Lana Del Rey

Elizabeth Woolridge Grant was born on 21 June 1985 in New York City, in the United States. Her father, Robert England Grant, Jr., is a Grey Group copywriter turned entrepreneur, while her mother, Patricia Ann "Pat", is a former Grey account executive turned high school teacher. She has two siblings.

She grew up in rural Lake Placid in New York, where she attended a Catholic elementary school. She developed an interest in music as a child, and began signing in her church choir. She also wrote country songs. However, as a teenager she suffered from rampant alcohol abuse, which made her parents send her to Kent School, where her uncle was an admissions officer.

After graduating from high school, she was accepted into the State University of New York. However, instead of attending college, she decided to spend a year in Long Island. She lived with her uncle and aunt, and worked as a waitress. During this time, she also learnt to play the guitar from her uncle.

Elizabeth Woolridge Grant soon found herself writing songs, as well as playing at clubs under the name Lizzy Grant. In 2005, she registered a CD of originals under her birth name with the US Copyright Office, and ended up with an album named ‘Sirens.’ However, it went unreleased.

A few years later, she created her YouTube channel. In 2011, she uploaded the videos for the songs ‘Video Games’ and ‘Blue Jeans’ which gained huge popularity over the internet. Soon she was signed by Stranger Records to officially release ‘Video Games’ as her debut single. It became an immediate hit upon its release. She adopted the name “Lana Del Rey” around this time.

Her debut album ‘Born to Die’ was officially released in January 2012. It gained a lot of popularity and appreciation worldwide, and stood at number one in 11 different countries. It sold 3.4 million copies in 2012, eventually becoming the fifth-best selling album of the year.

Del Rey’s next album ‘Ultraviolence’ was released by UMG records in June 2014. With hit singles such as ‘Cruel World’, ‘Ultraviolence’, ‘Shades of Cool’, and ‘Brooklyn Baby’ the album debuted at the first position in the US Billboard 200. Within six months, it sold more than a million copies.

Her next album ‘Honeymoon’ was released by Polydor Records and Interscope Records in September 2015. Like her previous work, it was also an instant hit, and debuted at number two in the US Billboard 200. It received mostly positive reviews from critics.

‘Born to Die’, a studio album by Lana Del Rey, is one of her prominent works. The album was released in January 2012. Debuting at number two on the US Billboard 200, the album sold 77,000 copies within a single week. Including hit singles such as ‘Born to Die’, ‘Off to the Races’, ‘Blue Jeans’, and ‘Video Games’, the album became a hit in several countries, standing at number one on the ‘Swiss Albums’, ‘French Albums’, German Albums’, as well as the ‘UK Albums’ charts. It received mixed reviews. As of June 2014, it had sold a total of 7 million copies worldwide.

In 2013, Lana Del Rey appeared in a short film ‘Tropico’, which was based on the Bible story of sin and redemption. The film premiered in December at the Cinerama Dome, in Hollywood California. Directed by Anthony Mandler, the film portrayed Del Rey as Eve. It also featured other actors such as Shaun Ross and Kevin Lee Light. The songs featured in the film, ‘Body Electric’, ‘Gods & Monsters’, and ‘Bel Air’, were taken from an Extended Play ‘Paradise’, by Del Rey which had been released in 2012.

‘Ultraviolence’, another one of her most significant works, was released in June 2014. Probably the best work of her career so far, the album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. It sold 182,000 copies within the first week of release and over a million copies within six months. Including singles such as ‘Cruel World’, ‘Ultraviolence’, and ‘Shades of Cool’, the album was a hit in several other countries as well, and stood at number 1 at the UK Albums, Finnish Albums, Canadian Albums charts.