Artist Marina And The Diamonds

Like Lady Gaga or Florence And The Machine, Marina And The Diamonds is dead set on taking the pop world by storm, but only under her own terms. Born in Wales to Greek parents, Marina Lambrini Diamandis was raised on the music of P.J. Harvey and Daniel Johnston as well the eccentric fashion of Vivienne Westwood. That visual sensibility, combined with piano skills and her yelping Tori Amos voice, quickly turned Diamandis into one of the U.K.’s most sought-after pop stars among her “diamonds,” a.k.a. her legions of rabid fans, akin to Gaga’s little monsters. On her debut, The Family Jewels, she rocks both full-band, Annie Lennox-style synthesized darkness on tracks like “Shampain” and intimate solo piano ballads like “Obsessions.”

Updated 09/01/2010