Kelsey Elizabeth McJunkins (born May 12, 1991), known professionally as Kelsey Lu, is an American singer and cellist based in Los Angeles, California.[3]
Kelsey Lu was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and had a strict Jehovah's Witness upbringing.[4] Both of Lu's parents are musicians: their father is a percussionist, their mother a pianist.[5] Their father's family hails from Nigeria.[6] Lu began studying classical composition at age 6, learning piano, violin, and cello.[4] At age 18, Lu left their family home to attend the University of North Carolina School of the Arts on a scholarship.[5] A year later, they dropped out of the school.[7]
Kelsey Lu recorded their debut EP, Church, in a church in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.[8] During this time, they toured with the band Wet as their opening act.[4] They released Church in 2016.[9] They released their debut album, Blood, in 2019.[10] In that year, they also released Blood Transfusion, a collection of remixes of tracks from Blood.[11] Lu uses they/them pronouns.[12]
