Leading up to Benicassim 2010, we will be featuring some of the main acts playing the festival over the four days. Today we are focusing on Lily Allen who will be playing on Sunday 18th July.
Multi-talented Lily Allen, an English recording artist, actress, musician, and talk show host, previously saying she was going to take five years off, has embarked on a new project. She has signed to write the score for the new Bridget Jones musical. It is scheduled to open in the West End next year. So far she has penned one song about Bridget, standing in front of her refrigerator, wondering what she should eat.
Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zonazorra/3928734983/
Earlier this year Allen reported that she was leaving the music industry. She recently said she planned a new career in the fashion industry although she planned to work on a variety of projects, certainly several of those will involve remaining a part of the industy where she has been so popular.
Allen, now 25 years old, started out with her musical tastes changing from rock to alternative. When she was 14 years old she ran away from home to attend the Glastonbury Festival. The following year she quit school in order to improve on her compositional skills as well as her performing. After she posted some of her videos on MySpace she was well received by tens of thousands of listeners. This opened the door to a recording contract with Regal Recordings. In 2006 her first mainstream album, ‘Smile,’ was released. It reached the top spot on the UK Singles Chart. Her first record, ‘Alright, Still’ sold more than 2.6 million copies on the international market. This brought her a nomination for a Grammy Award, MTV Video Music Awards, and BRIT Award. This led to her own TV show which she hosted, ‘Lily Allen and Friends,’ on BBC Three. Last February she received the 2010 Brit Award for ‘British Female Solo Artist.’
The performer is from a talented family. Her father was a Welsh-born comedian named Keith Allen. Her mother, Alison Owen was a film producer. She has an older sister, Sarah and a younger brother, Alfie Owen-Smith. The third sibling is a younger sister named Rebecca.
Allen has recently involved herself in environmental and social concerns. She has been credited with the inspiration for a parliamentary rebellion against Gordon Brown after she wrote to all the members of Parliament. In her letter she asked them to back an amendment to an energy bill. Also, when she records, she does so in the only solar powered studio in Europe.
Lily Allen has a lot on her plate at present and it looks like she will be adding more in the months ahead.
