Lana Del Rey was born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant in New York City on June 21, 1985 to Robert England Grant, Jr., a Grey Group copywriter turned entrepreneur, and Patricia Ann "Pat" (Hill), a former Grey account executive turned high school teacher.She is of Scottish descent.


Del Rey grew up in rural [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Placid,_New_York]Lake Placid, New York[/url], and attended a Catholic elementary school and for one year, a high school where her mother taught.She began singing in her church choir when she was a child, where she was the cantor.At age fifteen,she was sent to Kent School by her parents to deal with her alcohol abuse and partying.


 She lived in The Bronx for four years while enrolled at Fordham, and volunteered at homeless youth and drug and alcohol outreach programs, as well as helping paint and rebuild houses on an Indian reservation in the western United States. After college, she moved Brooklyn, where she resided for another four years.


On April 25, 2005, a seven-track compact disc was registered under Elizabeth Woolridge Grant with the United States Copyright Office. The application title was "Rock Me Stable" with another title "Young Like Me" also listed.The track titles are currently unknown. Between 2005 and 2006, the album Sirens was recorded under the name "May Jailer" and leaked in May 2012.

In 2011 after uploading a few of her tracks to her YouTube channel, Del Rey was discovered and signed by Stranger Records to release her debut single "Video Games.


The song earned her a Q award for "Next Big Thing" in October 2011 and an Ivor Novello for "Best Contemporary Song" in 2012.The same month, she signed a joint deal with Interscope Records and Polydor to work on her second studio album Born to Die.


Born to Die was officially released on January 31, 2012 worldwide, and reached number one in 11 countries, though critical reaction was divided.


Ultraviolence was released on June 13, 2014, and debuted at number one in twelve countries, including the United States and United Kingdom. The album sold 880,000 copies in its first week, worldwide.