Marina & The Diamonds

Marina Lambrini Diamandis  (born 10 October 1985), better known by her stage name Marina and the Diamonds, is a Greek-Welsh  singer-songwriter. She rose to fame after reaching number two on the BBC Sound of 2010 poll list, coming second to Ellie Goulding. After releasing one private extended play, Diamandis released her second extended play, The Crown Jewels EP, with help from Neon Gold Records in 2009. Now signed to 679 Recordings, she released her debut full-length studio album, The Family Jewels, in 2010. Diamandis will be releasing her third extended play, The American Jewels EP, on 23 March, 2010.

Her eponymous name "Marina and the Diamonds" consists of Diamandis' first name and the translation of her surname which means "Diamonds" in Greek. "The Diamonds" refers to Diamandis' fans but is commonly mistaken for her backing band (similar to Florence and the Machine). She also explains on her MySpace page "I'm Marina. You are the diamonds."

Marina Diamandis was born in Abergavenny, Wales to a Greek father and Welsh mother. She attended St. Catherine's British Embassy School and Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls, of which she said "I sort of found my talent there." Her musical style ranges from keyboard-based ballads to more up-tempo new wave-style songs with full band backing. After dropping out of university, Diamandis moved to London at the age of eighteen where she attended dance school for only two months. Following this, in 2005 she took a one year singing course at the West London Music School, "Vocaltech". She auditioned for West End musicals including The Lion King. Marina attended St. Catherine's British Embassy School in Greece and graduated in 2004.

Early demos of Diamandis' songs were self composed and produced on the Apple software application Garageband. Through Gumtree she found someone to produce a few tracks, for which she paid £500. These ended up on her debut extended play Mermaid Vs. Sailor EP which was released on 23 November 2007. The record was created on hand-made CD-Rs by Diamandis and sold through her MySpace page. An estimated seventy copies were sold overall.

In January 2008, Diamandis was first discovered by music scouter Derek Davies of Neon Gold Records. Davies booked Diamandis to open for Australian singer Gotye later that year where Warner Music Group first saw her and ended up signing her in October 2008 to 679 Recordings.

Diamandis' debut single was a double a-side consisting of "Obsessions" and "Mowgli's Road" which was issued on Neon Gold Records in the United States, followed by her second extended play The Crown Jewels EP in June 2009 featuring her second single "I Am Not a Robot". Her first major label single, a re-recording of "Mowgli's Road", was released on 13 November 2009 under 679 in the UK and through Atlantic Records in the USA. On 7 December 2009 she was listed on the longlist for the BBC Sound of 2010 poll, and on 7 January 2010 it was announced that she had taken second place.

"Shampain" - a song from Diamandis' debut album - was used in an episode of the BBC Switch soap opera, The Cut.

Diamandis' debut album The Family Jewels was released on 22 February 2010. It peaked at number four in the UK Albums Chart and was certified silver in the United Kingdom days before its release. A re-release of "Mowgli's Road" was released as the album's lead single on 13 November 2009. However, the song "Hollywood" was released as the first major single from the album on 1 February 2010. A re-release of "I Am Not a Robot" will become the album's third single. Diamandis said she decided to re-release the song because "people seem to empathize and relate with the song, regardless of gender or age." She embarked on her first headlining tour on 14 February 2010, consisting of forty-three dates around the United Kingdom, Ireland, mainland Europe and the United States.

Early on in the year, Diamandis has been collaborating with producer Benny Blanco and guitarist Dave Sitek in Los Angeles on new material which she describes to be "a really great opportunity for me as a songwriter. [We are] such a weird threesome - a combination of super pop and really indie". She hinted towards a possible re-release extension of her album in the near future, similar to Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster.

Prior to the album's American release on 25 May, 2010 Diamandis will be releasing her third extended play titled The American Jewels EP digitally, exclusively to the United States on 23 March, 2010 featuring the songs "I Am Not A Robot", "Obsessions" and an exclusive remix "I Am Not A Robot Flex'd Rework (Passion Pit Remix)". Diamandis will be making her US debut starting on 14 March, 2010 through a series of performances.

(bron: Wikipedia)

http://www.marinaandthediamonds.com

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Marina & The Diamonds – The Family Jewels

_{Gepubliceerd op: 2010-03-23}

Marina Lambrini Diamandis is een half Griekse uit Wales debuteert met haar album ‘The Family Jewels’. In 2007 bracht ze al een ep uit in eigen beheer via haar MySpace pagina. In 2009 volgde een tweede ep, ‘The Crown Jewels ep’, die wel werd uitgebracht bij een platenmaatschappij. Nu is er dus het album ‘The Family Jewels’, met daarop een eigenaardige mix van Pop en allerlei andere invloeden. ... »

_{Tags: pop, cd recensie | Tell a friend}

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