Lily Allen

2018: Memoir My Thoughts Exactly is published

2018: No Shame is nominated for the Mercury Prize

“I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed when I was 21 and everyone around me was convinced Alright, Still was going to be nominated [it wasn’t], and again with It’s Not Me, It’s You. I felt like I let everyone down. So this felt like a little win for my 21-year-old self.”

2018: Releases album, No Shame

“I didn’t feel particularly supported by my record label [Parlophone]. If my Twitter and Instagram didn’t exist, you wouldn’t know that album was out at all. All I can do is keep making more music and tell them to f*ck off. I’m not going to stop making music just because people in that building aren’t excited about it. There are people who are, and I only have to sell one tenth of the music that I’m streaming at the moment to make a really decent amount of money.”

2014: Releases album, Sheezus

“The lowest point was a gig that I did in Singapore. They had to close off the top of the theatre because nobody had bought tickets. It was depressing. I was like, ‘I just want to go home.’ The kids are screaming at you over FaceTime to come home and you’re like, ‘No, I have to go and play to seven people. Sorry!’”

2013: Releases cover of Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know for the John Lewis Christmas advert, which goes to number one

2011-2014: Launches record label In The Name Of

“We signed some cool acts, like Tom Odell. But I found it hard because I was running it through [other record companies] and I’d be signing artists into the same sort of deal I’d had. I knew I was putting them in creative prison for 12 years.”

2011: Features in Channel 4 documentary Lily Allen: From Riches To Rags

2010-2013: Opens vintage fashion boutique Lucy In Disguise with her sister, Sarah. It goes into liquidation

“What did I learn? Don’t set up a business with your sister, especially sisters who have no experience in retail, marketing or finance. It was a bond-building exercise, but an expensive one. I lost £1.5 million.”

2010: Wins three Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting

“The proudest moment of my career.”

2009: Releases It’s Not Me, It’s You

2007: Plays Glastonbury’s main Pyramid Stage

2006: Releases Alright, Still

2005: Signs record deal with Parlophone

EDUCATION

Attended nine schools, including Hill House, Edgarley Manor and Bedales (left without any GCSEs or A levels)