The Kid Laroi was born Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard in Waterloo, New South Wales, Australia. He adopted his stage name from the Kamilaroi, the Aboriginal Australian people he shares a distant heritage with through his maternal great-great grandfather.
Laroi's parents both worked in the music industry. His father, Nick Howard, had a brief recording career, releasing the pop album Sound Of Breathing in 1995, before moving on to producing and engineering for Australian acts like Bardot and Delta Goodrem, as well as American rappers like Nelly and Fat Joe. His mother, Sloane Howard, was a record executive who managed Scott Cain, winner of the Aussie singing competition Popstars.
Laroi had a hardscrabble childhood. After his parents' divorce when he was 4 years old, his mother struggled financially, sometimes selling drugs to make ends meet. With the help of his uncle, he attended private institutions like the Sacred Heart College in Adelaide, but had to leave when money got tight after his uncle's tragic murder in 2015. He bounced around to different schools and, after he and his mother were kicked out of public housing over noise complaints, couch-surfed at various houses for the next two years. He took a part-time job at a fruit store to help out, but his eye was already on a music career.
See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.
Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.