About Lily Allen
Lily Allen is the middle
child of three, born on
the 2nd May 1985 in
Hammersmith, London. Her
father is the actor
Keith Allen and mother,
Alison Owen, is a film
producer. Her parents
have since divorced.
The first time Lily’s
distinctive singing
voice was noticed was
when, at 11 years old,
she was overheard
singing the Oasis track
Wonderwall by the
soprano Rachel Santesso.
Ms Santesso subsequently
started giving Lily
singing lessons, which
led to her singing in
various school
productions. The young
Lily also played the
guitar, violin and
trumpet.
Having chosen to pursue
a career in music, Lily
was rejected by several
record labels before
signing to Regal
Recordings in 2005. Due
to the apparent lack of
support she felt she was
receiving from the
record label, Lily
decided to set up a My
Space account on which
she began posting demos
of her work. This
created great mainstream
interest in her songs
and allowed her a more
creative input into her
forthcoming album.
Lily’s first single,
Smile, was released in
July 2006, reaching #1
in the UK. The
subsequent album, much
of which was written by
Lily and produced by
Mark Ronson and Greg
Kirstin, was Alright,
Still . The album became
a huge hit, selling over
2.6 million worldwide,
and was nominated as the
Best British Album at
The Brit Awards in the
following year. Three
further successful
singles were then
released from the album.
These were Alfie, a song
which was allegedly
about her younger
brother, LDN and Knock
‘Em Out. The album also
became a top twenty
album in the US, where
Smile was also released
as a single. Lily also
featured as vocalist on
the Kaiser Chief’s top
ten single Oh My God and
later appeared at the
Glastonbury Festival in
2007.
Lily’s second album,
It’s Not Me, It’s You,
was simultaneously
released in both The USA
and UK in February 2009.
The album entered the
UK, Canadian and
Australian charts at #1
and even entered the US
charts at #5, making it
the biggest success of
Lily’s career so far.
The first single
release, The Fear, was
equally successful,
staying at #1 in the UK
charts for four weeks.
The single also gained
the distinction of
topping the first Mobile
Downloads chart, which
is based purely on
mobile phone downloads
in the UK.
The second single
released from It’s Not
Me, It’s You was a
humorous song about a
lazy lover called Not
Fair. The single reached
#9 in the UK.
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