Marina And The Diamonds

Marina  Diamandis (pronounced dee-a-man-dee), better known by her stage name Marina and the Diamonds, is a Welsh singer-songwriter of Greek descent. 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, followed by her third extended play, The American Jewels EP, in 2010.

Her name, “Marina and the Diamonds”, consists of Diamandis’ first name and the translation of her surname which means “Diamonds” in Greek. “The Diamonds” is often mistakenly believed to refer to her backing band (similar to Florence and the Machine). However, it in fact refers to Diamandis’ fans: she explains this on her MySpace page by saying “I’m Marina. You are the diamonds.”

Diamandis’ musical style ranges from keyboard-based ballads to more up-tempo new wave-style songs with full band backing. She has cited a wide-range of influences such as Daniel Johnston, Blondie, The Distillers, Patti Smith, Tom Waits, Nirvana, Kate Bush, PJ Harvey, Yann Tiersen, Britney Spears, Elliott Smith, Dolly Parton and Madonna.

Background

Marina Diamandis was born in Abergavenny, Wales to a Greek father and Welsh mother and raised in the village of Pandy with her parents and her two younger sisters. She attended St. Catherine’s British Embassy School and Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls, where she said she “sort of found talent there.” When her parents separated, Diamandis moved to Greece when she was sixteen years old to live with her father but returned to Wales two years later.

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 went for many auditions including the West End musical, The Lion King. Diamandis admitted that she auditioned for a reggae boy band, held by Virgin Records, in 2005 to try and make it into the music business. She said she was “delusional with drive” and ultimately decided to dress up in male attire to try to amuse the record label to sign her, but she was unsuccessful. However, she was called back by the record label a week later.

Early career: 2007—2009

Early demos of Marina and the Diamonds’ 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 on 19 November 2008, followed by her second extended play The Crown Jewels EP on 1 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 Recordings 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.

The Family Jewels: 2010—present

Marina and the Diamonds’ debut album The Family Jewels was released on 22 February 2010. It peaked at number five 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” on the 26 April 2010 became 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.” “Oh No!” will also become the album’s fourth single on 26 July 2010. She embarked on her first headlining tour on 14 February 2010, consisting of seventy-one dates around the United Kingdom, Ireland, mainland Europe, the United States and Canada.

Early on in 2010, 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.

In March 2010, Atlantic Records signed Marina and the Diamonds to Chop Shop Records in the United States. Prior to the album’s American release on 25 May 2010, Diamandis released her third extended play, The American Jewels EP, digitally and exclusively for the United States on 23 March 2010. Diamandis made her North American debut on 14 March 2010 through a series of performances.

She was nominated and won the award for Best UK & Ireland Act at the 2010 MTV EMA awards, sending her into the Best European Act category, although she never made it in the end.