Lana Del Rey

Immensely talented, Lana Del Rey began singing in New York City at the age of 17 under her real name, Lizzy Grant. After releasing the indie EP Kill Kill in 2008 and Lana Del Ray A.K.A. Lizzy Grant in 2010, she landed a major label record deal. Del Rey was certainly not the first artist to tweak her own image, and she released the hit single and EP Video Games, which epitomized her sound: downbeat, dark and thoroughly self-aware. Her seemingly out-of-nowhere success led to a surprise booking on "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 1975- ). In the aftermath, her major label debut, 2012's Born to Die, became an international hit. Lana Del Rey proved an impressive talent with a new, exciting sound who was able to provoke strong reactions from a normally jaded audience.