Lily Allen

At 38 years old, Lily Allen has this physical status:

Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper (née Allen, born 2 May 1985) is an English singer and songwriter.

Alison Owen, the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film director Alison Owen.

Allen left school at the age of 15, focusing on strengthening her writing and composition skills.

She began making some of her albums public on Myspace in 2005, and the publicity resulting in airplay on BBC Radio 1 and a deal with Regal Recordings. In July 2006, her first mainstream single, "Smile," debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart.

Allen's debut album, Alright, Still, was well-received, with over 2.6 million copies sold around the world and earning Allen a nomination at the Grammy Awards, Brit Awards, and MTV Video Music Awards.

On BBC Three, she began hosting Lily Allen and Friends, her own talk show. It's Not Me, It's You, her second studio album, saw a genre shift, with more of an electropop feel than the first's ska and reggae influences.

The album debuted on the UK Albums Chart and the Australian ARIA Charts, and critics were lauding the singer's musical evolution and maturity.

"The Fear" and "Fuck You" were two hit singles that were born.

At the 2010 British Female Solo Artist Awards, she was given the award for British Female Solo Artist.

Allen and Amy Winehouse were credited with starting a process that culminated in five female artists' "experimentalism and fearlessness" being nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2009.

Sheezus (2014), which debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, and No Shame (2018).

My Thoughts Exactly, Allen's debut book in September 2018.

Early life

Allen was born in Hammersmith, West London, on May 2nd, 1985, the niece of Keith Allen, a Welsh-born actor, and British film producer Alison Owen. Sarah, her older sister, and younger brother, Alfie (subject of her song "Alfie"), as well as Rebecca, her younger sister. Lily Allen's mother, who was 17 years old at the time, was from a devoutly Catholic working class Portsmouth family. Allen is the goddaughter of Wild Colonials singer Angela McCluskey and Sam Smith's third-cousin.

Allen appeared in The Comic Strip Presents... episode "The Yob," which her father co-authored, at the age of three. Her father left the household when she was four years old. Allen lived on a council estate with her family in early childhood. They later settled in Islington, Islington. For the time, the family lived with comedian Harry Enfield, when her mother dated him. Joe Strummer, the Clash singer and guitarist, was right next to Allen.

Allen attended 13 schools, including Prince Charles' junior alma mater, the Independent Hill House School, Millfield, Bedales School, and was barred from many of them for drinking and smoking. When Allen was eleven, former University of Victoria music student Rachel Santesso overheard Allen's "Wonderwall" by Oasis in the school's playground; impressed, Santesso, who later became an award-winning soprano and composer, called Allen into her office and began teaching lunchtime singing lessons. Allen performed "Baby Mine" from Disney's Dumbo at a school concert, which resulted in Allen's rendition of "Baby Mine" from Disney's Dumbo.

Allen told Loveline that the audience was "brought to tears over the sight of a struggling teenage girl doing something good." Allen said at that time that she knew that music was either a lifelong career or something that was out of her system. She performed the piano to grade 5 and received a grade 8 in singing. Allen has performed violin, guitar, and trumpet, as well as being a member of a chamber choir. "In the Bleak Midwinter" was her first solo performance. Allen appeared on "Vindaloo" in 1998 and was featured in the Fat Les song "Vindaloo" music video. She dropped out of school at the age of 15, rather than wanting to "spend a third of her life" planning to work for the next third of her life, to set herself up with a pension for the next third of her life.

Personal life

Allen has spoken out about her seven-year stalking ordeal and the consequences it had on her life. Alex Gray, Allen's stalker, first spoke to her in 2008, saying he had written her song "The Fear" under the Twitter handle "www.lilyallenisRIP." Allen began sending letters from her house, her clothes store, her music store, her album name, and her boss's office. He sent an email to his mother in October 2015 announcing that he was planning on murdering a celebrity but went on to spend nights in Allen's back garden, burst into her bedroom when she was asleep, causing Allen to move. Allen has sluggishly chastised the Metropolitan Police for their inaction in the case, which resulted in refusals to show Allen a snapshot of her stalker, causing her panic to alert before requesting it back and refusing to believe stalking allegations were connected. Gray was found guilty of robbery and bullying in April 2016. Judge Martyn Barklem sentenced him to an indefinite hospital order at Harrow Crown Court on June 10th. Gray was also subjected to a restraining order and was refused entry to Hammersmith and Fulham or the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Allen said she isolated herself after the stalking incidents, claiming that "nobody was concerned because the cops weren't interested in taking me seriously." This coincided with her divorce, in which she says "everyone supported [Cooper]," and her album No Shame became the outlet for her problems. Allen said she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in February 2017.

Allen has been outspoken about her body throughout her career. Allen talks to Lorraine, an ITV breakfast service, that she "used to sleep for days so [she] didn't eat" and that her body was "not right" in her 20s. When asked about being influenced by the music industry's pressure to "look a certain way in order to sell records," she replied that, due to her defiant approach to dealing with these unrealistic expectations, she was often dismissed far more than the average musician. Allen in January 2021 gave an interview about how she became addicted to Adderall in 2014 in order to shed weight before assisting Miley Cyrus on her Bangerz tour. She began a journey of recovery as she was encouraged to try heroin right away.

After the Daily Mail published photographs of her home in November 2010, she filed a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers, the parent company of the Daily Mail. She cited an invasion of privacy and copyright violation.

Allen is a cricket enthusiast and appeared on Test Match Special.

Allen began dating musician Ed Simons of the Chemical Brothers in September 2007, and in December, Allen revealed that she and Simons were expecting a child. Allen revealed in January 2008 that she suffered from a miscarriage. Allen, on the other hand, writes in her 2018 book My Thoughts Exactly that Allen claims she "fake[d]" the miscarriage due to concerns about how tabloids would cover the news. Allen's dating relationship with Simons came to an end after five months of dating. Allen claims she spent three weeks in a psychiatric clinic due to depression.

Allen began dating Sam Cooper, a builder and decorator, in July 2009. Allen revealed on August 5 that she was pregnant with her and Cooper's first child, who was later found to be a boy, but not until 2011. "About a week and a half of really bad bleeding" during her pregnancy. Allen, who was six months into her pregnancy, contracted a viral infection that caused her to have a stillbirth, which caused her to suffer a stillbirth, which caused her to have a stillbirth on November 1st. Allen was admitted to a hospital on September 6th, where she responded well to septicaemia treatment. Allen revealed in February 2017 that she had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder after the birth of her first child.

Allen and Cooper became engaged in December 2010 while on holiday in Bali. On the 11th of June 2011 in Cranham, Gloucestershire, England, the couple married. Allen's wedding gown's designer announced she was several months pregnant on the wedding day. In 2011, Allen gave birth to her daughter, Ethel Mary. Marnie Rose, her second daughter, was born in 2013, after which she suffered with postnatal depression.

Allen wrote on Instagram on September 2nd that she had sex with female escorts in 2014 when she wasn't married to Cooper, and that while on tour promoting Sheezus. Allen had detailed information about these events in her book My Thoughts Exactly, and she said she made the Instagram post while the Daily Mail was about to publish an article the next day. Allen has attributed her postnatal depression and marriage breakdowns to her marital breakdown, adding that "I'm not proud, but not ashamed." Allen has chastised the media for portraying the events as a "lesbian prostitute sex romp."

Allen has a confession to Liam Gallagher, when he was married to Nicole Appleton. Allen and Cooper broke up in mid-2015 after she told him about her infidelity. A "friendly divorce" from Cooper had been announced in June 2018 and the parents would divide custody of their children.

Allen began a friendship with actor David Harbour in 2019. They made their red carpet debut at the 26th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. They married in Las Vegas on September 7, 2020, in a wedding that was officiated by an Elvis impersonator, a day after they received their marriage license.

Allen claims to be a socialist. Despite being a firm promoter of Labour, she has been credited with triggering a rebellion against former Prime Minister Gordon Brown after writing to all members of parliament to encourage an amendment to an energy bill, which requires a reward scheme for home renewable energy production. She later expressed her support for the Labour Party and, in particular, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Allen came out in favour of banning repeat offenders after the British government's efforts to introduce a three-strikes code for file sharing copyright violation. It later emerged that she had copied text from a Techdirt website of an interview with 50 Cents without attribution. Allen also infringed on other artists' copyrights by making mix tapes early in her career, which she later posted on her website. Operation Payback, a group of supporters of filesharing, operative under the moniker "Anonymous," launched a denial of service attack that shuts down Allen's website and threatens other critics.

Allen and several other musicians launched the world's first digital musical petition on October 1st, 2009, aimed at provoking world leaders attending the Copenhagen climate change summit in December 2009. Midnight Oil's "Beds Are Burning" was included in the petition.

Allen declared that she would vote for the Women's Equality Party in April 2016 during the London assembly and mayoral elections, but that she would vote against them on the London-wide Assembly ballot, rather than voting Labour elsewhere.

After widespread layoffs from his cabinet and a leadership challenge, Allen took to Twitter and attended many demonstrations in favor of Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in June 2016.

Allen appeared on Channel 4 News on June 15, 2017 to address the Grenfell Tower fire. "The death number has been downplayed by the mainstream media," she said, debating the then-official figure of 17 deaths by saying, "I'm hearing from people that the figure is much closer to 150." The official death toll is now 72.

Allen declared that the Labour Party manifesto was "the best I've ever seen" during the 2019 UK general election campaign, and posted a snapshot of her polling card with the caption: "Tories OUT."

Allen was involved in a slew of scandals early in her career due to her outspokenness. Luke Pritchard of The Kooks, Bob Geldof, Cheryl, Nicola Roberts, Amy Winehouse, Kylie Minogue, and Katy Perry have all received minor media attention. "I'm short, fat, ugly, and I hate all these people who flaunt their beauty," she later described.

Allen was arrested in London on June 28th for reportedly assaulting photographer Kevin Rush while leaving a nightclub in London's West End. On her Myspace blog, she had expressed indignation with paparazzi's attention prior to this. She had stopped posting controversies about herself on her blog by February 2009 because she found it "boring" when people just pick stuff up and write about it. People get hurt, while others get ill." In September 2009, she shut down her Myspace account and suspended social networking completely in December due to the abuse she was getting.

Allen was quoted in a fake interview in which Allen was quoted as making derogatory remarks about David and Victoria Beckham, Ashley and Cheryl Cole in May 2009. Some of the articles were reprinted in The Sun's British tabloid. Allen later apologised and compensated him for his loss. Allen, who began her MySpace career on MySpace in October 2009, canceled her social media pages and declared, "I am now a neo-luddite." "Goodbye" is the French word that means "goodbye." In February 2010, she reactivated her accounts four months later.

Allen's "Hard Out Here" video in November 2013 was accused of being racial because it used mainly black dancers in a "disapproving" manner. Allen said that ethnicity was not a factor in the selection of the dancers, and that the film was a lighthearted satirical glance at objectification of women in modern pop music. Allen apologised for the video in November 2016, saying, "I definitely wanted to make a feminist statement." However, I was guilty of assuming that there was a one-size-fits-all situation where feminism is concerned.

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Music career

Allen told her mother that she and her family were going to Ibiza on holiday, but that she stayed in Sant Antoni de Portmany instead. She made money by being a member of a Plastic Fantastic record store and dealing with ecstasy. Allen met George Lamb, her first boss in Ibiza. She performed on "On Me Head, Not Off Me Head," written by Mike Bassett: England Manager in 2001, and was included in the 2002 film "Who Invented Fish and Chips," written by her father. She began to work with musicians and even performed a demo. Several labels had her disapproved, owing to her bingeing and being Keith Allen's daughter. In 2002, she obtained her first name from her father's connections to become a member of London Records. When the executive who had left, the company lost interest and she left the label without releasing the folk songs, many of which were written by her father. She trained in horticulture to become a florist, but then turned to music and returned to music. Allen began writing songs, while her manager introduced her to the production team Future Cut in 2004. They worked in a tiny studio in the basement of an office building.

Allen was signed to Regal Recordings in 2005, but she was unable to produce much money for it due to their preoccupation with other titles, such as X&Y (Coldplay) and Demon Days (Gorillaz). Allen then created a MySpace account and began posting demos that she had recorded in November 2005. Thousands of listeners were attracted by the demos, and 500 limited edition 7-inch vinyl singles of "LDN" were sold in a rush, reselling for up to £40. Allen also produced two mixtapes, My First Mixtape and My Second Mixtape, to advertise her work. The Observer Music Monthly (OMM), a magazine distributed in The Observer, piqued curiosity in March 2006 as she accumulated tens of thousands of MySpace followers. She was unknown to most people outside of her label's A&R group, so the brand was slow to respond to inquiries requesting information about her. She received her first major newspaper coverage when she appeared in the magazine's cover story two months later.

The success prompted her label to have more creative control of the album and to use some of the songs she had written rather than requiring her to work with mainstream publishers. Allen decided to collaborate with producers Greg Kurstin and Mark Ronson, who completed the remainder of the project in two weeks. Allen's debut album, Alright, Still, was released in July 2006. The bulk of the tracks had been seen on her MySpace page, including "Smile," "LDN," "Knock 'Em Out," and "Alfie." "Smile" was introduced on iTunes Store's US version in September 2006. Smile's music video had been seen on several music websites by December 2006, as well as the song's getting a little airplay. Despite the fact that it had not been announced in the United States, Entertainment Weekly named Alright, Still as one of the top ten albums of 2006. Allen also produced several commercial spots for MTV as the month's Discover and Download artist of the month for January 2007. The album was released in the United States on January 30, 2007, debuting at number 20 on the Billboard 200. The album had sold 960,000 copies in the United Kingdom and 520,000 in the United States by January 2009, as well as 520,000 copies in the United States.

In 2007, she appeared on the newly unveiled Park Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, replacing MIA, who had cancelled. During the festival, she reunited two members of The Specials, an act in which guitarist Lynval Golding said she played a "significant part" in the group's 2009 reunion. She also performed the vocals on the top ten single, "Oh My God," a spin on Mark Ronson's Kaiser Chiefs song "Oh My God." Allen attended the Concert for Diana in Wembley Stadium, London, on July 1, 2007. She performed "LDN" and "Smile." Allen's single "Littlest Things" from her album "Rowanson" won him the "Producer of the Year" award in 2008. On the Kaiser Chiefs' third album, she also provided background vocals to a few songs. Allen received a 2008 BMI songwriting award for his film "Smile."

Allen later appeared at a charity concert for War Child, an international child protection agency that works with children affected by war. Allen sang "Smile" and "Everybody's Changing" in Keane.

Terra Firma took over her first album, EMI, her parent company, after it was announced. She also changed her administration company from Empire Artist Management to Twenty-First Artists, although her core team stayed in place. Allen attempted to produce the album with several writers and producers at her record company's behest. Allen later returned to Greg Kurstin, who had written three songs for Alright, Still. Kurstin of Eagle Rock Studios in Los Angeles produced the album. Allen co-wrote the songs for the album with Kurstin, who played piano on it before returning to Kus. This is a change from her previous work, in which she wrote lyrics for finished tracks. "We decided to try and make more popular, more ethereal songs, and real songs," Allen said in a tweet. I wanted to work with one person from start to finish to make it one body of work. I wanted it to have some sort of credibility. I think I've grown up a bit as a person, and I hope it reflects this." She held two new song demos on her MySpace page and planned to release a mixtape to give her followers an idea of what the new direction was.

Allen postponed a planned appearance at the 2008 Isle of Wight Festival, notifying festival promoter John Giddings that her album was cancelled due to a delay. Giddings said the explanation given was not appropriate and possibly a lie. Giddings opted not to sue her. In the press, pictures of her inebriated and topless at the Cannes Film Festival were also widely distributed. Her appearance at the 2008 Glamour Awards sparked controversy, as she arrived inebriated wearing a dress over decapitated Bambi figures and had an on-stage, expletive discussion with Elton John. Allen performed with producer Mark Ronson at the Glastonbury Festival on June 29, 2008. Allen's emotional connection with "Littlest Things" was dedicated to her grandmother, who died the night before. It's Not Me, It's You, the first time someone was supposed to be released in early 2008, but she was postponed until the fall. EMI was going through reorganization in autumn 2008. In this situation, a decision was taken to postpone the album's release date. Matmi created Escape the Fear as part of a viral marketing movement aimed at people unfamiliar with Allen or the album. "The Game" has dominated the global viral charts three times since its launch, including the week of Christmas, a tense time of the year. "The Game" had been played over two million times by the 18th of February 2009. On an album for the charity Heroes, Mick Jones, the singer and guitarist of The Clash performed "Straight to Hell."

It's Not Me, It's You was launched in February 2009. It debuted in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, as well as the number one spot in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the album has been rated platinum. The album's debut was a factor in EMI more than trebling their earnings. After its debut, the album's first single, "The Fear," debuted at number one in the United Kingdom for the first four weeks. "Not Fair", the album's second single, debuted at number nine on the charts, at #9. She started her It's Not Me, It's You World Tour in March and is on tour for the next two years until September 2010. At the 2010 Ivor Novello Awards, she received the Songwriter of the Year award for her work on this album with Greg Kurstin. In addition, she received the Most Performed Work for "The Fear" in the competition, as well as a Best Song Musically and Lyrically. Allen seemed to be overwhelmed by this acknowledgement from what she called "true awards." Allen received her second BMI Pop Song Award from the United States music licensing firm Broadcast Music Incorporated in October 2010 for extensive US radio airplay of her song "The Fear."

The Hoping Foundation, a fundraiser for the children's charity, was raised £48,350 by Allen and Jamie Hince, guitarist for The Kills. At a karaoke auction fundraiser, the pair performed "Dream a Little Dream of Me."

Allen revealed in September 2009 that she was considering a career in acting, that she did not renew her current deal, and that she had "no plans" to make another record. She appeared at Wembley Stadium in London, England, in September 2010. In June 2010, she appeared on "Just Be Good to Green," by Professor Green in the United Kingdom's top-five single "Just Be Well To Green." She began writing songs for the musical version of Bridget Jones' Diary's Diary, which was set to open in London's West End in 2012. Also in 2011, T-Pain used a line from Allen's "I Should Have Known" as the chorus to his song "5 O'Clock," his second single from his album Revolving. The album, which also stars Wiz Khalifa, debuted on September 2011 and debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it Allen's first Top 10 single in the United States.

Allen revealed in June 2012 that she was in the studio with Greg Kurstin on new music. Lily Allen changed her professional name from Lily Allen to Lily Rose Cooper, and she appeared on Pink's sixth studio album, The Truth About Love, which was released in September 2012. She appeared live at a Paris fashion show curated by Mark Ronson in February 2013 and foreshadowed the debut of a new album "inspired by her experiences of motherhood" by the end of 2013. Lily Allen, the singer, renamed her profession, in August 2013, and she announced that new music would be available "soon."

Allen produced a cover of Keane's "Somewhere We Know" for the John Lewis Christmas album, as part of the band's fundraising proceeds donated to Save the Children's Philippine Typhoon Appeal campaign. On November 24, it became the first download single in the UK singles chart. Allen's official website revealed the video for her new song "Hard Out Here" on her official website on October 12, 2013. Allen received two top ten hit singles as a download the following week and landed on the UK singles chart at number nine. Allen was signed as one of Warner Bros. Records' newest signees in December 2013 following Warner Music Group's purchase of Parlophone from Universal Music Group in May 2013. The song "Air Balloon" was premiered on BBC Radio 1 on January 13, 2014, and it was released on March 2, 2014 as Allen's second single from his third studio album Sheezus, which was released on January 13. On May 5, 2014, the album was released. Allen appeared at the Glastonbury Festival in 2014.

Allen was in the middle of a "identity crisis" following Sheezus's launch in 2014. She didn't like the music she was asked to produce, and believed that people within the music industry were influencing her musical choices. Allen revealed on the podcast News Roast that she is working on a new album that will mostly concern herself, her children, the breakdown of her marriage, heroin use, etc. Allen has been associated with Mark Ronson. Allen released a number of songs online in late 2017, one of which was titled "Family Man." Allen had a blast designing the album but wanted to work through her musical difficulties. Allen decided to do this because she felt that people are often led "by outside forces" when they are trying to express themselves – something she wanted to explore when creating No Shame.

"Trigger Bang" was a leaked and featured rapper Giggs later this year. Allen's latest album, No Shame, will be released on January 24, 2018. The album was released on September 8, 2018. No Shame was nominated for a Mercury Prize, with the album being one of 12 people shortlisted for the award. No Shame, an electropop album, borrows influence from dancehall and reggae, and includes confessional songs that explore Allen's marriage and marriages, maternal guilt, heroin use, as well as social and political issues. Allen's artistic evolution, the composition, and production all praised the album's mature lyrical content and themes upon its release. The album debuted at number eight on the UK Albums Chart, reached the top 40 on the New Zealand and Irish charts, and became Allen's fourth consecutive top 10 album in Australia. Allen began her No Shame Tour to promote the album around the world.

Allen revealed on Beats 1 radio in April that she was working on her next album, which would be a "concept album." Allen released in March 2020 that her new album has only contains "odd mentions" of her past addictions, while she has "moved ahead mentally so far away from that time." "I've been writing for about a year, but I feel like I've moved forward mentally," she said.

Allen appeared in the Glastonbury Festival 2022 as a witness against the 2022 Supreme Court's decision that abortion was not protected by the Constitution of the United States, as a protest against Olivia Rodrigo's appearance "Fuck You." The Guardian described it as a "thrilling and tumultuous" moment. Allen later said she was uncertain she'd be able to perform "on a stage like that sober" again after being nearly three years sober.

Acting career

Allen revealed in June 2021 that she would be playing Jenny in the West End play 2:22 A Ghost Story at the Nol Coward Theatre beginning in 2021. Allen made his debut in August 2021, with Matthew Dunster as the director and writer Danny Robins. "Allen is superb as Jenny," Annabel Nugent wrote about The Independent's production. Exhaustion thrums is just fraction below her palpable trepidation – just enough in her appearance to make you question Jenny's account of life. She received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in 2022 and then received a WhatsOnStage Award for her appearance.

In the 1998 film Elizabeth, which was co-produced by her mother, Allen appeared as a lady-in-waiting. Elizabeth Taylor and her brother Alfie appeared in How to Build a Girl in July 2019.

It was announced on June 10, 2022, that she would appear in Sharon Horgan's comedy-drama Dreamland for Sky. Morgana Robinson's short film that aired in 2017 was based on a short film.

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