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Lily Allen

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Lily Allen

Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born May 2, 1985) is an English singer-songwriter known for songs such as "Smile" and "LDN". She is the daughter of actor/musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen.

Her single "Smile" reached #1 on the UK singles charts in July 2006.

Early years

Lily Allen was born in Hammersmith, London, to Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen.[2] She and her family eventually settled in the North London borough of Islington. She has an older sister, Sarah; a younger brother, Alfie Owen-Allen (who was the subject of her song "Alfie"); and a younger sister Rebecca. She also has a number of half-siblings. Lily Allen is also the goddaughter of late Clash guitarist, Joe Strummer.

In 1988, Allen appeared on The Comic Strip Presents... episode "The Yob", which her father had co-written.[3] When Allen was four years old, her father left the family.[4] Allen grew up with her mother in a working class environment, living in a council house environment for most of her childhood.[5] Allen attended 13 schools, including Hill House School and Bedales School[4], and was expelled from several of them.[6] In her free time, she listened to artists such as The Specials, T.Rex, and Happy Mondays and read.[7]

Allen made an appearance as a lady-in-waiting in the 1998 film Elizabeth, produced by her mother.[8] She dropped out of school at age fifteen, not wanting to "spend a third of her life preparing to work for the next third of her life, to set herself up with a pension for the next third of her life."[9] After her family went to Ibiza on vacation, Allen told her mother that she was staying with friends but remained in Sant Antoni de Portmany instead. She earned money by working at a Plastic Fantastic record store and dealing in ecstasy.[9]

Record label interest

Allen met her first manager, George Lamb, when he saved her from several assailants and sent her home.[9][10] Allen was rejected by several labels, which she attributed to her drinking and being the daughter of Keith Allen.[10] Lily eventually used her father's connections to get signed to Warner Music in 2002.[11] When the executive who had signed her left, the label lost interest and she left without releasing the folk songs they had presented her.[11][12]

Allen studied horticulture with the intent of becoming a florist but changed her mind and returned to music. She began writing songs, and her manager introduced her to production duo Future Cut in 2004. They worked in a small studio in the basement of an office building.[12] In 2005 Allen was signed to Regal Records; they gave her GB£25,000 to produce an album, though they were unable to provide much support for it due to their preoccupation with other releases such as Coldplay's X&Y and Gorillaz' Demon Days.[13]

Popularity on MySpace

Allen created an account on MySpace and began posting demos in November 2005.[13] The demos attracted thousands of listeners, and 500 limited edition 7" vinyl singles of "LDN" were rush-released, reselling for as much as £40.[9][13] Allen also produced two mixtapes — My First Mixtape and My Second Mixtape — to promote her work: they included tracks by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Dizzee Rascal, and Ludacris. As she accumulated tens of thousands of MySpace friends, The Observer Music Monthly, a magazine published in The Observer, took interest.[9] Few people outside of her label's A&R department knew who she was, so the label was slow in responding to publications wanting to report about her.[13]

In its March 2006 issue, OMM included an article about Allen's success through MySpace, and she received her first major mainstream coverage appearing in the magazine's cover story two months later. The success of her songs convinced her label to allow her more creative control over the album and to use some of the songs that she had written instead of attempts to work with mainstream producers. Allen decided to work with producers Greg Kurstin and Mark Ronson, finishing the rest of the album in two weeks.[13]

Debut album

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Allen's debut album, Alright, Still, was released as a limited-edition 12" vinyl in the UK on July 3, 2006; the full CD release followed in the UK and the rest of Europe on July 17, 2006. The album features between 11 and 14 tracks (depending on the copy of the CD), most of which were previewed on her MySpace page,[14] including the single "Smile" (the first song she ever wrote with Future Cut), "LDN", "Knock 'Em Out", and "Alfie". "Friday Night", co-written with Jonny Bull, is also included, alongside "Littlest Things", produced by Mark Ronson. The album was released on January 30, 2007 in the United States, selling 34,000 copies to land #20 on the Billboard Album Charts.[15]

In September 2006, "Smile" was made available on the United States version of the Apple Inc.'s iTunes Music Store. As of December 2006, her music video for "Smile" has been played on various music channels as well as the song getting a little airplay. She has also done several promotional ads for MTV as their Discover and Download artist of the month for January.

On the week ending on January 28, 2007, British artists made chart history taking all Top 10 places in the Official UK Albums chart for the first time since the chart was established in 1956, according to British record labels trade association the BPI, the album "Alright, Still" was number-nine that week.[16]

Entertainment Weekly named "Alright, Still" as one of the top 10 albums of 2006 despite the fact that it had not yet been released in the U.S. The album was released in the United States on 30 January 2007, with "Smile" serviced to radio in January as the first single. The U.S. version contains three additional tracks: "Nan, You're A Window Shopper," "Blank Expression" (on the iTunes version) and a new remix of "Smile" by Mark Ronson.

In concert, Allen performed a parody of 50 Cent's "Window Shopper", called "Nan, You're a Window Shopper", which was commercially released as a B-side to "LDN", because approval was not given in time for the Alright, Still release. Nonetheless, the song appears on the U.S. version of Alright, Still.

Recent activity

Allen performing in June 2007.

Allen provided backing vocals on the Basement Jaxx song "Lights Go Down" (from Crazy Itch Radio) and appears on tracks on Robbie Williams's latest album, Rudebox as example on the Manu Chao-cover "Bongo Bong And Je ne t'aime plus" and on "Keep On". She also provides vocals on "Rawhide" by Jamie T and "Wanna Be" by Dizzee Rascal.

Confirmed for release, the fourth single from the album "Alright, Still" will be a Double A-side of "Shame For You"/"Alfie".

Allen performed to positive reviews[17][18] when Irving Plaza was rechristened as The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza on April 11, 2007.[19] Her style of cocktail dresses and athletic shoes gained popularity, resulting in the May 2007 premiere of Lily Loves, a line of dresses, shoes, and accessories sold through New Look.[20]

Allen is currently working with Future Cut on a second album but has avoided mentioning details about it, stating that "that's a mistake a lot of people make these days, when they have a successful first album, and then the record company pushes them into rushing a second one."[21]

In June 2007 she hosted The Friday Night Project.

Controversies

Allen has been the subject of many controversies, mainly because of her expressed opinions of other musicians. She went to private school with Luke Pritchard of The Kooks, made some disparaging comments about them, and then covered their song "Naïve" on Jo Whiley's Live Lounge to show there were "no hard feelings". She has also called Bob Geldof a "cunt"[22] and a "sanctimonious prat",[23] and has claimed that Kylie Minogue performing at the Glastonbury Festival would be the ultimate insult to the event.[24] Her 2007 performance on the pyramid stage included negative lyrics directed towards Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole.[25]

She had previously said on Radio 1 that she loved Chris Moyles, but then remarked, after being invited on his show, that he was too self-obsessed in the presence of his guests. She also had a biff in Australia at Big Day Out in February 2007 with the band Jet claiming in her Myspace blog that she threw a beer bottle at drummer Chris Cester's head when he flicked a cigarette at her after she "wound" him the wrong way.

She also said that everyone that bought Paris Hilton's debut album should be killed off.[26]

When asked by the NME how she would celebrate if her debut single, "Smile", got to Number 1 in the UK charts, she responded "gak" (a slang term for cocaine). She immediately said that she was joking, but the remark was widely quoted in the tabloid press. Allen has since apologised for the remark.[27][28] She admitted in an NME interveiw that she worked as an ecstasy drug dealer at the age of 15 whilst living in Sant Antoni de Portmany, though she wasn't very good at it.[29]

In June 2007 Allen was questioned by police over an alleged assault on a photographer outside a nightclub.[30]

Reception

Allen has been the subject of both strong positive and negative reactions. She was included on the NME Cool List for 2006, but she complained in her blog that the treatment was "fucking patronising". She was voted the third coolest person of the year in NME Magazine.[31] She ranked "Number One Reason to Love '07"[32] and "Hottest Woman of Pop/R&B."[33] in Blender magazine. On the other hand, she was also rated number 10 in BBC Three's Most Annoying Person of 2006.

Rapper Example has recorded a new version of "Smile" called "Vile", which is an answer song written from the perspective of the ex-boyfriend (although he was never actually Allen's boyfriend[34]). Both songs were then parodied by Chris Moyles on his Radio 1 breakfast show in a song called "Piles". "LDN" has spawned an answer song by rapper Sway DaSafo and a remix by UK grime artist JME.

Award history

  • BRIT Awards
    • 2007, Best British Single: "Smile" (Nominated)
    • 2007, Best British Album: Alright, Still (Nominated)
    • 2007, Best British Female (Nominated)
    • 2007, Best British Breakthrough Act: "Smile" (Nominated)
  • NME Awards
    • 2007, Worst Dressed (Won)
    • 2007, Best Solo Artist (Nominated)
    • 2007, Sexiest Woman (Nominated)
    • 2007, Worst Album: Alright, Still (Nominated)

Discography

Albums

Album information
Alright, Still

Singles

Year Song UK IE NZ DE AU ES FR RU PL US BR Album
2006 "Smile" 1 6 6 67 14 15 16 13 1 49 72 Alright, Still
"LDN" 6 21 23 — 39 — — 43 41 — 81
"Littlest Things" 21 — — — — — — 98 23 — —
2007 "Shame for You"/"Alfie" 15 31 15 — — — — — — — —
"Oh My God" (Mark Ronson Feat. Lily Allen) 12 — — — — — — — — — — Version

Non-album songs

Features

References

  1. ^ "Guest List: Lily Allen". Pitchfork Media. April 25, 2007. Retrieved June 27, 2007.
  2. ^ Barratt, Nick. "Family detective". The Daily Telegraph. May 19, 2007. Retrieved June 23, 2007.
  3. ^ "'The Comic Strip Presents...' The Yob (1988)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved June 25, 2007.
  4. ^ a b Walker, Andrew. "Faces of the week". BBC News. July 21, 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2007.
  5. ^ "Flowered up". The Guardian. June 23, 2007. Retrieved June 25, 2007.
  6. ^ "Lily Allen Admits to Giving a Blowjob and Getting Expelled. We Love Her!". Rolling Stone. May 24, 2007. Retrieved June 25, 2007.
  7. ^ Phares, Heather. "Lily Allen > Biography". All Music Guide. 2007. Retrieved June 27, 2007.
  8. ^ "Elizabeth (1998) - Full cast and crew". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved June 25, 2007.
  9. ^ a b c d e Sawyer, Miranda. "Pictures of lily". The Observer. May 21, 2006. Retrieved from Guardian Unlimited June 23, 2007.
  10. ^ a b Swift, Jacqui. "Lily: I'm a gobby bitch". The Sun. Retrieved June 23, 2007.
  11. ^ a b Salmon, Chris. "Me, my dad and Dumbo". The Guardian. September 22, 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2007.
  12. ^ a b Sisson, Patrick. "Lily Allen: Mighty Aphrodite". URB, issue 143. March 29, 2007. Retrieved June 23, 2007.
  13. ^ a b c d e Plagenhoef, Scott. "Interview: Lily Allen". Pitchfork Media. November 6, 2006. Retrieved June 24, 2007.
  14. ^ Lilymusic - Lily Allen MySpace page
  15. ^ Norah Jones Breaks McPheever, Beats 'Idol' Runner-Up To #1 - Madonna, Lily Allen also generate impressive first-week sales.
  16. ^ BPI Official Website, UK talent celebrates first all-British Top 10 in UK chart history
  17. ^ Tom Breihan Village Voice
  18. ^ New York Post April 13 2007
  19. ^ Huhn, Mary (2007-03-30). "GET ON THE BANDWAGONER". New York Post. Retrieved 2007-04-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ Croft, Claudia. "Lily's new look". The Sunday Times. April 22, 2007. Retrieved June 24, 2007.
  21. ^ Montgomery, James. "Lily Allen Says Alcoholism Rumor Is 'Just Another One Of Those Lies'". MTV News. June 20, 2007. Retrieved June 22, 2007.
  22. ^ Allen, Lily. "Lily Allen MySpace Profile". Retrieved 2006-07-24.
  23. ^ Transmission with T-Mobile (TV-Show). 2006-06-17.
  24. ^ "Allen Slams Kylie Glastonbury Appearance". 2006-07-12.
  25. ^ "Lily Allen lashes out at Cheryl Cole". 2007-06-24.
  26. ^ Taylor, Chris (2006-12-30). "Lily Allen: Paris Hilton Fans Should Be Killed". Entertainmentwise. Retrieved 2007-04-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ "Lily Allen: 'Cocaine Celebration Comment Was A Joke'". FemaleFirst.co.uk. 2006-07-19. Retrieved 2006-08-03.
  28. ^ Allen, Lily. "Hey Everyone". Retrieved 2006-08-03.
  29. ^ "Lily Allen admits to drug dealing". NME.com. 2006-12-06. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
  30. ^ "Pop star Lily quizzed by police". BBC News. 29 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-14.
  31. ^ Mike Diver (2006-11-23). "Lily Allen: angry at "f*cking patronising" magazine".
  32. ^ "25 Reasons to Love '07". Blender Magazine Online. Jan/Feb 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  33. ^ "Hottest Women of...Pop/R&B!". Blender Magazine Online. Jan/Feb 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  34. ^ Allen, Lily. "Untitled Forum Post". Retrieved 2006-07-28.

Interviews

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