Lily Allen

About Lily Allen

Lily Allen is a multi-talented English singer-songwriter, actress, and author. Her music career began in 2005 when she uploaded some of her recordings on Myspace, which led to her being discovered by Regal Recordings and subsequently receiving airplay on BBC Radio 1. Her debut single, "Smile", topped the UK Singles Chart in 2006, and her debut album, Alright, Still, was well-received and sold over 2.6 million copies worldwide. In 2009, her second studio album, It's Not Me, It's You, saw a shift in genre towards electropop and was also successful, with hit singles such as "The Fear", "Not Fair", and "Fuck You". Allen received the Brit Award for British Female Solo Artist in 2010. She has since released two more albums, Sheezus (2014) and No Shame (2018), both of which received positive reviews. Apart from her music career, she has also hosted her own television talk show, Lily Allen and Friends, and launched her own record label, In the Name Of. She has authored an autobiographical book, My Thoughts Exactly, which was released in 2018. Allen also appeared in the 2019 film How to Build a Girl and made her West End debut in the new play 2:22 A Ghost Story in 2021, for which she received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress.

Lily Allen Early Life & Family Background

Lily Allen was born on 2nd May 1985 in Hammersmith, West London, England to comedian Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Lily Rose Beatrice Allen is her birth name. She has three siblings, an older sister, Sarah, a younger brother, Alfie, who is an actor, and a younger sister, Rebecca. Her mother was from a working-class family in Portsmouth, and her family was devoutly Catholic. She celebrated her 37th birthday as of 2022. She is the goddaughter of Wild Colonials vocalist Angela McCluskey and third-cousin of singer Sam Smith. Growing up, Allen appeared in The Comic Strip Presents... episode "The Yob" at the age of three, which her father had co-written. Her father left the family when she was four years old, and they later moved to Islington after living on a council estate. She is British by nationality and her ethnicity is Mixed as she is of Welsh, English, and Irish descent. 

Allen attended 13 schools, including Prince Charles's junior alma mater, Hill House School, Millfield, and Bedales School, but she was expelled from several of them for drinking and smoking. She played the piano to grade 5 standard and achieved grade 8 in singing. Allen also played violin, guitar, and trumpet and was a member of a chamber choir. Her first solo was "In the Bleak Midwinter". In 1998, she appeared in the music video of the Fat Les song "Vindaloo".  She dropped out of school at age fifteen, preferring not 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.

Lily Allen Career Work

Music Career

• Lily Allen's music career began in 2001 when she recorded the vocals for "On Me Head Not Off Me Head," which was written by her father for Mike Bassett: England Manager. She also appeared in the 2002 song "Who Invented Fish and Chips" by her father's group Fat Les. However, Allen was rejected by several labels due to her drinking and being the daughter of Keith Allen. She eventually signed with London Records in 2002 but left without releasing her folk songs. After studying horticulture, she returned to music and began writing songs while working with production duo Future Cut in 2004.
• In 2005, Allen was signed to Regal Recordings and given £25,000 to produce an album. She created a MySpace account and posted demos that attracted thousands of listeners. Her limited edition 7-inch vinyl singles of "LDN" resold for as much as £40, and she produced two mixtapes to promote her work. The Observer Music Monthly took interest in her in March 2006, and she received her first major mainstream coverage two months later. 
• Her debut album, "Alright, Still", was a commercial success, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide. The album was released in July 2006 that featured a mix of pop, reggae, and ska music, with Allen's witty lyrics and conversational singing style. The success of the album allowed her to have more creative control over her music and use her own songs instead of working with mainstream producers. The album spawned several hit singles, including "Smile", "LDN", "Knock 'Em Out", and "Alfie". "Smile" was a massive hit and received widespread critical acclaim. It topped the charts in the UK and several other countries and was certified gold in the US.
• In addition to her solo work, Allen collaborated with other artists, including Mark Ronson and the Kaiser Chiefs. She provided the vocals for Ronson's cover of the Kaiser Chiefs' "Oh My God", which was a commercial success. She also worked with the Kaiser Chiefs on their third album, providing background vocals for a few of their songs. She performed at several benefit concerts for charities, including War Child, and won a BMI songwriting award for "Smile". 
• The years 2008 to 2011 were eventful for Lily Allen, as she experienced changes in her record company and management, and faced criticism and scandals in the media. Her parent record company, EMI, was taken over by Terra Firma, and she switched from Empire Artist Management to Twenty-First Artists. At the request of her record company, Allen worked with several writers and producers for her second album, "It's Not Me, It's You", but eventually returned to working with Greg Kurstin. The album debuted at number one in the UK, Canada, and Australia, and number five in the United States, and has been certified platinum in the UK. The album's first single, "The Fear," spent four weeks at the top of the UK charts. Allen went on the It's Not Me, It's You World Tour from March 2009 to September 2010 and won Songwriters of the Year and Best Song Musically and Lyrically at the 2010 Ivor Novello Awards.
• Despite her success, Allen faced criticism and scandals during this time. She canceled her appearance at the 2008 Isle of Wight Festival, and her photos drunk and topless at the Cannes Film Festival were widely covered in the press. She also generated controversy for her appearance at the 2008 Glamour Awards, where she showed up intoxicated wearing a dress covered in decapitated Bambi figures, and had an on-stage, expletive-laced exchange with Elton John. However, she also used her fame for good causes, raising funds for the children's charity The Hoping Foundation with Jamie Hince, guitarist for The Kills, and wrote songs for the musical version of Bridget Jones's Diary. In 2009, Allen announced that she was considering a career in acting, that she would not renew her record contract, and that she had "no plans" to make another record. She gave her last performance for two and a half years in September 2010, supporting Muse at Wembley Stadium in London.
• The years from 2012 to 2018 were significant for her career as she released two albums, "Sheezus" (2014) and "No Shame" (2018), both of which showcased her evolution as an artist. She began working on Sheezus in 2012, and the album was released in 2014. Following the release of Sheezus, Allen went through an "identity crisis," as she was not happy with the music she was being asked to create. However, she bounced back and began working on a new album that explored her personal life and experiences. She uploaded several songs online in preparation for the album, including "Family Man," and "Trigger Bang," which was leaked in December 2017. In 2018, Allen released her fourth album, "No Shame", which was nominated for a Mercury Prize. The album features confessional lyrics that discuss her marriage and friendship breakdown, maternal guilt, substance abuse, and social and political issues.
• Since 2019, Allen has been working on her next album, which she revealed on Beats 1 radio would be a concept album. However, in March 2020, Allen mentioned that her new album only has "odd mentions" of her past addictions because she has moved on mentally from that time. She has been writing for the album for just over a year, and the details of the album's concept are yet to be released.
• At Glastonbury Festival 2022, she made a notable appearance during Olivia Rodrigo's set, performing her hit song "Fuck You" as a protest against the Supreme Court ruling that abortion was not protected by the Constitution of the United States. The Guardian described Allen's performance as "thrilling and furious". After the show, Allen shared that she was almost three years sober and unsure if she could perform on a stage like that sober again.

Acting Career

• Lily Allen made her stage debut in August 2021, playing the lead role of Jenny in the West End play "2:22 A Ghost Story" at the Noël Coward Theatre. Directed by Matthew Dunster and written by Danny Robins, the play received positive reviews, with Allen's performance, in particular, being singled out for praise. She was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress and won a WhatsOnStage Award for her performance. Allen has expressed her desire to continue acting in the future, stating in an interview that she is "in love" with the art form and is interested in exploring more roles on stage and screen.
• In addition to her stage work, Allen has also made appearances in films. She played a lady-in-waiting in the 1998 film "Elizabeth", which was co-produced by her mother, and portrayed Elizabeth Taylor in the 2019 film "How to Build a Girl" alongside her brother Alfie. In June 2022, it was announced that Allen will star alongside Freema Agyeman in Sharon Horgan's comedy-drama "Dreamland" for Sky Max. Developed from a short starring Morgana Robinson that aired in 2017, the series is set to premiere in 2023. Allen has expressed excitement for the opportunity to work with Agyeman and Horgan, calling them both "geniuses".

Other Ventures

• In 2008, Allen signed a one-series contract to present her own BBC Three TV show titled "Lily Allen and Friends", which was based on the social networking phenomenon that helped to launch her music career. The show featured several guests, including Mark Ronson, Joanna Page, and James Corden. Despite a high-profile nationwide marketing campaign, the show attracted only 2% of the total multi-channel audience. BBC Three announced that it would renew the show for a second season, citing Allen's rapid development as a TV host and her popularity among its target audience. However, the show did not air in the spring of 2009 as originally scheduled due to Allen's music commitments.
• During this period, Allen also became the face of the National Portrait Gallery's marketing campaign and opened her clothing store titled "Lucy in Disguise" with her sister. In 2011, she launched her own record label, In the Name Of, which released the debut album of Tom Odell. The label closed in 2014, but Allen announced the launch of her second record label, Bank Holiday Records, in May 2016. Additionally, in September 2018, Allen published her memoir, "My Thoughts Exactly", which was nominated for the FutureBook Campaign of the Year and was one of the "best celebrity memoirs of 2018" according to the Evening Standard.
• In October 2020, Allen collaborated with the sex tech company Womanizer to create her own sex toy called "Liberty," a clitoral pump. She also became the chief liberation officer at Womanizer and is heading up their #IMasturbate campaign, which encourages women to embrace their own sexuality. The product received positive reviews from The Independent and Mashable and uses sonic waves to induce sexual pleasure. It is waterproof and has six different intensity levels. Allen had previously recommended Womanizer's products in her autobiography, "My Thoughts Exactly." 

Lily Allen Awards and Achievements

Allen has received 31 awards and 73 nominations for her music, including nominations for nine BRIT Awards (one won), one Grammy Award, three Ivor Novello Awards (three won), one Mercury Prize, and twelve NME Awards (three won). For her acting, she has been nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award. Here are Lily Allen's awards listed in points:

• Brit Awards: British Female Solo Artist - Won in 2007
• BMI Pop Awards: "Smile" - Won in 2008, "The Fear" - Won in 2010, "5 O'Clock" (with T-Pain & Wiz Khalifa) - Won in 2012
• ELLE Style Awards: UK Recording Artist Female - Won in 2014
• Glamour Woman of the Year Awards: Editor's Special Award - Won in 2008, Best UK Solo Artist - Won in 2010
• Gold Digital Single Awards: "The Fear" - Won in 2009
• Global Mobile Awards: The Artist Campaign Award - Won in 2007
• IFPI Platinum Europe Awards: Album Title Q1 Alright Still - Won in 2007, Album Title Q4 Its Not Me Its You - Won in 2009
• Imagina Awards: Best Video Clip – Fuck You - Won in 2010
• Ivor Novello Awards: Songwriters of the Year with Greg Kurstin - Won in 2010, "The Fear" - Best Song Musically and Lyrically with Greg Kurstin - Won in 2010, PRS for Music Most Performed Work - Won in 2010
• Meteor Ireland Music Awards: Best International Female - Won in 2007
• Music Video Production Awards: "Smile" - Best Director of a New Artist - Won in 2007
• Music Week Awards: UK Marketing Campaign of the Year - Won in 2007
• Q Awards: "The Fear" - Best Track - Won in 2009
• The Sun's Bizarre Awards: Best New Act - Won in 2006
• UK Festival Awards: Festival Fitty of the Year – Girls - Won in 2009
• Urban Music Awards UK: Alright, Still - Best Album - Won in 2006
• Virgin Media Music Awards: "The Fear" - Best Track - Won in 2009
• WhatsOnStage Awards: 2:22 A Ghost Story - Best Actress in a Play - Won in 2022
• GQ Men of the Year Awards: Woman of the Year - Won in 2009
• Morgan Awards: Best Insult - Won in 2009

Lily Allen Husband & Children

Lily Allen is currently married to actor David Harbour. The couple started dating in 2019 and made their first public appearance together at the 26th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. After obtaining their marriage certificate, they tied the knot on September 7, 2020, in Las Vegas, with an Elvis impersonator officiating the ceremony. David and Lily now share a home in Brooklyn and seem to be happy together. The couple has been spotted together on various occasions, and their fans are delighted to see them together. Their marriage marks a new chapter in Lily's life, and fans are eager to see what the future holds for the couple.

Previously, she was in a relationship and had affairs with Jay Jopling, Wade Oates, Zoë Kravitz, Liam Gallagher, Lester Lloyd, Seb Chew (2005-2007), Ed Simons (2007-2008), Rupert Grint (2007), Robbie Furze (2008), and James Corden (2008). In December 2007, Allen announced that she and Ed Simons were expecting a child. She announced that she suffered a miscarriage in January 2008. However, in her 2018 memoir My Thoughts Exactly, Allen writes that she "fake[d]" the miscarriage due to fears over how tabloids would report the story. She has stated that she spent three weeks in a psychiatric clinic due to depression. In August 2009, Lily Allen began dating Sam Cooper, a builder and decorator. They got engaged on Christmas Day of 2010 and soon after, announced that they were expecting their first child. The couple tied the knot on June 11, 2011, at St. James church in Cranham, Gloucestershire, England. Their daughter, Ethel Mary, was born on November 25, 2011, and they welcomed their second daughter, Marnie Rose, on January 8, 2013. Unfortunately, their relationship hit a rough patch, and Lily decided to separate from Sam in 2015. She cited her parents, alcohol, and postpartum depression as contributing factors to the divorce and also admitted to cheating on her husband. The couple was officially divorced in June 2015. Lily Allen dated DJ Meridian Dan from 2015 to 2018. They were first spotted together in September 2015, cozying up at Lily's apartment. However, their relationship ended in late 2018, with Lily citing difficulties in being with Dan. 

Lily Allen Net Worth

Lily Allen is a powerhouse in the entertainment industry, having made a name for herself as a successful singer, songwriter, actress, and author. With a net worth of $7 million as of 2023, she's living proof that hard work pays off. Her success in the music industry has been the primary source of her fortune, but her work in screenwriting and social media has also contributed to her wealth. Not only has she achieved critical and commercial success, but Allen has also established herself as a trendsetter in the fashion and jewelry industry. With her own line, she's made a name for herself as a style icon. And her luxurious lifestyle is evident from her £3 million home near Stroud, as well as her collection of high-end cars, including a BMW 3 Series and a Mini Cooper. Clearly, Lily Allen is a force to be reckoned with in the entertainment world, and her impressive net worth is a testament to her talent and hard work.  

Lily Allen Height & Weight

Lily Allen is a British singer, songwriter, and actress, known for her quirky style and unique voice. Standing at a height of 5 feet 2 inches or 1.57 m, Lily has a petite and slender frame, weighing approximately 52 Kg or 115 lbs. Her dark brown hair color and dark brown eyes give her a striking appearance. Additionally, her body measurements of 36-25-35 inches indicate an hourglass figure.

In terms of clothing and shoe size, Lily typically wears a 4 (US) dress size and an 8 (US) shoe size. Her bust size is a 32B, which complements her petite frame. Overall, Lily's body physics are well-proportioned, reflecting her dedication to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and taking care of her physical appearance.

In 2007, Lily Allen worked with trainer David Marshall to lose weight, focusing on her thighs. However, after becoming a mother of two children, she stopped working out and prioritized spending time with her kids instead.