Lily Allen makes nostalgic confession that led to her World Cup anthem debut

Lily Allen had to bunk off school to make her pop debut on a classic World Cup anthem.

The chart-topping star was just 13 way back in 1998 when she helped her dad Keith Allen and his famous mates out in the studio when they were recording football classic Vindaloo.

Dreamed up by actor Keith and artist Damien Hirst along with Blur’s Alex James, Fat Les was the result of a bunch famous bon viveurs having a laugh and ultimately hitting the jackpot with a song that returns to the charts every major tournament. And it was the start of a chart career for Lily.

Alex James told the Daily Star, “Lily Allen does the high vocal, Keith’s daughter. She must have been at school then. It's 1998 so she's bunking off school, but we were like, ‘you're here all right, you can try singing'. And then 'Okay, you're quite good!’."

Lily also appeared in the video and it was a big year for the teenager as she also made an uncredited acting appearance as a lady-in-waiting in the film, Elizabeth.

She wasn’t the only guest in the Fat Les studio session, "Charles Fontaine, who was the chef at Le Caprice, which was like the coolest restaurant, he’s the guy who goes, 'bonjour monsieur.’”

“It was a time when music was created by bands, which was basically a bunch of mates just mucking about and having a laugh in a room,” James added.

Alex was a self-confessed party animal back then, as were the rest of Fat Les, and they still occasionally share a brew together, "I'm in touch with Keith, they were great fun to be around those two no doubt. Then I got married and settled down.”

"You have to kind of plan your big nights more carefully as you get older, recovery time takes longer. But I don't mind letting rip every now and then,” Alex James said of his party nature.