to fame in 2023 with the release of her single “Pound Town,” which then sparked “Pound Town 2” featuring Nicki Minaj. She’s made several recent high-profile appearances in her native St. Louis, and made the most out of being blocked from a youth rally, reportedly for smelling like weed. Oddly, despite her raunchy persona, she was also invited to Hazelwood Central High School, a visit followed swiftly, and predictably, by an apology from the district. Sexyy Red herself graduated from Normandy High School.

Tom Sandoval became the most hated man in America when it was revealed via his Bravo show Vanderpump Rules that he was cheating on his girlfriend — because, OMG, no one has ever done that before in the reality TV universe. The ensuing "Scandoval" certainly raised his profile, although not necessarily in ways he’s found easy to live with. And yes, in an attempt to capitalize on his notoriety, he now has a band. But let’s not forget he’s still one of us — a graduate of Hazelwood West High School. Sandoval’s mom recently retired after working as a firefighter with the Creve Coeur Fire Protection District; his dad owns a local construction company.

Dylan Brady and Laura Les, graduates of Kirkwood and Webster Groves High Schools, respectively, formed the hyperpop group 100 gecs in 2015. The duo released their first EP 100 gecs in 2016 followed by 1,000 gecs in 2019, which is when they really started taking off. In 2022 they came out with their second EP Snake Eyes and their album 10,000 gecs in 2023. Today they both live in Los Angeles, but they credit the Guitar Center off Watson Road and Kirkwood High teacher David Cannon for helping hone their musical styles as teenagers, as they told the RFT in a recent profile.

Metro Boomin, who attended Parkway North High School, is a record producer who specializes in the trap sub-genre of hip-hop. He found fame in 2016 when he was given credit for producing “Jumpman” by Future and Drake, “Bad and Boujee” by Migos, “Low Life” by Future and The Weeknd and the 21 Savage collaboration “X.” His music may be some of the hottest in the game right now, but unfortunately, his old tweets suggest he may not be someone to trust around your underage friends — yikes.

Florissant native Smino, who graduated from Hazelwood Central High School, first gained recognition in 2012 with his mixtape Smeezy Dot Com. Since then he has released two EPs, S!Ck S!Ck S!Ck and blkjuptr, and three albums blkswn, NØIR and Luv 4 Rent. He is also the founder of Zero Fatigue and one third of the music group Ghetto Sage. Most of his success has come after he moved to Chicago, but as his recent “Homegrown” collab with City SC proves, he’s St. Louis proud and using his fame to uplift other local artists.

Layton Greene, originally from East St. Louis, Illinois, is best known for her single “Leave Em Alone” featuring Lil Baby, PnB Rock and City Girls. But she first found fame when her cover of Kodak Black’s “Roll in Peace” was discovered on TikTok. At the time, she was working at Walmart and trying to get her GED. "The first day when my phone was blowing up, it was going off the hook. I left Walmart, I left my job and never came back," Greene told the RFT. "Once I went viral, I was like, 'This is it!' Since then she has signed with Quality Control Music in Georgia as its first female R&B artist and released her EP Tell Ya Story.

St. Louis native BlakeIANA’s song “Bing Bong'' went viral on TikTok in March of 2023, but it wasn’t until her remix with Sexyy Red that she really got famous. In November 2023, she signed with 300 Entertainment — a big step up for a kid who grew up near Union and Lotus avenues. She went to McCluer North, and told the RFT that before "Bing Bong," she worked at Foxworth Hair Works off Natural Bridge and Goodfellow, a hair salon owned by her godmother. She has since released a new song earlier this year called “Stl Finest.”

Kirkwood native Slayyyter started her career independently by releasing songs through her SoundCloud. Since then she has released her album Slayyyter in 2019, Troubled Paradise in 2021, her EP Inferno Euphoria in 2022 and her most recent album Starfucker in 2023. She told the RFT she went to Catholic school for grade school before graduating from Kirkwood High — and she’s got some serious St. Louis pride. “People don't get it, but I feel like as soon as you get some Imo's Pizza in their mouths, they're like, ‘Oh, this place is pretty damn cool,’ you know?” she told the RFT.

Singer/musician

Before being named as one of NPR’s favorite new artists of 2018 and getting a shout out from no less than Barack Obama, Tonina started her musical career at 14 years old when she joined the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. Her musical journey since has taken the now Los Angeles-based vocalist, bassist, and songwriter across the world. She attended Berklee College of Music in Boston and Valencia, Spain, as well as played at the Catania Jazz Festival in Sicily.

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum started out at Chaminade College Preparatory School in Creve Coeur where he was a McDonald's All-American. After high school he went on to play college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils. But he hasn’t forgotten where he came from — including the Wohl Community Center at Kingshighway and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, where he learned to play hoops as a kid growing up in U. City.

Karlie Kloss was a cheerleader at Webster Groves High School who just so happened to also be a rising star model and, soon, Victoria’s Secret Angel. She was discovered while modeling at a local benefit show in 2005 and has never looked back. These days, she’s a mom to two kids but still makes time to come back to St. Louis and engage in activism, working to gather signatures to get abortion rights on Missouri’s 2024 ballot. Could politics be in her future?

Big Boss Vette found fame in 2015 when her version of Dej Loaf's song "Try Me” went viral. But it wasn’t until her hit song “Pretty Girls Walk” that Vette blew up. The song has more than 35 million streams that caused her to become a vital sensation on TikTok. She also recently collaborated with Metro Boomin’ for the Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack. Born Diamond Smith, her answer to the high school question is ACE Learning Centers, a St. Louis school that helps students with academic and behavioral challenges earn their high school diploma.

Angel Olsen

Musician

Angel Olsen, who graduated from Tower Grove Christian Academy, got her start at 16 years old in the local band Good Fight. After moving to Chicago and going solo, Olsen released six albums: “Half Way Home” in 2012, “Burn Your Fire for No Witness” in 2014, “My Woman” in 2016, “All Mirrors” in 2019, “Whole New Mess” in 2020 and “Big Time” in 2022. The 37-year-old now resides in Asheville, North Carolina.

Bradley Beal’s basketball career started out at Chaminade College Preparatory School, where he was such a legend, the Catholic high school named its arena after him. Following high school, Beal played college basketball for the Florida Gators and was then selected by the Washington Wizards in the third overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft. He now plays for the Phoenix Suns.

The 21-year-old rapper Dess Dior has been rapping since she was 12. She’s best known for her hits “Stop Playin’” and “Bandz.” Besides music, Dior has has her own entertainment company called Show Luv Entertainment and dated rapper Future. Before moving to Savannah, Georgia with her family, Dior was born in St. Louis.

Kirkwood native Joanna Serenko went from winning the St. Louis Teen Talent Competition at the Fabulous Fox Theatre to a coveted slot on The Voice during a very unusual pandemic year that forced her to perform at several points from her backyard in Missouri instead of on a stage in Los Angeles. At the time, she was just 19. She’s since released an album and become a regular presence at venues around St. Louis while studying nursing at Maryville and perfecting her musicianship with musical mentors like keyboardist Dave Grelle.

R&B singer Jordan Ward was raised in south city and Maryland Heights before his big break with the debut of his EP A Peak at the Summit. Prior to that Ward was a background dancer for Janet Jackson, Usher, Beyonce and Justin Bieber. He has since released two other albums, Valley Hopefuls in 2019 and FORWARD in 2023. Ward attended Metro Academic and Classical High School and Parkway North High School.

Best known for her role as Jenny Humphrey in Gossip Girl and Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Taylor Momsen gave up acting and now focuses on her music. Momsen, who attended Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in University City before moving to Potomac, Maryland, is now the frontwoman of the rock band the Pretty Reckless.