Lana Del Rey biography, albums, age, net worth, boyfriend, height 2025

Biography of Lana del Rey

Lana Del Rey is an American singer who's captured the hearts of millions of listeners worldwide with her deeply personal songs and melancholic aesthetic. Her captivating sincerity blends with provocative lyrics, where ethereal energy meets bold sexuality. Net worth: $30 million.

Her cinematic music defies easy genre classification – everyone finds something uniquely compelling in her sound. Critics have compared her voice to China Forbes, Nancy Sinatra, and Ambrosia Presley. Inspired by these comparisons, she began describing her musical style as "Hollywood sadcore," positioning herself as a gangster version of Nancy Sinatra.

Childhood and Family

Elizabeth Woolridge Grant was born on June 21, 1985, into a middle-class New York family. Her father Robert Grant Jr. built his fortune through profitable real estate investments, then capitalized on the developing internet infrastructure boom of the '90s. In 1982, while working as an employee at advertising agency Grey Group, he proposed to bookkeeper's assistant Patricia Hill. They met at the shooting of one of the company's commercials.

Lana Del Rey in her childhood (pictured left with her brother and sister)

Soon after Lizzy's birth, the family moved to Patricia's hometown of Lake Placid, the village that hosted the 1980 Winter Olympics. There, Lizzy's siblings were born – sister Carolyn and brother Charlie.

Lana Del Rey (Elizabeth Grande yet) in her school years

Elizabeth attended St. Agnes Catholic elementary school and sang in the nearby church choir. She later admitted in interviews that while she no longer embraces traditional Catholic concepts of God, she finds meaning in ideas about a Supreme consciousness and predestination.

She wrote her first song at the age of 11. «The song was called «China Palace» and it tells the story about how to be a princess», – the singer has recalled later.

During her school years, she spent most of her time dreaming of escaping to somewhere else. This continued until 15-year-old Elizabeth began taking philosophy classes as part of her school curriculum. There she found kindred spirits who were just as puzzled by the question "Why are we all here?" as she was. During this same period, she began drinking alcohol, immersing herself in this new form of "entertainment." She later wrote the song "Born to Die," which was dedicated to this dark period of her life. Fortunately, her parents became seriously concerned about their daughter's behavior and decided to send her to a boarding school in Connecticut for her safety. It proved to be a wise decision – Elizabeth didn't touch alcohol again until she turned 18.

The First Steps to Fame

After graduating, Lizzy returned to New York and enrolled in Fordham University's Metaphysics and Comparative Theology Department. She spent her free time volunteering – helping homeless people and those struggling with addiction, visiting Native American reservations where she built and repaired houses alongside other young volunteers. Meanwhile, Elizabeth also found time for her music – performing at nightclub venues like Laila Lounge, Galapagos, and The Living Room.

Her first stage name was "May Jailer," under which she recorded the album "Young Like Me" and the acoustic EP "Sirens." The aspiring singer found her main source of inspiration in the music of the 60s. The songs from that era were luminous and rooted in classic folk traditions.

At 20, Elizabeth moved out of her parents' house – at one point she was even living in a trailer. During this time, she started sending demos to producers and eventually broke through. She signed the contract with 5 Point Records when producer David Cain paid attention to her songs. Soon after, her first EP Kill Kill was released, featuring three tracks. At this point, the singer adopted the stage name "Lizzy Grant." Media rumors suggested her father financially backed her career during this period, but the record label representatives denied these claims.

Eventually, Elizabeth became the Lana Del Rey we all know and love (fun fact: she originally spelled it "Ray" before changing it to "Rey").

Career Peak

The album «Lana Del Ray a.k.a. Lizzy Grant» came out in January 2010. The release didn't capture listeners' attention as expected, so Lana decided to break her contract with the label and try promoting herself. In 2011, she released a self-made video to the song «Video Games» created as a video collage. The music was written by Justin Parker, and Lana told the story of her mundane, unhappy relationship in the lyrics.

Lana Del Rey – Video Games

The video unexpectedly racked up over 100,000 views. A Live Lounge radio presenter added the song to her playlist, and Elizabeth soon caught Interscope's attention.

At the end of 2011, the singer presented the single «Born to Die», soon after which the album of the same name was released. The album reached #5 among the year's best-selling records, and Lana landed in the top 3 most popular American female singers. Critics described her music as bridging modern hip-hop culture and classic pop enriched with jazz elements.

Lana Del Rey – Born To Die

But the album's release came with a Saturday Night Live scandal, where Lana couldn't handle her nerves and stumbled during her «Blue Jeans» performance. The audience reacted harshly, and she was later cyberbullied. The controversy only drew more attention to her new album.

The album «Born to Die» was released in 2011

Lana also found time to write for other artists. British pop star Sheryl Cowl revealed in an interview that her album «A Million Lights» featured several songs written by Lana.

In 2012, the singer started working on the next album and recorded the cover-version of the popular song of 50s era, «Blue Velvet». The music video, shot in the style of David Lynch's «Mulholland Drive», became a sensation among YouTube viewers and music TV audiences.

Lana Del Rey – Blue Velvet cover

In 2013, Lana Del Rey started her first world tour. The fact that tickets to her Paris concert sold out in just 1.5 minutes perfectly illustrates her massive popularity.

That same year, her song «Young and Beautiful» became part of «The Great Gatsby» soundtrack, starring Leonardo DiCapri. This composition became her second trademark after «Born to Die». During this period, Lana also premiered her short film «Tropico», which became a true delight for anyone who appreciates stylish and intelligent videos.

Lana Del Rey – Tropico

In 2014, her album «Ultraviolence» was released, with Lana describing its genre as psychedelic rock and calling its content highly conceptual. Obviously, the album title references Anthony Burgess's novel «The Clockwork Orange». It's also known that she was inspired to compose these songs during her travels along the West Coast. The album was a huge success, debuting at #1 on the national charts in 12 countries. Gloomy and fairytale composition «Once Upon a Dream» was included in the soundtrack of the «Maleficent» Disney movie with Angelina Jolie in the lead.

A year later, the singer released her new album «Honeymoon», which recalled her earlier work. It was an exceptional blend of 60s noir atmosphere, blues influences, and her mesmerizing vocals. The songs «High by the Beach» and «Music to Watch Boys To» were released as singles.

Lana Del Rey is often called as «Nancy Sinatra's gangster version»

In 2017, the album «Lust For Life» was released, featuring collaborations with The Weeknd, ASAP Rocky, John Lennon's son, and other notable musicians. The album received a Grammy nomination but didn't win. That same year the singer went on the world tour in support of the album.

In spring 2018, she released the new song «Happiness is a Butterfly», which was set to be included on her upcoming album.

In 2018, Lana organized the world tour in support of her new album

In 2019, the singer also released several tracks, including "Don't Call Me Angel", performed with Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus. Soon after, the singer released her new album "Norman Fucking Roswell", which was praised by both fans and critics, followed by a world tour in support of it.

Personal Life of Lana Del Rey

While studying at Fordham University, Elizabeth dated Stephen Martens, a local rock scene icon. He started producing her debut album, but after their breakup, the record was re-recorded by David Cain. Soon after, Lana began dating musician Jimmy Gnecco.

She was in relationships with the Scottish musician from Kassidy band, Barry James O'Neil, for three years – from 2011 till 2014. They often performed together and even saw themselves as the new Sonny and Cher. However, Barry found out Lana had left him through his cousin. Later she admitted that she couldn't be happy with him anymore. She even admitted that Barry felt like her twin.

Pictured: Lana Del Rey and Barry James O'Neil

The same year she was spotted with James Franco, and then fell for Italian Francesco Carrozzini, who directed her "Ultraviolence" music video. A year later they split.

Little is known about the singer's subsequent relationships. In 2017, she dated a rapper G-Easy. After their split, he even removed her vocals from their collaborative track "Him and I."

In January 2020, news that Lana Del Rey was dating police officer and reality TV star Sean Larkin dominated media headlines. According to the singer, they met at the presentation of the Grammy Award. It's also known that the singer's new partner is 46 years old and works in Texas.

Lana Del Rey Now

Despite her packed world tour schedule, Lana Del Rey found time to work on new material and occasional acting projects. But the coronavirus pandemic impacted the singer - she had to cancel her spring 2020 European tour supporting the new album.

In addition, in 2020, Lana Del Rey managed to get into a scandal. The singer was first accused of romanticizing violence, and then of racism. The ambiguous lines from her new album were to blame. In 2021, "Blue Banisters," Lana Del Rey's eighth studio album, was released.

Lana Del Rey - Blue Banisters

Lana Del Rey: latest news and articles

Singer Lana Del Rey Started Dating an Alligator Hunter from Louisiana

29 Aug 2024

Anthony Isaac Peterson

Del Rey for me is one of my favorite singers because she is different, not like other pop which is mostly all the same. She has really nice melodic songs

2021-05-18 13:02:35
Deborah Ruiz

I`ve listened a few her songs but I never downloaded, I can listen in the car or radio and that`s all.

2021-05-16 18:19:55
Edward Cole

Nowadays Lana is on the top of the charts. For me there is nothing so placative but her songs :)

2021-05-07 22:03:45
Patrick Aiden Stewart

The redhead beauty won the hearts of many people with her voice :) And I`m the one of them :) Her creative work is different than other singers, she made something new, something special.

2021-03-03 20:25:06
Dawn Clark

The album Born To Die is just the best what I ever listen! In general I like Lana as a singer, she is very feminine and talented!

2021-01-05 12:55:18

Photos: Lana Del Rey