Early Life
Kayleigh Rose Amstutz was born on February 19, 1998, in Willard, Missouri. Roan described her hometown and upbringing as conservative and Christian.
"I just wanted to feel like a good person, but I had this part of me that wanted to escape so bad."Roan began playing piano when she was 10 or 11 years old and performed publicly for the first time at the age of thirteen at her school's talent show, which she won. When she was fourteen, she auditioned for America's Got Talent without success. At fourteen or fifteen, she began uploading cover songs to YouTube, drawing attention from several record labels. Alongside her online presence, she performed around her hometown and in Springfield from 2012 to 2015.
Career Beginnings
2014
Roan uploads her original song "Die Young" to YouTube under the name Kayleigh Rose. Six months later, she signed with Atlantic Records.
2016
Roan adopts the stage name Chappell Roan in honor of her grandfather, Dennis K. Chappell, who died of brain cancer that same year.
2017
In August, Roan released her first single, "Good Hurt". Interviews reviewed the song favorably, praising her "striking maturity and surprisingly deep vocals". On September 22, 2017, she released her debut extended play (EP), School Nights, through Atlantic. In the same year, she supported Vance Joy on his Lay It On Me Tour.
2018-2019
Roan began working with songwriter and producer Dan Nigro in late 2018. In April 2020, she released "Pink Pony Club", which she described as a "hard left turn" from School Nights.
Breakthrough
2023
In February, Roan embarked on the Naked in North America Tour, her debut headlining tour. Each stop on the tour had a theme, with Roan suggesting outfits for fans while making her own camp costumes herself. Inspired by Orville Peck, Roan chose to book drag queens as openers for the tour.
In March, Roan signed with Amusement Records, a label created by Nigro expressly for Roan, co-signed with Island Records. Later that year, she released the singles "Kaleidoscope", "Red Wine Supernova" and "Hot to Go!".
On September 22, Roan released her debut full-length album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and began her second headlining tour, the Midwest Princess Tour. The tour traveled across North America, Australia, and parts of Europe. The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess was included in various best-albums-of-2023 year-end lists and noted as one of Pitchfork's 22 Best Pop Albums of 2023 and was named PopBuzz's Number One Album of 2023.
2024
Roan opened for Olivia Rodrigo's Guts World Tour in the United States and Canada from February to April 2024. In Roan's first week of the tour, her streams rose by 32 percent.
In April, Roan released the single "Good Luck, Babe!". The song received 7 million streams in its first week, was listed in the Spotify top ten, and debuted at number 77 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was Roan's fastest to hit 100 million streams on the platform. By June, the song became her first top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and by September, it reached a peak of number four, becoming her first top ten song on the chart. Although not included on her debut album, the single's success was a catalyst for propelling it to worldwide recognition. In June 2024, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess entered the top ten on the Billboard 200 for the first time, with more than 40,000 equivalent album units sold. By August, the album had reached number two.
In September, Roan performed at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards and won Best New Artist. She dedicated the trophy to queer and trans people. In October 2024, she reached number one for the first time on the Billboard Artist 100, coinciding with the biggest sales week ever of her debut album. In January 2025, Roan was named the winner of the Sound of 2025 poll of musicians and music experts, organized annually by the BBC.
2025
In February, at the 67th Grammy Awards, Roan won her first Grammy Award for Best New Artist. In her acceptance speech, she called for record labels to provide artists with a living wage and healthcare. Roan's The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, and "Good Luck, Babe!" was nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
On March 14, Roan released "The Giver". In June, she embarked on a new tour, titled the "Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things Tour". On July 31, 2025, Roan released "The Subway", more than a year after it first premiered at her 2024 Governor's Ball set. The song was later nominated at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards in the categories Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.