Griz

Kwiecinski was born and raised in Southfield, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. In elementary school, Kwiecinski was first introduced to the alto sax as well as the piano. After growing up on big horn sounds of funk groups like The Meters, Kwiecinski found himself gravitating towards that influence when he first began making his own music in college. He attended Birmingham Groves High School and then Michigan State University for several years before he dropped out to focus on a music career. It was also during his college years that he had become personally comfortable enough to openly identify as gay. While at Michigan State he would frequently DJ parties at his friends' fraternity houses and play shows in the East Lansing area. GRiZ first became popular with the release of his free debut album, End of the World Party, in 2011. With the release, he ended up supporting bigger artists such as Pretty Lights, Gramatik, and Big Gigantic on their respective tours, eventually leading to his own headlining tour. Following such success, GRiZ released six more albums, Mad Liberation in 2012, Rebel Era in 2013, Say It Loud in 2015, Good Will Prevail in 2016, Ride Waves in 2019, and Rainbow Brain in 2021. Griz currently resides in downtown Denver and Downtown Detroit.