Lana Del Rey has been forced to postpone a London show at the last minute due to illness.

Is the pressure taking its toll on Lana Del Rey? The singer's sudden rise to fame took everyone by surprise, launching the American artist into a whirlwind of media engagements despite only releasing a handful of tracks.

A recent performance on Saturday Night Live was lambasted by some, while Lana Del Rey's attempt to play a British show last night (January 24th) was scuppered by illness.

Due to play at London's KOKO venue, the singer was part of a bill which also featured The Maccabees and Charlie XCX. A statement from Lana Del Rey's management read:

"Due to illness Lana Del Rey is regrettably not able to perform at tonight's MTV UK Brand New For 2012 show at London's Koko and sends her apologies to all her fans."

Elsewhere, the singer revealed that she has been sober for eight years due to a teenage drinking problem. Lana Del Rey told the Telegraph: "When I was very young I was sort of floored by the fact that my mother and my father and everyone I knew was going to die one day, and myself too."

"I had a sort of a philosophical crisis. I couldn’t believe that we were mortal. For some reason that knowledge sort of overshadowed my experience. I was unhappy for some time. I got into a lot of trouble. I used to drink a lot. That was a hard time in my life."

Now teetotal, Lana Del Rey mused on the public's fascination with her potential downfall. "People just want to see me go off the rails. That's the only reason they're watching. They just want to see what happens."

Lana Del Ray is set to release her debut album 'Born To Die' on January 30th.