Lana Del Rey

By Kayla Simpson

A biographical look at the singer, writer and model born as Elizabeth Grant but now known for her stage name of Lana Del Rey. This book takes a look at Del Rey's beginnings as a songwriter at the age of 18. Her early career had a few starts and stops until her Internet video and song "Video Games" became a chart topping success. Discussed is her early life and the trials that formed some the themes of her music.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DayBac Publishing
• Release date: Oct 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386495758

Book preview

Introduction

Lana Del Rey was born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant on June 21st 1985[1]; two facts that have caused a lot of contention over the years. Often misquoted as being born in 1986[2], the singer songwriter has performed under several monikers, including May Jailer[3] and Lizzy Grant[4]. She produced two full length albums before converting to the stage name of Lana Del Rey in 2010[5].

Grant was born in Manhattan, New York where she lived for the first few years of her life alongside her parents Robert England Grant, Jr and Patricia Ann Pat Grant, née Hill[6]. At the age of three, she and her family moved to Lake Placid, New York - a town best known for its involvement in the Winter Olympics of 1980[7]. With a population of just 2,800[8], in a November 2013 interview with popular culture magazine Nylon, Del Rey confirmed that her hometown in the Adirondacks was very small.[9] This North American suburban setting continues to influence her songwriting and visual aesthetics[10].

Over the years, Del Rey has also intermittently spent time in London in the UK[11], and Alabama and New Jersey in the US[12]. Her mainstays have been New York, where she lived for 8 years according to an interview for Galore conducted by her sister Chuck Grant in December 2014[13], and Los Angeles, where she currently resides[14].

Family

Alongside her sister Caroline Chuck Grant[15], Del Rey has a brother, Charlie Grant[16]. Born on November 19th 1989[17] and March 3rd 1993[18] respectively, her siblings were raised in Lake Placid at the Grant’s family home. Although she is often responsible for Del Rey’s press shoots, Chuck is an established photographer in her own right[19], having contributed work to New York Magazine and Complex Magazine[20]. Her brother Charlie is often a source of inspiration for Del Rey, and appears alongside the star in 2013’s 30-minute short, Tropico[21].

A graduate of Arizona’s Prescott College, Del Rey’s father Robert previously worked as a sales manager for the American Maize Company, and as a Grey Group copywriter on Madison Avenue in New York, before moving to the Adirondack Mountains to launch a furniture business in 1988[22]. He has financial and personal ties to the sailing community, which he developed as a young man while living near Narragansett Bay on Rhode Island[23].

During Del Rey’s childhood, Robert successfully invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into the domain business[24]. It has been widely speculated that her father’s wealth has influenced her rise to fame, specifically her signing to Interscope Records in 2011[25]. However, these claims have been strenuously denied by David Nichtern, the executive of Lana’s former label 5-Points Records, who in