- Born Elizabeth Grant in New York City in 1985. She grew up in Lake Placid, New York, and returned to NYC at age 18 for college and to play music in clubs. Originally, she did this for her own enjoyment, not planning to make a career of music.
- Her stage name was made up by her lawyer and managers. She liked it because “…I wanted a name I could shape the music towards. I was going to Miami quite a lot at the time, speaking a lot of Spanish with my friends from Cuba – Lana Del Rey reminded us of the glamour of the seaside. It sounded gorgeous coming off the tip of the tongue.”
- Del Rey has released ten studio albums. Her first album, Lana Del Ray, was only released by digital download in 2010, and was withdrawn shortly after its release. Note the alternate spelling of ‘Del Ray’ instead of ‘Del Rey’. She bought back the rights to the album in late 2011, and the music has not been re-released. In 2008, she released an EP of three songs, named Kill Kill, by digital download. This EP was released using the name Lizzy Grant.
- Her second album, Born To Die, released in 2012, brought her major success. It was certified 5x platinum. In the U.S., five singles from the album were released, with Summertime Sadness peaking at #6 on the Hot 100 chart. Rolling Stone ranked the song at #456 on the Greatest Songs of All Time list. The critics did not treat the album well – AllMusic rated it 2.5 stars out of 5, and Rolling Stone rated it 2 stars out of 5. Her appearance on Saturday Night Live to promote the album also did not help – some outlets put the SNL performance as one of the worst in SNL history.
- Her albums Ultraviolence and Honeymoon received better reviews, and charted as high as #1 and #2 respectively in the U.S., though sales were not nearly as large as Born To Die. Her fifth album, Lust For Life, was released in 2017. It was her second album to top the Billboard 200 album chart.
- Four more studio albums were released between 2019 and 2023. Also in 2019, she collaborated with Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus, contributing Don’t Call Me Angel to the Charlie’s Angels soundtrack. The song reached #13 on the Hot 100 chart and it topped seven International charts.
- She has been nominated for eleven Grammy awards, but has yet to win one. She has won numerous other awards for her work. Rolling Stone included her in their list of the Greatest Singers of All Time, at #175.
- Del Rey has a distinctive voice which creates an aura of dreaminess to her work. Her vocal range is over three octaves, allowing her to hit the low notes (jazzy, sultry) and the high notes (girlish, dreamy).
- Here’s the video to one of her more sultry sounding songs, High By The Beach.