Marina's journey from Abergavenny to success

Recently, a video clip of song by Marina and The Diamonds appeared on Kanye West's blog. For the girl who grew up in the small Welsh town of Abergavenny and dreamed of being a singer, it was a big moment. But bigger ones are coming.

Marina Diamandis is putting the final touches to her first album, The Family Jewels. Her new single, "Mowgli's Road", will be released on 13 November. There's an international tour to prepare for as well.

Marina says she always wanted to sing for a living. There were no singers in her family, but there was music in the house. While mother listened to Enya on the kitchen radio, her father would play traditional "dramatic, emotional, almost always tragic Greek music around the house to remind him of home."

Her parents weren't very happy with the idea of their young daughter leaving the Welsh valleys for London to work at becoming a singer; but the world loves a trier, and Marina Diamandis is now about to have her day.

"People who are at the top level in pop music obviously sell loads of albums and make shitloads of money, but the money and sales is not what motivates me," Marina told the Irish Times. "I want to get to that level by doing my own thing on my own terms. I want to do so by creating something which is honest and different — and I don't think there is a lot of that out there these days."