Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper, better known as
Lily Allen (born 2 May 1985), is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician
Keith Allen and film producer
Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from
glam rock to
alternative. Allen abandoned school and concentrated on improving her performing and compositional skills. Afterwards, she created several demo songs and, near the end of 2005, she created a profile on MySpace where she made some of her recordings public.
A contract was signed with the label
Regal Recordings, as the views on MySpace rose to tens of thousands. In 2006, she began to work on completing what would be her first studio album and its first mainstream single "
Smile" reached the top position on the
UK Singles Chart in July 2006. Her debut record,
Alright, Still, was well received on the international market, selling over 2.6 million copies and brought Allen a nomination at the
Grammy Awards,
BRIT Awards and
MTV Video Music Awards. She then began hosting her own talk-show,
Lily Allen and Friends, on
BBC Three.
Her second major album release,
It's Not Me, It's You, saw a genre shift for her, having more of an
electropop feel, rather than the
ska and
reggae influences of the first one. The album debuted at number one on the
UK Albums Chart and the
Australian ARIA Charts and was appreciated by the critics, noting the singer's musical...
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