Allen was born in Hammersmith, London, eventually settling in the North London borough of Islington. She has an older sister Sarah, a little brother Alfie Owen-Allen, who was the subject of her song "Alfie," and a number of half-siblings including her new baby half-sister, Teddie. Lily also lived with her mother in Leixlip, County Kildare, Ireland where she went to a local primary school, Scoil Bhride. Allen has cultivated a "street" image, but she actually enjoyed a highly privileged upbringing, attending the fee-paying, private schools Hill House and, notably, the exclusive Bedales, famous for being in the top five most expensive schools in the UK. She changed schools 13 times during her childhood and was expelled from several of them.

While holidaying in Ibiza, she was introduced to A&R man and former Audio Bullys manager George Lamb who introduced her to music producers Future Cut, who wrote tracks for lyrics she had written.

Following a short-lived deal with Warner Music signed in 2002 prior to releasing any music (which she admits was in no small part due to the influence of her father), in late 2005, Allen signed with Regal Records (part of Parlophone/EMI). Despite (alleged) resistance from the label who wanted to send her off to a "hit factory" to record her album, she uploaded the tracks she had written (songs that had her signed in the first place) to community website MySpace in November 2005, regularly updating the growing number of visitors with the latest developments in her life. More and more people discovered her profile with links to her tracks being e-mailed around universities and offices eventually reaching UK music publication NME, reviews site musicOMH.com and online music blog Popjustice Along with Twiggy Ent. These publications gave her and her demo tracks positive reviews and publicity. Following this exposure way ahead of the proposed album release date, The Observer published a short report on Allen and soon after the demo of her track "LDN" was played on BBC Radio One by DJ Jo Whiley. Because of the buzz generated her release dates were changed and "LDN" produced by her records was released - on limited edition 7" vinyl only - as Allen's first single on 24 April 2006. This was accompanied by album track Knock 'Em Out on the B-side. She also took a spot at the Notting Hill Arts Club in London in early May, performing every Thursday night for four weeks.

Lily's debut album Alright, Still was released as a strictly limited edition 12" vinyl in the UK on July 3, 2006, and the full CD release followed in the UK and the rest of Europe on July 17, 2006. The album features 11 tracks, most of which were previewed on her MySpace page, including the single, "Smile" (the first song she ever wrote with Future Cut), "LDN," "Knock 'Em Out," and "Alfie," a song about, and dedicated to, her younger brother, Alfie Owen-Allen. A track called "Friday Night," co-written with Jonny Bull, is also included, alongside "Littlest Things," produced by Mark Ronson.

In concert, Allen performed a parody of 50 Cent's "Window Shopper" called "Nan, You're A Window Shopper," which is commercially released as a B-side to "LDN," as clearance did not come through in time for the Alright, Still release date.

--Wikipedia