Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper (born 2 May 1985 in Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom), better known by her maiden name of Lily Allen, is an English recording artist, talk show host, and actress. Cooper used her maiden name professionally until 2012, when she switched to using her married name, Lily Rose Cooper. Allen is the daughter of comedian, actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative. ...show more

Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper (born 2 May 1985 in Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom), better known by her maiden name of Lily Allen, is an English recording artist, talk show host, and actress. Cooper used her maiden name professionally until 2012, when she switched to using her married name, Lily Rose Cooper. Allen is the daughter of comedian, actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative.

She ran away from home to attend the Glastonbury Festival at the age of fourteen. The late The Clash singer and guitarist Joe Strummer is also referred to as a godparent; while not literally true, Strummer was close to Allen. Allen has fond memories of the week and a half they would spend together at Glastonbury Festival as part of a regular collective centred on Strummer and her father. Strummer's musical past would not come into focus for Allen until after his death.

A year later, 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. ...show less