Birth Name: Elizabeth Grant
Stage Name: Lana Del Rey
Born: U.S.A, NY, June 21st 1985 (aged 30)
Early Life: Del Rey attended a Catholic Elementary school and expressed her passion for singing in the church choir. Her uncle taught her to play guitar and her love for music began from here. She realised that she would be able to write a million songs with just six chords. she played at many clubs arounds NYC at 18 under various different names but at this point was not planning to pursue music as a serious career- she had many contacts in the underground seen but they ''were only playing for each other'' and did not ever think that her songs would be known worldwide. She enrolled at Fordham university where she majored in philosophy- whilst there she often volunteered at homeless and programmes for drug and alcohol abusers, which she had suffered from herself- alcoholism is a key theme in much of her music.
Career: She began writing her own material at the young age of eighteen years old, initially being known as, her former stage name, ''Lizzie Grant''. She signed her first recording contract with 5 Points Records in 2007 and released her first digital album 'Lana Del Ray'- she soon bought back the rights to the album as the record company were unable to fund it. Instead she signed a joint contract with Interscope, Polydor and Strange Records in summer 2011.
Album Release: Lana Del Rey released her second studio album 'Born to Die' in January 2012 which debuted at number 2 on the U.S Billboard 200. http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200
This album turned out to be very successful, becoming the fifth best selling album of 2012.
A remix of her song 'Summertime Sadness' produced by Cedric Gervais was her highest charting track, reaching number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Extended Play: She released the EP 'Paradise' in November 2012 which was an extension of Born to Die- it sold 67,000 copies in the first week of released and went straight to number 10.
Ultraviolence was released in June 2014 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
She is the most streamed female artist on Spotify.
Inspiration: Lana Del Rey has a cinematic sound and is highly influenced by 1950's and 60's Americana. She also claims to draw influence from the likes of Amy Winehouse, Nina Simone and Bruce Springsteen. The artist once described herself as ''the gansta Nancy Sinatra''.
She chose her stage name 'Lana Del Rey' when she first heard it mentioned by her Spanish speaking Cuban friends. She said ''it reminded me of the glamour of the seaside'' which I feel is a look she is influenced by- especially on her Paradise album with the palm tree setting and often has quite a 'mermaid-esque' look.
Genre: She describes her music as 'Hawaiian Glam Metal'' with some trip hop and acoustic elements.
This video shows Del Rey performing one of her latest songs at popular British festival Glastonbury.
This proves her success in the UK too.
Links to her music:
https://soundcloud.com/irosbeth/lana-del-rey-national-anthem
https://soundcloud.com/interscope/lana-del-rey-blue-jeans-1
Early Life: Del Rey attended a Catholic Elementary school and expressed her passion for singing in the church choir. Her uncle taught her to play guitar and her love for music began from here. She realised that she would be able to write a million songs with just six chords. she played at many clubs arounds NYC at 18 under various different names but at this point was not planning to pursue music as a serious career- she had many contacts in the underground seen but they ''were only playing for each other'' and did not ever think that her songs would be known worldwide. She enrolled at Fordham university where she majored in philosophy- whilst there she often volunteered at homeless and programmes for drug and alcohol abusers, which she had suffered from herself- alcoholism is a key theme in much of her music.
Career: She began writing her own material at the young age of eighteen years old, initially being known as, her former stage name, ''Lizzie Grant''. She signed her first recording contract with 5 Points Records in 2007 and released her first digital album 'Lana Del Ray'- she soon bought back the rights to the album as the record company were unable to fund it. Instead she signed a joint contract with Interscope, Polydor and Strange Records in summer 2011.
Album Release: Lana Del Rey released her second studio album 'Born to Die' in January 2012 which debuted at number 2 on the U.S Billboard 200. http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200
This album turned out to be very successful, becoming the fifth best selling album of 2012.
A remix of her song 'Summertime Sadness' produced by Cedric Gervais was her highest charting track, reaching number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Extended Play: She released the EP 'Paradise' in November 2012 which was an extension of Born to Die- it sold 67,000 copies in the first week of released and went straight to number 10.
Ultraviolence was released in June 2014 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
She is the most streamed female artist on Spotify.
Inspiration: Lana Del Rey has a cinematic sound and is highly influenced by 1950's and 60's Americana. She also claims to draw influence from the likes of Amy Winehouse, Nina Simone and Bruce Springsteen. The artist once described herself as ''the gansta Nancy Sinatra''.
She chose her stage name 'Lana Del Rey' when she first heard it mentioned by her Spanish speaking Cuban friends. She said ''it reminded me of the glamour of the seaside'' which I feel is a look she is influenced by- especially on her Paradise album with the palm tree setting and often has quite a 'mermaid-esque' look.
Genre: She describes her music as 'Hawaiian Glam Metal'' with some trip hop and acoustic elements.
This video shows Del Rey performing one of her latest songs at popular British festival Glastonbury.
This proves her success in the UK too.
Links to her music:
https://soundcloud.com/irosbeth/lana-del-rey-national-anthem
https://soundcloud.com/interscope/lana-del-rey-blue-jeans-1
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