She began singing in the church choir when she was a child, where she was the cantor. After her uncle taught her how to play the guitar when she was 18 : "I realized that I could probably write a million songs with those six chords," She then began performing in nightclubs around the city. A producer noticed her, and her singer life began.
On April 25, 2005, a seven-track compact disc was registered with her real name Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, but today, none of those tracks are known. Between 2005 and 2006, the album Sirens was recorded under the name "May Jailer".
At her first performance in 2006 for the Williamsburg Live Songwriting Competition, Lana met Van Wilson, a man who works for an independent label. In 2007, she signed a record contract for $10,000 with 5 Points Records while still a senior at Fordham University and moved in New Jersey. Subsequently, she began working with the famous producer David Kahne. With him, she released her first three-track EP titled Kill Kill in October 2008, but once more, her album, was shelved, causing her to shift her focus. Instead, she began to work in community service. She spent 5 years helping others: homeless, drug addicts, and alcoholics.
Her first full-length album, titled Lana Del Ray, was released in January 2010. Her father, Robert Grant, helped with the marketing of the album. About choosing her stage name, she has said: "I wanted a name I could shape the music towards. I was going to Miami quite a lot at the time, speaking Spanish a lot 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." She has said that her lawyers and managers made up the name Lana Del Rey and persuaded her to adopt the stage name.
