b. 2 May 1985, Hammersmith, London, England. The daughter of noted UK actor and comedian Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen, she burst onto the UK music scene in summer 2006 with her hit single "Smile" and sparkling debut album Alright, Still.
Allen's parents separated when she was only four, but she remained in London and settled with her mother in the borough of Islington. She began writing lyrics in her early teens, and it was after a family holiday to Ibiza that the 15-year old Allen began to take her first steps towards a performing career (she had already appeared on the big screen with a minor role in the 1998 movie Elizabeth). It was while in Ibiza that she met Manchester-based drum 'n' bass producers Future Cut, who were impressed enough by the teenager's lyrics that they agreed to record some backing tracks. An abortive contract with Warner Music marked a false start, before Allen signed with Regal Records in 2005. Despite pressure from her record company to conform to their plans to market her as a pop starlet, the independently minded Allen used the community website MySpace to build up a fanbase. A growing number of people downloaded her demo tracks, leading to glowing profile pieces in the online and printed press. The national station Radio One jumped on the bandwagon at the start of 2006, repeatedly playing the track "LDN", leading to a limited edition vinyl only release in April. Allen's debut album was released on vinyl at the start of July, two weeks ahead of the CD version, with publicity surrounding the artist now reaching hysterical levels. "Smile" shot to the top of the UK singles chart at the same time, having generated strong download-only sales in the week prior to its physical release. Alright, Still attracted generous praise from the UK music press, who were uniformly seduced by the seductive, summery reggae pop sound and witty, razor sharp lyrics about break-ups ("Smile"), the ups-and-downs of clubbing ("Knock 'Em Out", "Friday Night"), urban life ("LDN"), and wayward younger brothers ("Alfie").
