Mississippi soul singer KIRBY will headline this year's Frizz Fest, the free natural hair and beauty festival that takes over Tower Grove Park on Saturday, September 19. The singer, who released her sophomore album Miss Black America in 2025, plans to perform as the festival draws its usual crowd of roughly 10,000 people from across the region and beyond.
KIRBY's booking was reported by St. Louis Post-Dispatch music reporter Jasmine Osby. Before launching her own solo career, KIRBY built a reputation as a powerhouse songwriter, co-writing the 2015 Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney single “FourFiveSeconds” and Beyoncé's 2017 track “Die With You,” according to her Wikipedia entry, which notes she trained at Memphis's Stax Music Academy before signing with Jay-Z's Roc Nation publishing division.
KIRBY's solo catalog carries its own cultural weight. Her debut album Sis, released in February 2020, landed tracks on HBO's Insecure, and later that year her viral video about the origin of the Aunt Jemima brand contributed to Quaker Oats retiring the image, per the same Wikipedia page. Her Southern soul sound and history of speaking out on Black identity issues make her a fitting headliner for a festival built around self-acceptance.
A Festival Born From Personal Loss
Frizz Fest didn't start as a massive regional draw — it began in 2017 as a tribute. Founder Leslie Hughes created the event alongside executive director Valerie Hughes through the nonprofit Frizzy By Nature LLC, dedicating it to Leslie's late mother, Michelle Flowers, as a way to foster self-love and natural hair confidence, according to Essence. What began as a personal healing project has since grown into one of the region's largest annual cultural gatherings, with KSDK reporting the festival now draws nearly 10,000 attendees each year to Tower Grove Park.
This year's edition features a business market with more than 50 local small businesses and food trucks, per KSDK. Organizers have also added a sensory-friendly youth zone this year, designed to improve accessibility for neurodivergent children, alongside the festival's traditional youth art activities and community resource booths. The event remains free and family-oriented, open to all ages.
Small Businesses Cash In On Festival Weekend
The economic impact for local vendors has been significant. Vendor surveys from Frizzy By Nature indicated Frizz Fest generated more than $100,000 in single-day sales revenue for local small businesses in 2025, with attendees traveling in from 29 states, according to the St. Louis American. Many of the participating Black-owned businesses operate without permanent brick-and-mortar locations, making the festival a rare and lucrative sales window.
KIRBY joins a lineup of R&B talent that Frizz Fest has built its reputation on. Essence notes the festival previously booked Grammy-nominated singer Marsha Ambrosius in 2024 and Melanie Fiona in 2025, with live musical performances anchoring a schedule that also includes hair demonstrations and art installations.
Hair Discrimination Law Adds Local Stakes
Frizz Fest's mission connects to an ongoing civil rights fight over natural hair. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones signed Board Bill 222, the city's version of the CROWN Act, into municipal law in May 2021, banning race-based hair discrimination in employment, housing and city institutions. The legislation, sponsored by Alderwoman Shameem Clark Hubbard, was announced by the City of St. Louis.
That local protection carries added weight because Missouri has no comprehensive statewide workplace ban on hair discrimination. As of August 2026, 30 U.S. states have enacted their own versions of the CROWN Act, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which notes that Missouri state bills targeting hair discrimination have faced repeated legislative delays.
The festival's setting adds its own layer of history. Tower Grove Park, the 289-acre venue hosting Frizz Fest, opened in 1872 after being donated by merchant Henry Shaw and is designated as one of only seven National Historic Landmark public parks in the country, according to the City of St. Louis. Known for its Victorian architecture and formal landscape design, the park has become the annual backdrop for a celebration that has grown far beyond its personal origins into one of the region's biggest showcases of Black beauty, business and community.
