Lana Del Rey Biography: Top Songs, Albums, Age, Tour, Net Worth
Born on June 21, 1985, Lana Del Rey, who was originally born as Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, is one of the great American songwriter, singers, models, video directors and poets. She has gain critical acclaim by releasing music that has wowed critics for having a cinematic quality that is rarely seen now days. On top of that, her music also has themes of tragic romance, melancholia, glamour, and even includes references to today’s pop culture.
Growing up as a child in Upstate New York, Del Ray would make the move to New York City back in 2005 for the sole purpose of trying to pursue her career in music. Working hard to try and make a name for herself in the industry, she would release several different projects, some of which included both her solo debut album, as well as an unreleased work titled Sirens. Her big breakthrough, however, would not come until 2011 when one of her singles, ‘Video Games’, would gain viral success. She would soon after sign her first record label with Interscope and Polydor record labels.
Once signed, she would go on to release her very first major debut album titled ‘Born to Die’ in 2012. This album would quickly become an international success, while pushing her single, ‘Summertime Sadness’, all the way into the top 10 on the Billboard Top 100 charts. Since that album, Del Rey has continued her music success with the release two more Billboard 200 number one records, ‘Ultraviolence’ which was released in 2014, and then again in 2017 with her album ‘Lust for Life’. She would also have some top ten album releases which include her 2012 album release, ‘Paradise,’ and again in 2015 with her album titled ‘Honeymoon’.
Due to her success in her music career, she has also been nominated for the Grammy Award for her albums Paradise and Lust for Life, being nominated for the Best Pop Vocal Album.
Not just one for the music studio, Del Rey has also been able to land several film soundtracks as well. Her most notable, ‘Young and Beautiful’, in the 2013 blockbuster hit starring Leonardo DiCaprio, The Great Gatsby, she would follow that up with the theme for the movie Big Eyes in 2014, which would get her yet another Grammy nomination, as well as a Golden Globe nomination too.
As if that weren’t enough, Del Rey has even written and starred in her own musical film in 2013, that was named ‘Tropico’, as well as in several short films that included ‘Ride’ in 2012, ‘National Anthem’ in 2012, and then ‘Freak’ in 2015.
With talent such as Del Rey’s, it is not hard for people to take notice of you. That is one of the reasons that she has been able to amass over 3.1 billion views on her official YouTube channel as of November 9 of last year, 2018. In fact, she has had 12 of her music videos surpass over 100 million views on another online video platform, Vevo.
Lana Del Rey: The Early Years
Born in New York City June 21, 1985, Elizabeth Woolridge Grant was born to her parents, Robert England Grant, Jr., and mother, Patricia Ann ‘Pat’. She has a younger sister named Caroline Grant, and a brother who’s name is Charlie.
While growing up as a Roman Catholic in Lake Placid, New York, as a child she attended one of the Catholic elementary schools in the area, and would even attend the same high school that her mother was a teacher at. Always being into singing, she would eventually join the church choir where she would become the cantor.
At the young age of 15, Del Rey would go on and be sent by her parents to Kent School, in order to help her resolve a blossoming drinking problem that was developing. Luckily her uncle was the admissions officer at the school, as he was able to help get her the financial aid that she required to attend the expensive boarding school.
Once she graduated, Del Rey would be accepted into State University of New York at Geneseo, but would decide that she did not want to attend that particular school. Instead, she decided to liver with her uncle and aunt out in Long Island, while making a living as a waitress. It is during this time frame that her uncle was able to teach her how to play the guitar, eventually coming to the realization that if she really tried, she could probably write tons of songs using just the six chords on the guitar.
This realization would help Del Rey to start practicing and writing songs, eventually leading her to practice at different nightclubs around the city. While she was playing at these nightclubs, she would give herself different stage names, such as ‘Lizzy Grant and the Phenomena’, or ‘Sparkle Jump Rope Queen’.
Later that year, at just the age of 19, Del Rey would choose to enroll at the well-known school, Fordham University. It is here where she would major in philosophy, having her emphasis be in metaphysics. The reason she chose this emphasis is because she had heard that the subject would help her bridge the gab between science and God. Del Rey would later admit that throughout her schooling, both in boarding school and while at college, that she had a tough time meeting new people and making new friends. Before she was able to graduate in 2008, she would move from The Bronx, out to North Bergan, New Jersey.
Over the next couple of years, Del Rey would go on to attempt to grow her music career, performing where she was able to get gigs and even trying to release some singles, as well as a debut album. While she was getting by, her career would not really breakout until the release of ‘Born to Die’ in 2012. However, before the release of this album, she had amassed a huge online following, getting millions of hits on her YouTube channel for her songs ‘Blue Jeans’ and ‘Video Games’. In fact, these videos would actually go viral and become huge Internet sensations.
Over the next several years, Del Rey would go on to release more albums that would contain even more hit singles. These singles would touch on just about every subject, ranging in content from obsessive love, music festivals, money, casual drug use, and rock n’ roll. Here are some of Del Rey’s top hit singles.
Lana Del Rey’s Top 10 Songs of All-Time
‘Brooklyn Baby’
Done as a parody of a ‘too cool for school’ type of video, this video was originally dismissed earlier in Del Rey’s career. However, Brooklyn Baby is one of the great hits of her early years, featuring some of the best low-key scatting, as well as some great lyrics that include, ‘I get high on hydroponic week.’
‘West Coast’
Indebted to the works of Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, her song West Coast was done by Del Rey channeling the 70’s rock vibes from the past. What makes this particular song so popular, is how the track is able to smoothly transition from a classic rock type of hook, to a more of a sway that is normally only found in slow jams. Definitely a track worth checking out if you have not already done so.
‘Blue Jeans’
The first follow up to her huge hit single ‘Video Games’, Blue Jeans is more of an all-American apple pie type of song that is dedicated to having obsessive love.
‘Freak’
Packed with some dramatic strings and dark undertones, Freak is one of those tracks that you want to listen to again and again and again. With some haunting vocals and explosive saxophone vibes, this song truly is one of Del Rey’s top 10 of all time.
‘Born to Die’
One of the best music videos that Del Rey has released, the cinematic opening dives in and explores the relationship between love and death. As if the video weren’t captivating enough, the song is the perfect blend of dramatic orchestra, mixed with the swaying beat of hip hop.
‘Fucked My Way To The Top’
Not shy about the fact that this track is all about taking a shot at her haters, Fucked My Way To The Top, is another amazing track that Del Rey has released. Supposedly being a dis track towards Lady Gag for her comments that she was not an authentic musician and stealing her steez, if you have not heard this track yet, you need to.
‘Summertime Sadness’
This epic single is just another example of how Del Rey was able to go down her own pop road, paving it with some of the best melancholy, as opposed to blind optimism. In fact, next time you are our in the sunny weather, try not to think about this track, it’s almost impossible.
‘National Anthem’
With the opening being of explosive fireworks, and some of the best lyrics of Del Rey’s career, such as ‘money is the anthem of success,’ this is truly classic Lana. In fact, once you listen to this song, it may become your new national anthem and the only one that you will stand behind.
‘Video Games’
While it was not the song that Del Rey felt would be the cause of her big breakthrough, it was. Video Games quickly grew in popularity and made Lana Del Rey a household name. Creating the visual collage of the video herself, Video Games is the ideal combination of somber chords, partnered with magical harps.
‘High By The Beach’
Dubbed by some as Del Rey’s greatest song of all time, High by the Beach is a bunch of an over the top ridiculousness that fans have come to know and love about Lana. This is one of those songs lets us know exactly how down to Earth she really is.
Lana Del Rey has had a very successful career that has spanned nearly 10 years. With numerous top singles and chart topping albums under her belt, one of the most common questions going around is what her net worth is.
With all of her musical success, Del Rey has been able to grow her wealth to over $14 million. Through her hard work and dedication to the profession of music, Del Rey has been able to prove herself over and over again. There are not many music artists out there who are able to constantly drop new studio albums that shoot straight to the top of the charts in countries all over the world, as well as multiple singles that shoot to the top of the charts as well. With some of the highest viewed music videos of all time, there is no telling how large of a fan base that Del Rey will be able to accumulate.
While she started growing her fan base by using social media platforms such as YouTube, she is one of the few artists that breakthroughs, but continues to use the same platform that got her there in the first place. This is just another one of the reasons why Del Rey’s fans have been so loyal throughout her entire career. While there are rumors going around that Del Rey was actually thinking about retiring form the music business for good, there has been no evidence to back up any such claims at all and ideally, she will be back in the studio working on another album that will surely not disappoint. And with a net worth of over $14 million, she should be plenty motivated to do just that and try to grow her net worth even higher.
With so much talent and nothing holding her back, Del Rey’s career can only go one place, that being up. With so much talent and drive, you can be sure that you Del Rey is going to be around for a while, creating more beautiful music that we can all enjoy.
Lana Del Rey Net Worth
How much is Lana Del Rey worth? She is estimated to be worth over $14 Million Dollars.
