Captivating is one of the best words to describe American singer, songwriter, and model Lana Del Rey. Born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant on June 21, 1985, in New York City. Lana Del Rey grew up in Lake Placid, NY with her parents Robert, a Grey Group copywriter turned entrepreneur, and Patricia, a former Grey Group account executive turned high school teacher. She has two younger siblings, Caroline and Charlie. Lana attended Catholic elementary school and had her start in singing in a church choir. Lana has said that each member of her family sings as they always have been a musical family. Even though Lana Del Rey is known for her signing abilities, she has always wanted to be a writer and claims to be “a writer first.” However, the “Young & Beautiful” star has had her struggles even from a young age. When she was fifteen Lana’s parents sent her to Kent school to deal with her alcohol addiction. After getting sober and finishing high school Del Rey was accepted to the State University School of New York at Geneseo but declined the offer. Instead, Del Rey opted to stay and live with her aunt and uncle right here on Long Island! She worked as a waitress and learned to play guitar from her uncle. This inspired her to start writing her own music, and under various stage names Lana performed at different night clubs around the city. The following fall, she enrolled at Fordham University where she majored in philosophy. She was living in the Bronx and then later moved to New Jersey while still in college. She volunteered at various outreach programs at the time for those struggling with alcohol and drug abuse. In 2005 there were two albums registered under the name Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, but they were never released and it is unknown what tracks are on them. From 2006, the album Sirens was recorded under the pseudonym May Jailer, and was leaked in 2012. In 2007, Lana Del Rey signed a $10,000 record contract with 5 Point Records after producer David Kahne had only heard one demo. While still a senior at Fordham University, Del Rey relocated to a trailer park in North Bergen, New Jersey.
While there Lana Del Rey wrote and released her first EP Kill, Kill in October 2008 under the name Lizzy Grant. For the next two years, Lana would work on her first full-length album Lana Del Ray released in January 2010. Her father, Robert Grant, helped her market the album and it was featured briefly on iTunes before being withdrawn. The record was only available for a couple months before being abruptly pulled. Del Rey’s father had helped her get out of the contract at 5 Point Records and Del Rey subsequently moved to London. There she fine-tuned her music and persona and developed her stage name. Del Rey said she and her sister had been spending a lot of time in Miami, and Del Rey wanted a name that reminded her of the sea-side and the Floridian coast. She thought the name Lana Del Rey was beautiful and was the perfect name to start shaping her music towards. In June 2010 Del Rey got her big break after releasing her DIY video on Youtube of her single “Video Games.” The video became almost instantly viral and attracted the attention of many record labels. Del Rey signed a joint deal with Interscope Records and Polydor re-releasing her single and planning on working her second full-length studio album.
Lana Del Rey’s second full-length album titled Born to Die was released on January 31, 2012, worldwide and reached number one in 11 countries and number 2 on the Billboard 200. The album sold 3.4 million copies worldwide making it the fifth best-selling album of 2012. It has been described has to have a mix of elements of modern music with a vintage and Hollywood touch. Shortly after Lana had said she was already planning on releasing more music later on in the year.
Her EP titled Paradise was released on November 12, 2012, well after promoting the EP with its lead singe, “Ride.” It debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200 and again received mixed reviews from critics as Born to Die had. The music style had not changed at all and eventually the full-length album and EP were combined into Born to Die: The Paradise Edition. The year 2013 was a big year of Del Rey as she had won many awards for her music including a Brit award. She was nominated for a Grammy for her song “Young & Beautiful” released on the soundtrack of The Great Gatsby. In December of that same year, Lana released the short-length film Tropico which included three of her songs from her EP Paradise. In the start of 2014, it was announced Lana would be covering the song “Once Upon a Dream” for Disney’s film Maleficent. However, there was no promotion for her next full-length album which she had worked on with the front man of The Black Keys, Dan Auerbach.
Ultraviolence was released June 13, 2014, after the release of four singles: “West Coast,” “Shades of Cool,” “Ultraviolence,” and “Brooklyn Baby.” The stripped down album debuted at number one in 12 countries, including the United States’ Billboard 200. In 2015, Lana toured and held concerts under the “Endless Summer World Tour” with Courtney Love and Grimes. During the tour, she also began promoting her upcoming album from 2015. Before her album had released she had released songs for the films Big Eyes and The Age of Adaline. However, the song that was used to promote The Age of Adaline, “Life is Beautiful,” has never been fully released. On July 14, 2015, Del Rey released the first track “Honeymoon” from the upcoming album. In August, the album’s lead single “High by the Beach” was released. The Weeknd also revealed his collaboration with Lana Del Rey for the song “Prisoner” off his new album. Then, later in August the song “Terrence Loves You” was released as well as a pre-order option for the album. On September 18, 2015, Lana Del Rey released her fourth studio album Honeymoon. It has been described as her most sophisticated album and contains more jazzy elements than the other albums, but still similar sounding to Born to Die. Honeymoon has met much critical acclaim and debuted at number 2 on Billboard 200. In 2016, it has been revealed that Lana Del Rey is currently working on her fifth studio album which she has said is going to be more upbeat and faster-paced compared to her past albums. Guess we’ll always have that to look forward to in 2017!