Lily Allen

Lily Allen
Allen in 2018
Born
Lily Rose Beatrice Allen

(1985-05-02) 2 May 1985 (age 39)
Hammersmith, London, England
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • actress
  • author
Spouses
  • Sam Cooper
    ​
    ​
    (m. 2011; div. 2018)​
  • ​
    (m. 2020)​
Children2
Parents
Relatives
AwardsFull list
Musical career
Genres
InstrumentVocals
Years active1998–present
Labels
WebsiteLilyAllenMusic.com

Lily Rose Beatrice Allen[4] (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Her musical career began in 2005 when she was signed to Regal Recordings and began publishing her vocal recordings on the social networking site Myspace. Their popularity resulted in airplay on BBC Radio 1. Her 2006 debut commercial single, "Smile" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart by July of that year and received double platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).[5] Allen's debut studio album, Alright, Still (2006), was met with positive critical reception, peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart, and sold over 2.6 million copies worldwide. The album also yielded a Grammy Award nomination for Best Alternative Music Album and spawned the follow up singles "LDN" and "Alfie".

Her second studio album, It's Not Me, It's You (2009), debuted atop the UK Albums Chart and the Australian ARIA Charts, and spawned the hit singles "The Fear", "Not Fair" and "Fuck You". This success saw her receive the Brit Award for British Female Solo Artist at the 2010 Brit Awards. Allen and Amy Winehouse were credited with starting a process that led to the "year of the women" media label in 2009 that saw five female artists making music of "experimentalism and fearlessness" nominated for the Mercury Prize.[6] Her third album, Sheezus (2014) peaked atop the UK Albums Chart once more, while her fourth album, No Shame (2018) peaked at number eight.

Allen also ventured into other careers; in 2008, she hosted her own television talk show, Lily Allen and Friends, on BBC Three before launching her own record label, In the Name Of, in 2011.[7] In 2018, Allen released her autobiographical book, My Thoughts Exactly.[8] As an actress, Allen appeared in the 2019 film How to Build a Girl. In 2021, she made her West End debut in the new play 2:22 A Ghost Story, for which she received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress. She is a daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen.

  1. ^ Eliscu, Jenny (19 October 2006). "Lily Allen". Rolling Stone. No. 1011. p. 84.
  2. ^ a b Condran, Ed (18 September 2014). "Lily Allen plays the Electric Factory in Philadelphia". The Morning Call. Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016. ...the electropop/R&B of "Sheezus"
  3. ^ DuPont, Jean-Pierre (28 September 2006). "Lily Allen: Alright, Still". Voir (in French). Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2016. entre la pop, le reggae et le R&B
  4. ^ Ronamai, Raymond (3 June 2011). "Lily Allen will change her name to Lily Cooper". Filmibeat. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  5. ^ "All the No. 1s". Archived from the original on 18 July 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2009.
  6. ^ Cairns, Dan (26 July 2009). "The rise of a new wave of female singers". The Times. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  7. ^ Michaels, Sean (21 January 2011). "Lily Allen launches own record label". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  8. ^ Sodomsky, Sam (15 August 2018). "Lily Allen Details Memoir My Thoughts Exactly". Pitchfork. Retrieved 3 August 2020.