In short
Lily Allen discusses her childhood school reports, being a shy/bullied kid depending on home circumstances, and how singing transformed her confidence. She recalls a Catholic school in Camden as a positive period, where a supply teacher, Rachel Santesso, noticed her singing along to an Oasis song on her Walkman and coached her.
Key claims
her “life and soul” early reports shifted to “could excel if she applied herself,” and she says the contradictions reflect changing home life; she wasn’t consistently bullied or shy—context mattered.
Notable examples
singing “Baby Mine” from Disney’s Dumbo at a parents’ evening, bringing down the house and making mums cry.
Guests
Lily Allen (singer-songwriter) interviewed by Kirsty Young; host Lauren Laverne.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOLily Allen's School Days and Early Singing
0:45 to 2:45
Lily Allen reflects on her school experiences and her early singing talent.
“What was Lily doing when she wasn't at school?”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:13Welcome to Desert Island Discs Postcards. I'm Lauren Laverne. We've cast away thousands of people to our imaginary desert island, among them many singers. Our cast away today is the singer-songwriter Lily Allen. Back in 2014, Lily told Kirsty Young how her old school reports painted a mixed picture of her academic achievements. Nursery started really well. It sort of said, you know, Lily is the life and soul of the class and she always joins in and helps all the other children if they're sad and she's a fantastic little helper and blah, blah, blah. And then as I got a little bit older, it became, you know, Lily could really excel at this subject if only she applied herself, to then being like, well, I would love to tell you what Lily was like in this class, but we haven't seen her.
1:03What was Lily doing when she wasn't at school? Hanging out with older kids, smoking and drinking and snogging, probably. Were you a contradictory impression from much of what I read about your childhood, saying that you, some interviews say you were a bullied child and that you were very shy. Are either of those things true? I think it really depends what was going on in my home life at the time. I think, you know, when I was at a Catholic school in Camden for a few years and that was like one of the most positive school experiences that I had. And actually that's where I've sang for the first time as well.
1:47I had a singing teacher called Rachel Santesso who was a supply teacher and she just happened to hear me singing along to an Oasis song on my Walkman and said hey you should you should work on that and so we worked on a song together and I sang it at a parents evening and brought down the house all the mums were crying. What was the song do you remember? Yeah it was called Baby Mine from Dumbo it was the song the mummy elephant sang to the baby elephant. And what did the cool girl who wanted to smoke and drink and Well, she was only 11, so I think she liked the reaction that she got and suddenly felt like this was something that she could do.
2:25Lily Allen, speaking to Kirsty Young. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds. Just search for Lily Allen Desert Island Discs.
2:44you
From the publisher
The singer-songwriter Lily Allen was cast away by Kirsty Young in 2014.
Although her school reports painted a mixed picture of Lily's academic achievements, a singing teacher spotted her vocal talent and encouraged her to perform. She brought the house down with a song from the Disney film Dumbo.
You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.
