The Kid Laroi

The Kid Laroi Bio

Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard, known professionally as the Kid Laroi, is an Australian singer, rapper, and songwriter born on 17 August 2003 in Waterloo, New South Wales. He first reached a wide international audience after signing with Lil Bibby’s Grade A Productions in a joint venture with Columbia Records and releasing the mixtape F*ck Love in 2020, which reached number one on the ARIA Charts and the US Billboard 200. His 2021 single “Stay” with Justin Bieber topped the Billboard Hot 100, and his debut studio album The First Time arrived in 2023. Laroi draws his stage name from his Gamilaraay heritage and has spoken openly about wanting to put Australia on the global music map.

Early Life and Background

Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard was born on 17 August 2003 in Waterloo, New South Wales, in the inner south of Sydney. His father, Nick Howard, briefly pursued a recording career after signing with executive Simon Cowell before shifting into production and engineering work for Australian acts including Bardot and Delta Goodrem. His mother, Sloane Howard, was a talent manager and record executive of Aboriginal and European descent who once managed Popstars winner Scott Cain. Through his maternal great-great-grandfather, who was part of the Stolen Generation of Aboriginal children, Howard is a Gamilaraay, or Kamilaroi, man, the source of his artistic name “Laroi”.

Howard’s interest in hip hop began at home, where his mother played music from artists like the Fugees, 2Pac, Lil Wayne, and Kanye West. He later praised Kanye West and called the 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak his favourite of all time. His parents separated when he was four, after which his childhood became more unstable; at age seven he moved to the rural town of Broken Hill in New South Wales and lived with his mother, brother, grandparents, and stepfather. He attended Sacred Heart Parish School in Broken Hill, where he served as a house captain and won a speaking award, and later attended Sacred Heart College in Adelaide before returning to Sydney in 2017.

In Sydney, Howard attended the Australian Performing Arts Grammar School on a scholarship, but dropped out midway through year nine to pursue his international career. During this period, his family lived in a Housing Commission building in Redfern. In a 2021 interview he explained that his mother is his best friend and that he took a part-time job at a fruit store to help with their tight finances.

Path to Music

Howard began his music career in 2016, recording raps over beats on his mother’s phone and uploading them to SoundCloud. In 2015 he formed the duo Dream$Team with Adelaide rapper DJ Marcus Jr., who became his mentor and support; the pair recorded songs together and performed to local audiences while DJ Marcus Jr. guided him through promoting, recording, and developing buzz. Howard met producer Khaled Rohaim at a Sydney recording studio, and Rohaim would pick Howard up from various houses around Sydney so they could eat together and record at his rented studio in North Strathfield. Rohaim also gave Howard work writing songs for other artists, and in one instance Howard snuck into the studio to meet A Boogie wit da Hoodie, eventually recording a song together.

In 2017, Howard was signed to a development deal with Sony Music Australia. The same year he co-hosted the Fernside Festival hosted by Weave Youth and Community Services. He has described hustling to break outside Australia by building international relationships, including waiting outside hotel rooms for visiting artists to play his music and find ways to meet them, a strategy that led to a meeting and later collaboration with Swae Lee.

The Kid Laroi Career

Early Career (2018–2019)

On 16 August 2018, the day before his fifteenth birthday, Howard released his debut EP 14 with a Dream, which featured collaborations with Manu Crooks, B Wise, and Miracle. That same month he became a finalist in the Triple J Unearthed High competition, and his Triple J Unearthed profile still features three uploaded songs: “Disconnect (demo)”, “In My Feelings”, and “Blessings”. He jumped on stage with Manu Crooks at Listen Out Festival, rapped with Tkay Maidza at Triple J’s One Night Stand, played the Newtown Festival, and supported THEY. He also collaborated on a song with Lil Skies, who teased the track to his more than three million Instagram followers.

In March 2019 Howard did an in-store meet and greet for streetwear brand Street X in Darlinghurst, where local fans queued to meet him and he performed alongside Triple One. That year he created a partnership agreement with American rapper Lil Bibby’s record label Grade A Productions and Columbia Records, and he was mentored by American rapper Juice Wrld while supporting him on his Australian national tours in 2018 and 2019. Howard later lived with Juice Wrld in Los Angeles to learn how the studio and recording process worked. He performed at Rolling Loud Festivals in Miami and New York, and in December gained international attention when the music video for his song “Let Her Go” was uploaded on the Lyrical Lemonade YouTube channel.

Breakthrough (2020–2021)

On 24 July 2020 Howard released his mixtape F*ck Love, which featured appearances from Lil Mosey, Corbin, and Juice Wrld. A deluxe edition titled F*ck Love: (Savage) was released on 6 November and peaked at number one on the ARIA charts and number three on the US Billboard 200, yielding the hit “Without You”. A later remix with American singer Miley Cyrus peaked within the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Howard’s first top-ten single as a lead artist, and the song was performed on the Saturday Night Live Mother’s Day episode. In July 2021, Howard released “Stay” with Justin Bieber; the song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and was performed with Bieber at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, where Howard was nominated for Best New Artist and Push Performance of the Year for “Without You”.

On 24 November 2021, Howard won Best Artist and Best Pop Release at the 2021 ARIA Music Awards, before performing “Stay” to close the ceremony, and “Stay” was voted second in Triple J’s 2021 Hottest 100, the highest ranking ever for an Indigenous Australian artist in the annual poll. He also exited Grade A Productions and signed a management deal with Scooter Braun, before moving to Adam Leber’s Rebel Management later in 2021.

Notable Works and Milestones

Howard’s signature work is the 2020 mixtape F*ck Love and its commercial re-issues, which produced the global number-one single “Stay” with Justin Bieber in 2021. His debut studio album The First Time arrived in November 2023 with singles “Love Again” and “Too Much” (with Jungkook and Central Cee), and he released the album Before I Forget in January 2026, debuting at number six on the Billboard 200. Across his career he has also recorded a song for the 2023 Barbie soundtrack and made his acting debut in the A24 film Y2K.

The Kid Laroi Award Nominations

The Kid Laroi has received industry recognition throughout his career, including nominations at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards for Best New Artist and Push Performance of the Year for “Without You”. He has continued to be acknowledged across major Australian and international music awards ceremonies for his contributions as a singer, rapper, and songwriter.

The Kid Laroi Awards Won

The Kid Laroi has won two ARIA Music Awards, taking home Best Artist and Best Pop Release at the 2021 ceremony ahead of a closing performance of “Stay”. These wins reflect his rapid rise from SoundCloud uploads in 2016 to headlining global tours within five years.

The Kid Laroi Family

Howard has one brother, Austin, and his parents separated when he was four. His father, Nick Howard, briefly pursued a recording career with executive Simon Cowell before moving into production and engineering work, while his mother, Sloane Howard, worked as a talent manager and record executive and once managed Popstars winner Scott Cain. His stepfather became a consistent father figure during his childhood, and Howard has spoken about drawing inspiration from a desire to break the cycle of hardship common in his community.

Personal Life

As of 2020, Howard lives in Los Angeles with his mother and younger brother, and he considers himself an ambassador for Australia who wants to put his home country on the global music map. He dated TikTok influencer Katarina Deme from 2020 to 2023 and has stated that the breakup directly inspired tracks on The First Time. In April 2024 he confirmed he was in a relationship with Canadian singer Tate McRae; they collaborated on “I Know Love” from her 2025 album So Close to What before breaking up in July 2025.