'Tired' and 'Drunk' Lily axes US tour

Dismissing all rumors that are going around regarding her US tour cancellation, the British pop sensation Lily Allen at last clarified for the first time that she has cancelled most of her May-June US tour only because she is tired and not performing up to her standards, further citing drink as the main factor.

Writing on her regular blog on populat social networking site, the English pop star Allen, best known for songs such as "Smile" and "LDN", said she thinks her live shows have suffered. Depressed with her live performances, which according to the singer were not up to the mark, she increased her drinking.

Allen was due to travel across the country promoting her album “Alright, Still”, at gigs in Tucson in Arizona, Kansas City and Denver.

"I have been on tour with this album for a year now, I have fulfilled every commitment up to this point. I am tired, but more than that I don't think I have been giving my best performances recently. I have been getting really drunk because I've been so nervous about doing bad shows, and I don't want people spending money on a going to see a show that isn't the best it could be,” the 21-year-old star wrote on her blog page.

Allen, who has cultivated a wild child image, has though put 20 dates aside but she has excluded the performances at this year's Coachella and Bonnaroo music festivals and gigs in New York and Los Angeles from the axed schedule.

Murray Chalmers, a spokesman for Allen, said almost 10 affected shows would be re-scheduled for the fall and repeated that the British singer would be playing at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California on April 29 and Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Tennessee on June 15.

Ruling out all the reasons that people have given for her pulling out of the shows, Allen said, "I am not falling apart at the seems, I am not suffering with exhaustion, I am not pregnant, and I am not going to rehab. I will be here in America, promoting the album and also starting to write the second album, which I am beyond excited about. The LA and New York shows will still be happening, and I am still playing Coachella and Bonaroo and all the other festivals."

Born on May 2, 1985 in Hammersmith, Londonis, Lily Allen, birth name Lily Rose Allen, is the daughter of actor/comedian/musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen.

Her single "Smile" (the first song she ever wrote with Future Cut) reached numero uno position in July 2006 on the UK singles charts. In September 2006, "Smile" was made available onto the United States version of the Apple Inc.'s iTunes Music Store.

Allen has been the subject of many controversies. Besides calling Texans “backward,” the UK singer on the NME stage at SXSW told the music weekly to go away, saying “Fuck off you cunts.” She also branded George Bush an a******.

She stirred more controversy, when New Musical Express (better known as the NME) asked Allen how she would celebrate if her single got to Number 1 in the UK charts, and she responded "gak" (a slang term for cocaine). Although, she immediately said that she was joking, but the "gak" remark was widely quoted in the tabloid press.