Lana Del Rey

Once perfectly described as a “gangsta Nancy Sinatra,” singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey makes cinematic mood music that is equal parts throwback and alt rap. A beauty queen who is also the queen of an often melancholic style of music labeled “sadcore” was born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant in 1986 in Lake Placid, N.Y. In her mid-teens, she struggled with an addiction to alcohol. Having learned how to play guitar when she was 18, she began gigging around Brooklyn, N.Y., and released her first music. A January 2012 performance on ‘Saturday Night Live’ brought a tidal wave of criticism, but she broke out big with the album she dropped just days later, ‘Born to Die.’ Her 2014 album, ‘Ultraviolence,’ hit the top of the charts right out of the gate.

Selected discography: ‘Lana Del Rey’ (2010), ‘Born to Die’ (2012), ‘Ultraviolence’ (2014)

Related artists: Amy Winehouse, A$AP Rocky, Lorde

Further reading: Top 10 Lana Del Rey Songs, Watch Lana Del Rey’s Short Film ‘Tropico’, Lana Del Rey Covers ‘Once Upon a Dream’

Load More Articles