Lily Allen

With her omnivorous musical tastes and cheeky attitude, London-based pop singer/songwriter Lily Allen made a name for herself almost as soon as she released her demos on the Internet.

The daughter of comedian Keith Allen, Lily spent most of her childhood bouncing from one school to another -- in fact, she attended 13 different schools between the ages of five and 15.

This constant moving meant she didn't have much of a chance to make lasting friendships, so Allen entertained herself with books and, especially, music: she listened to everything from T.

Rex, the Specials, and the Slits to the Happy Mondays and drum'n'bass, and even ran away to see the Glastonbury Festival when she was 14.

After she left school a year later, she realized that music was the only career for her.

Allen concentrated on her songwriting and singing, developing a style that was equally sweet and bratty; late in 2005, she set up a MySpace page and posted demos of her songs, as both individual tracks and as part of two limited-edition "mixtapes" that also featured tracks by Dizzee Rascal, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Ludacris.

The critical acclaim for her work fueled Allen's publicity, leading to tens of thousands of friends on MySpace, airplay on BBC Radio One, and a record deal with Regal/Parlophone before the end of 2005.

Allen began working on her full-length album with producers such as Greg Kurstin, Mark Ronson (with whom she also collaborated on a cover of the Kaiser Chiefs' "Oh My God" that appeared on her second mixtape), and Futurecut, and released a limited-edition 7" of LDN as her debut single in spring 2006.

Both LDN and Smile, which followed that summer, were chart successes, with the former reaching number seven on the U.K.

chart and the latter hitting number one the week it debuted.

Hot on the heels of Smile came Allen's first full-length, Alright, Still, which she supported with a slew of dates stretching out to the end of the year.

Despite the speed of her success, Allen continued to update her MySpace page with amusing blog rants, including one about her June 2006 appearance on Top of the Pops that berated the lead singer of the Kooks for "wearing broken straw hats and dark sunglasses" indoors and Dirty Pretty Things for having "organic sliced bread on the rider." Allen rang in 2007 with more tour dates, including gigs in Japan, Australia, and the U.S., and the U.S.

release of Alright, Still.

She also earned nominations for British Breakthrough Act and British Female Solo for that year's Brit Awards, while "Smile" and Alright, Still were nominated for British Single and British Album, respectively. Allen spent most of 2007 touring, but also collaborated with Dizzee Rascal on Maths and English's duet "Wanna Be" and provided vocals on Basement Jaxx's Crazy Itch Radio.

Allen's personal life and side projects were nearly as prominent as her music career, with her relationship with Chemical Brother Ed Simons and her subsequent miscarriage making headlines in late 2007 and early 2008.

In February 2008, Allen embarked on a talk show on BBC Three, Lily Allen and Friends, which lasted through that April.

That month, Allen posted two new demos on her MySpace page, including "GWB," which was about President George Bush; for her second album, she worked with producer Greg Kurstin of the Bird and the Bee, and co-wrote several songs with him instead of just providing the lyrics.

She also worked on songs with Jamie Reynolds of the Klaxons and wrote a song about comedian James Corden for the 2008 Shockwaves Awards.

Another new song, "Everyone's at It," debuted that fall, and Allen courted controversy again with an unauthorized cover of Britney Spears' "Womanizer" that December.

It's Not Me, It's You, which covered topics like drugs, fame, family, and society, arrived early in 2009, preceded by the single The Fear.

~ Heather Phares, Rovi

Lily Allen was never an ''adoring sister'' and has always had a ''fiercely independent spirit'' according to her older sibling, Sarah Owen.

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Lily Allen believes her music success caused problems between her and her older sister Sarah Owen.

The 'Not Fair' singer was never close to Sarah - who shares the same mother, Alison, as Lily - growing up and their rift deepened as they got older.

Lily believes a "personality clash" caused by her pop career and the success of their actor younger brother Alfie put a huge strain on their relationship .

The 25-year-old star - who is pregnant with her first baby with her boyfriend Sam Cooper - said: "It was a very difficult time and there was a big personality clash. I think it was really tough for Sarah to see her little sister and brother doing so well."

Sarah, 30, admits Lily was never the "adoring sister" whom she had expected, and blames the five year age gap between them for their differences.

She told Stylist magazine: "I've spent a lot of time feeling frustrated because I'm not particularly amazing at any one thing.

"I think Lily was angry at me for a lot of the stuff that happened in our childhood. I'm five years older so I was having my whole teenage experience just as Lily was forming her opinions.

"She was not the little sister I expected at all. When mum was pregnant I thought I was going to have an adoring sister who wanted to be guided by me.

"But it became clear really early on that Lily was a fiercely independent spirit who would take guidance from no one."

The pair have since settled their differences and are now partners in London vintage clothing shop Lucy In Disguise.

Lily Allen and her sister Sarah Owen decided to open their own vintage clothing store, Lucy in Disguise, because they both love fashion but can't design clothes themselves.

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Lily Allen launched a boutique because she loves fashion - but can't design clothes.

The pop star and her sister Sarah Owen - who recently opened vintage clothing store Lucy in Disguise in London together - were both really keen to get involved in the industry, and made the decision to open a shop so they could be creative without having to make their own items.

She said: "I love vintage clothing and I felt like we could highlight how brilliant vintage shopping can be.

"Neither myself nor my sister are designers, but we love fashion and working with vintage allows us to be creative and as involved with the clothes as we can be."

The 25-year-old singer - who is currently pregnant with her first child with her boyfriend Sam Cooper - also insists she isn't worried about working with her sibling and believes they will make a success of the business.

She said: "We came up with the concept together. I love working with my sister - trust is a big thing for me when choosing who to work with and that isn't an issue between us.

"We trust each other completely and feel very luck to have each other."

Lily Allen has hit back at Eliza Doolittle, after the singer tried to distance herself from the star by saying their albums and style were different.

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Lily Allen has hit back at Eliza Doolittle, after the singer tried to distance herself from the star.

'Pack Up' singer Eliza said she felt comparisons between her and Lily's songs were redundant, and also how she was determined for her career as a musician to work out, because she hadn't got the grades to do anything else - prompting Lily to respond.

Lily tweeted: "I'm feeling for Eliza Doolittle, it seems she's sick of being compared to me all the time.

"Then again, maybe if she'd gone in a different direction with her artwork and wasn't riding around on a chopper in her new video... (sic)"

Both the artwork for Lily's debut album 'Alright, Still' and Eliza's self titled first album feature pictures of them with a background containing references to London iconography intertwined with cartoon drawings, and pictures of lions and clouds. Both also feature upside ladies' legs clad in tights and shoes and while Lily's cover features a dog, Eliza's has a cat.

In her interview with Recognise magazine, Eliza said: "We have a completely different style and anyone who actually listened to our music would know that, it's nothing like what I do."

The full interview with the singer is in the Sept-Oct issue of Recognise Magazine, which is available now.