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Lily Allen

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Template:Infobox musical artist 2 Lily Rose[1] Allen (born 2 May, 1985[2]) is a pop artist from the United Kingdom signed to Regal/Parlophone (EMI), and known for songs such as "Smile" and "LDN". She is the daughter of actor/comedian Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her official debut single "Smile" reached #1 on the UK singles charts in July 2006.

Early life

Allen was born in Hammersmith, London; her parents separated when she was 4 years old, which resulted in her moving around, eventually settling in Islington. She has an older sister Sarah and a little brother Alfie Owen-Allen. Between the ages of 5 to 14, she attended 13 different schools, including the private schools Hill House and Bedales[3]. In Ibiza that she met A&R man George Lamb who introduced her to music producers Future Cut who wrote backing tracks, after having read lyrics she had written.

Regal Records & MySpace

Following a short-lived deal with Warner Music previous to releasing any music (which she states was in no small part due to the influence of her father) in late 2005 Allen signed to Regal Records (part of Parlophone/EMI). Despite (alleged) resistance from the label who wanted to send her off to "hit factories" to record her album, she uploaded the tracks she had written (songs that had her signed in the first place) to community website MySpace in November 2005, regularly updating the growing number of visitors with the latest developments in her life. More and more people discovered her profile with links to her tracks being e-mailed around universities and offices eventually reaching UK music publication NME, reviews site musicOMH.com and online music blog Popjustice. These publications all gave her and her demo tracks positive reviews and publicity. Following this exposure way ahead of the proposed album release date, The Observer published a short report on Allen and soon after the demo of her track "LDN" was played on BBC Radio One by DJ Jo Whiley. Because of the buzz generated her release dates were changed and "LDN" was released - on limited edition 7" vinyl only - as Allen's first single on 24 April 2006. This was accompanied by album track Knock 'Em Out on the B-side. She also took a spot at the Notting Hill Arts Club in London in early May, performing every Thursday night for 4 weeks.

Alright, Still

Lil's debut album Alright, Still was released as a strictly limited edition 12" vinyl in the UK on 3 July 2006, with the full CD release released in the UK and Europe on 17 July 2006.

A track entitled "Nan, You're A Window Shopper" (a parody of 50 Cent's "Window Shopper") which Allen performs live and was available on her MySpace page was intended to feature on the album but was not included because the sample could not be cleared in time to meet the new release date. The track entitled Friday Night was co-written with Jonny Bull former guitarist and producer of Britpop band Rialto at his studio in south-west Portugal.

Discography

Albums

Year Album UK Album Chart Irish Chart NZ
2006 "Alright, Still" 2 6 -

Singles

Title Chart Positions Album
UK Singles Chart Irish Chart NZ Chart
"LDN" - - - Alright, Still
"Smile" #1 (2 weeks) #6 #11 Alright, Still

Demos

  • "Nan, You're A Window Shopper" (Satire of 50 Cent track, "Window Shopper" - clearance for the sample used did not come through in time for the album release)
  • "Truth" (Played in "My Second Mixtape")
  • "Oh My God" (Cover of the Kaiser Chiefs track, played in "My Second Mixtape")
  • "Sunday Morning" (Produced prior to her record contract with Regal, and uploaded to her MySpace, as it was being considered for the album)
  • "Friday Night (Remix)" (also known as "You're Gonna Get Burned")
  • "Blank Expression" (exclusive iTunes track 12 of "Alright, Still" album)

Trivia

  • Lived with Harry Enfield when he dated her mother.
  • When she was 15, and signing with London Records, they wanted to put her in a girl group, but she wanted to be a solo artist. That girl group eventually became the Sugababes.
  • Went to school with Luke Pritchard of The Kooks. She made some disparaging comments about them and covered their song "Naive" on Jo Whiley's Live Lounge to show there were "no hard feelings".
  • She has also called Bob Geldof a "cunt"[4] and a "sanctimonious prat"[5].
  • She said on Radio 1 that she loves Chris Moyles.[6]
  • Rapper Example has recorded a remix of "Smile" called "Vile" which is an answer song written from the perspective of the ex-boyfriend (although he was never actually Lily's boyfriend[7]).

References

  1. ^ "'It's such a powerful thing, to send your stuff out there and get such a massive response'". The Observer Music Monthly. 2006-03-19. Retrieved 2006-07-24.
  2. ^ Allen, Lily (2006-05-07). "Lily Week and My First Gig". MySpace blog. Retrieved 2006-07-24.
  3. ^ Walker, Andrew (2006-07-21). "Faces of the week". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-07-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Allen, Lily. "Lily Allen MySpace Profile". Retrieved 2006-07-24.
  5. ^ Transmission with T-Mobile (TV-Show). 2006-06-17.
  6. ^ (2006-07-03) Jo Whiley [Radio Show].
  7. ^ Allen, Lily. "Forum Post". Retrieved 2006-07-28.
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