10 Popular Musicians You Didn't Know Were From Kansas City

by Darren Paltrowitz

1. Janelle Monáe

Janelle Monae Moonlight
A24

Janelle Monáe was born on the Kansas side of Kansas City. A graduate of Schlagel High School -- which also counts Olympic track and field sprinter Maurice Greene, former NFL player Sam Simmons and former MLB player Damian Rolls among its alumni -- she did not move to Atlanta until 2001. Her 2018 performance, as part of the Open Spaces Festival, was regarded as a homecoming.

Monáe is not only a popular singer, songwriter and producer with eight Grammy Award nominations to her credit, but also an acclaimed actress. She starred in the film Hidden Figures as NASA mathematician and aerospace engineer Mary Jackson and was also a star of the Academy Award-winning film Moonlight. Her most recent studio effort, 2018's Dirty Computer, debuted at number six on the Billboard 200. Meanwhile, her vocal contributions to the fun anthem "We Are Young" continue to be heard all over the world on a regular basis.

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Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. In the years following, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Format Magazine, Businessweek, The Improper, Chicago Tribune, the L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Darren is also the host of the "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" podcast, as co-produced with PureGrainAudio. He is also the author of two published books, including 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press).