Lily Rose Allen (born May 2, 1985) is a pop artist from England 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 single "Smile" reached #1 on the UK singles charts in July 2006. Allen was born in Hammersmith, London. She eventually settled in the North London borough of Islington. She has an older sister, Sarah; a younger brother, Alfie Owen-Allen (who was the subject of her song "Alfie"); and a number of half-siblings, including her new baby half-sister, Teddie. Lily has also lived with her mother in Leixlip, County Kildare, Ireland (where she went to Scoil Bhride, a local primary school). Allen has cultivated a "street" image, but she actually enjoyed a highly privileged upbringing, attending the private schools Hill House and, notably, the exclusive Bedales, which is famous for being one of the top five most expensive schools in the UK.. Lily changed schools 13 times during her childhood and was expelled from several of them . When asked about it on the Jo Whiley show on BBC Radio, she explained "Education is great for some people, but for me it just wasn't." While vacationing in Ibiza, Lily was introduced to A&R man and former Audio Bullys manager George Lamb. He introduced Lily to music producers Future Cut, who wrote tracks for lyrics she had written. Following a short-lived deal with Warner Music signed in 2002 prior to releasing any music (which she admits was in no small part due to the influence of her father), in late 2005, Allen signed with Regal Records (part of Parlophone/EMI). Despite (alleged) resistance from the label who wanted to send her off to a "hit factory" 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 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" produced by her records was releasedâ€â€on limited edition 7" vinyl onlyâ€â€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 four weeks. Lily's debut album Alright, Still was released as a strictly limited edition 12" vinyl in the UK on July 3, 2006, and the full CD release followed in the UK and the rest of Europe on July 17, 2006. The album features 11 tracks, most of which were previewed on her MySpace page, including the single, "Smile" (the first song she ever wrote with Future Cut), "LDN," "Knock 'Em Out," and "Alfie," a song about, and dedicated to, her younger brother, Alfie Owen-Allen. A track called "Friday Night," co-written with Jonny Bull, is also included, alongside "Littlest Things," produced by Mark Ronson. In concert, Allen performed a parody of 50 Cent's "Window Shopper" called "Nan, You're A Window Shopper," which is commercially released as a B-side to "LDN," as clearance did not come through in time for the Alright, Still release date. She also provides backing vocals on the Basement Jaxx track "Lights Go Down" which appears on their fourth studio album Crazy Itch Radio, as well as appearing on tracks on Robbie Williams' latest album, Rudebox. Allen has been the subject of many controversies, many due to her opinions about other artists. She went to private school with Luke Pritchard of The Kooks, made some disparaging comments about them, and then 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" and a "sanctimonious prat" and has claimed Kylie Minogue performing at the Glastonbury Festival would be the ultimate insult to the event. She had previously said on Radio 1 that she loved Chris Moyles, then remarked after being invited on his show that he was too self-obsessed in the presence of his guests – and to make her interview more fun. She then upset Chris's sidekick 'Comedy Dave' by saying his voice didn't match his face, prompting him later to give her a low 4/10 interview score. She was seen leaving the Radio 1 building in tears. Rapper Example has recorded a new version 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). Both songs were then parodied by Chris Moyles on his Radio 1 breakfast show in a song called "Piles". Rapper Sway DaSafo has recorded an answer song of "LDN". When asked by the NME how she would celebrate if her single got to number 1 in the UK charts she responded "gak" (slang term for cocaine). She immediately said that she was joking but the "gak" remark was widely quoted in the tabloid press. Lily has since apologised for the remark. Included in the NME's Cool list for 2006, she complained in her blog that the treatment was "fucking patronising".
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