Lily Allen Biography

Lily Allen was born on 2 May 1985 in Hammersmith, West London. Her father, Keith Allen, is a Welsh actor, pantomime star and television presenter while her mother, Alison Mary Owen, is an English film producer.

Born elder of her parents’ two children, she has one younger brother, actor Alfie Evan Allen. From her mother’s previous relationship, she also has an elder sister named Sarah Owen. From her father’s later relationships and marriage, she has three half-sisters; Gala Talbott, Teddie-Rose Malleson-Allen and Rebecca Allen.

In 1989, when she was four years old, her father left the family. Raised by their mother, they initially lived in a council estate. But later, as Alison Owen entered into a relationship with actor-director Harry Enfield, they moved in with him, enabling the children to enjoy a brief period of stability.

They had to move out of Enfield’s home when he got tired of Owen’s frequent work trips, parties and drugs, creating in young Lily a longstanding abandonment issue. Her schooling was also disrupted.

Between the age of five and fifteen, she attended 13 schools, including Hill House, and Bedales; she was expelled for drinking and smoking from many of them.

In 1996, when Lily Allen was studying at Cavendish School, London, she was discovered by Rachel Zeffira, who was teaching at the same school. She heard little Lily singing Wonderwall in the playground and was impressed. From the next day, she started giving Lily lunchtime music lessons.

In 1997, Lily Allen took to the stage at a school concert to sing Baby Mine from Disney's Dumbo, making her audience cry. Over time, she achieved grade 8 in singing and played the piano, violin, guitar and trumpet. She also became a member of the school chamber choir.

In 1998, she appeared as a lady-in-waiting in Elizabeth, a film co-produced by her mother and also in the music video of Vindaloo, a song by British band Fat Les. In the following year, she ran away from home to attend the hip Glastonbury music Festival.

In 2000, Lily Allen dropped out of the school to pursue career in music. But initially, she had to struggle a lot; she was rejected by several labels, possibly for her drinking. Finally in 2002, she got signed in with London Records; but nothing came out of it.

In desperation, she started studying horticulture so that she could become a florist; but soon changed her mind and she returned to music. She met the production team of Future Cut in 2004. By then she had already written down several songs.

In 2005, she was signed to Regal Recordings and received £25,000 to produce an album. However, they did not provide the necessary support and so she decided to go on her own, creating a MySpace account in the same year.

In November 2005, Lily Allen recorded some demos and posted them on MySpace. They attracted thousands of listeners, prompting her to rush-release 500 limited edition 7-inch vinyl singles. To promote her work, she produced two mixtapes; My First Mixtape and My Second Mixtape

In March 2006, she was featured in an article in Observer Music Monthly and received her first major mainstream coverage; she appeared in the magazine's cover story in May. Meanwhile in April, she released her debut single LDN on strictly limited edition 7" vinyl.

On 13 July 2006, she released her debut album, Alright, Still. It was preceded by her debut single Smile. In the following September, she rereleased LDN, which was a huge success, peaking at number six on the UK Singles Chart and was number 30 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.

Lily Allen spent 2007-2008 making tours, appearing in various concerts including ‘Concert for Diana’ and songwriting. From 2007, she also started making television appearances; she hosted a talk show called Lily Allen and Friends on BBC Three from 12 February 2008 to 1 April 2008.

In 2009, she released her second studio album, It's Not Me, It's You. It was immensely successful and debuted at number one on the English, Canadian and Australian charts. Also in the same year, she released two extended plays; F.U.E.P. (Fuck You Extended Play) and Paris Live Session.

In 2009, she took a hiatus from recording to launch her own record label, In the Name Of (TNO). Financially backed by Sony Music, which gave Lily Allen a £100,000 annual salary, she eventually launched it in 2011. All along, she continued to perform at concerts and festivals and record odd songs.

In the Name Of became defunct in 2014. In the same year, she released her third studio album, Sheezus. The album was equally successful and two of its singles, Hard Out Here and Air Balloon, entered the UK Singles Chart.

Her next album, No Shame, was released on 8 June, 2018. The album, which peaked at number eight on the UK Albums Chart, features confessional lyrics about the breakdown of her marriage, maternal guilt, substance abuse etc.

On 20 September 2018, she published her memoir, My Thoughts Exactly, which was nominated for the FutureBook Campaign of the Year. In the following year, she starred as Elizabeth Taylor in a coming-of-age film entitled How to Build a Girl.

Lily Allen is probably best known for her 2009 album, It's Not Me, It's You. Debuting at number one on the charts in the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, it was later certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, selling 1,070,340 copies in the UK alone.

Lily Allen has received 31 awards including one BRIT Award, one BT Digital Music Award, one Download Music Award, one ELLE Style Awards, two Glamour Woman of the Year Awards, two IFPI Platinum Europe Awards etc. That apart, she has also won 73 nominations for her music.

Lily Allen married Sam Cooper on 11 June 201l and has two daughters—Marnie Rose Cooper and Ethel Cooper—with him. However, the union did not last long and the marriage was officially annulled on 3 June 2018.

In 2019, Lily Allen met her second husband, American actor David Harbour through a celebrity dating page. They got married in Las Vegas on 7 September 2020.