Lily Allen is an English singer-songwriter with several hit singles and a successful debut album.

She also now hosts her own BBC Three talk show, Lily Allen and Friends, in which she invites her MySpace contacts to be the live audience.

Profile

• Name: Lily Allen
• Also Known As: Lily Rose Beatrice Allen
• Age: 38 Years
• Spouse/Ex-: David Harbour (M. 2020), Sam Cooper (M. 2011–2018)
• Parents: Father: Keith Allen, Mother: Alison Owen
• Siblings: Alfie Allen, Rebecca Allen, Sarah Allen
• Children: Ethel Cooper, Marnie Rose Cooper, William Cooper
• Height: 5’2″ (157 cm), 5’2″

Early Life

Lily Allen was born in Hammersmith, West London, on May 2, 1985. Her father, Keith Allen, is a Welsh actor, pantomime star, and television presenter, while her mother, Alison Mary Owen, is an English film producer.

Born the elder of her parents’ two children, she has one younger brother, actor Alfie Evan Allen. From her mother’s previous relationship, she also has an elder sister named Sarah Owen. She has three half-sisters from her father’s later relationships and marriage: Talbott, Teddie-Rose Malleson-Allen, and Rebecca Allen.

In 1989, when she was four years old, her father left the family. Raised by their mother, they initially lived in a council estate. But later, as Alison Owen entered into a relationship with actor-director Harry Enfield, they moved in with him, enabling the children to enjoy a brief period of stability.

They had to move out of Enfield’s home when he got tired of Owen’s frequent work trips, parties, and drugs, creating in young Lily a longstanding abandonment issue. Her schooling was also disrupted.
Between the ages of five and fifteen, she attended 13 schools, including Hill House and Bedales; she was expelled for drinking and smoking from many of them.

In 1996, when Lily Allen was studying at Cavendish School, London, she was discovered by Rachel Zeffira, who was teaching at the same school. She heard little Lily singing Wonderwall in the playground and was impressed. The next day, she started giving Lily lunchtime music lessons.

In 1997, Lily Allen took to the stage at a school concert to sing Baby Mine from Disney’s Dumbo, making her audience cry. Over time, she achieved grade 8 in singing and played the piano, violin, guitar, and trumpet. She also became a member of the school chamber choir.

In 1998, she appeared as a lady-in-waiting in Elizabeth, a film co-produced by her mother, and in the music video of Vindaloo, a song by British band Fat Les. The following year, she ran away from home to attend the hip Glastonbury Music Festival.

Career

Lily was initially signed to Warner Music, thanks to her dad’s connections, but when the executive who had signed her left the label, the rest of the company lost interest in her. The folk songs that they had presented to her remained unreleased.

2005, she was signed to Regal Records after meeting the production duo Future Cut. She was given £25,000 to record an album.

Lily Allen’s MySpace popularity has been well documented. She began posting demos online in November 2005. The tracks attracted thousands of listeners and 500 copies of ‘LDN’ were hastily released.

The Observer Music Monthly took an interest in her popularity. Still, only some people outside Regal’s A&R department knew who Lily Allen was, so the label’s response to interview requests could have been faster!

Lily chose to work with producers Greg Kurstin and Mark Ronson to finish the album, which was completed in two weeks.

The album was entitled Alright, Still. Entertainment Weekly named it one of the Top 10 albums of 2006 despite not being released in the US.

Lily Allen has undertaken several collaborations, including backing vocals for Robbie Williams on his Rudebox album and for Basement Jaxx on the tracks ‘Lights Go Down’ and ‘Wanna Be’ by Dizzee Rascal.

Awards & Achievements

Lily Allen has received 31 awards, including one BRIT Award, one BT Digital Music Award, one Download Music Award, one ELLE Style Award, two Glamour Woman of the Year Awards, two IFPI Platinum Europe Awards, etc. That apart, she has also won 73 nominations for her music.