From donning a Celtic top to getting her shopping in a Southside Co-op, Lana Del Rey’s love affair with Glasgow seems rather unexpected.

The American singer, whose real name is Elizabeth Grant, was born in New York, but she has ancestral roots in Lanarkshire and once when asked if she has a ‘permanent’ home, she answered: “I don’t have one…but when I have any time I go to Glasgow, that’s where I’m happiest.”

But where did this love for Glasgow begin for Lana?

Glasgow Times:

The Video Games hitmaker began dating Glasgow musician Barrie James O’Neill in 2011. In 2013 she embarked on her Paradise tour which included a stop at the city’s SECC on May 16 – and Kassidy, Barrie’s band at the time, was the support act.

Through her relationship with Barrie, Lana ‘fell in love’ with Glasgow and soon grew to enjoy spending time here.

As Barrie is a huge Hoops fan, Lana was even seen wearing a Celtic top in an old Instagram photo that has since been shared countless times on social media. To fans’ delight, she recorded her own version of You’ll Never Walk Alone – but this was for a documentary about Liverpool Football Club who originally began using the song, and of which Lana is fan.

 

The couple split in 2014 and sadly, Lana has only performed in Glasgow one more time since then, with a date of the Lust for Life tour at the Hydro on August 23, 2017.

It wasn’t just concert venues Lana spent her time in when she was in Glasgow. While she was with Barrie, fans spotted her clothes shopping in the West End, enjoying a beer in Oran Mor and strutting through Central Station.

Shop assistant Gillian Rae was on her lunch break when the songstress popped into Vintage Guru on Byres Road with Barrie – but when she learned one of her favourite singers was browsing coats, she ‘bolted’ downstairs.

Glasgow Times: Barrie James O'Neill (far right) with Kassidy. Photo by Gordon DuncanBarrie James O'Neill (far right) with Kassidy. Photo by Gordon Duncan (Image: Archive image. Newsquest.)

“I never bothered introducing myself or anything,” she admitted. “I was too embarrassed. She's beautiful.”

But the random encounter most fans remember is the Co-op experience. The story goes that Lana popped into the supermarket in Shawlands to buy bread rolls and ended up signing a copy of Vogue with her on the front cover to give as a gift to a starstruck shop assistant.

Could you imagine meeting your idol in your local shop?