Koko or KOKO may refer to:

People, animals, and plants

Emperor Kōkō (830–887), 58th emperor of Japan

Koko Taylor (1928–2009), R&B; singer

Koko Pimentel (born 1964), Philippine politician

Koko (gorilla) (born 1971), ape that underwent training in Gorilla Sign Language

Koko, lead guitarist of the Indian rock band Agnee

A local name for the Lebbek Tree, ''Albizia lebbeck''

Places

Koko Head, a headland in Hawaii

''Koko (venue)'', formerly known as the Camden Palace, in London

Koko, Nigeria, a town in Delta State, on the Benin River

Koko, a town in Koko/Besse Local Government Area in Kebbi State, Nigeria

Koko Guyot, a 48.1 million year old underwater volcano

Koko (Bouaké), a town and commune in Côte d'Ivoire

Koko (Korhogo), a town and commune in Côte d'Ivoire

Fiction

''Koko'' (novel) (1988), by Peter Straub

Koko, a character from the anime series ''Zatch Bell!''

Ko-Ko, a character from the Gilbert & Sullivan play ''The Mikado''

Koko the Clown, a cartoon character

KoKo, a railway engine in the ''Chuggington'' series, see List of Chuggington characters

Language

Koko, a Namibian alternate name for the ǂKxʼauǁʼein languages

Music

"Ko-Ko", a jazz composition by Charlie Parker

"Koko", a song from ''Supernature'' (Goldfrapp album)

Radio stations

KOKO (AM), a radio station in Missouri (1450 AM) licensed to Warrensburg, Missouri, U.S.

KOKO-FM, a radio station (94.3 FM) licensed to Kerman, California, U.S.

See also

Co-Co (disambiguation)

Coco (disambiguation)

Cocoa (disambiguation)

Category:Broadcast call sign disambiguation pages

de:Koko eo:Koko fr:Koko id:Koko (disambiguasi) nl:Koko pl:Koko

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Name	Sander van Doorn
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Sander Ketelaars
Alias	Filterfunk, Larsson, Purple Haze, Sam Sharp, Sandler
Born	February 28, 1979Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Genre	Trance, House
Occupation	DJ, Producer, Remixer
Years active	2004–present
Label	Doorn Records
Associated acts	Frequence
Website
Notable instruments	}}

Sander van Doorn () (born Sander Ketelaars [] on 28 February 1979 in Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands) is a Dutch trance music DJ and producer. He is listed at DJMag's top 100 djs list, debuting at #32 in 2006, then moving up to #13 in 2008, being #10 in 2009 and currently listed at #12 in the world. Another dance music poll, TranceAddict TOP 250 shows Sander at #5 in their rankings.

Sander hosts Identity podcast, which is being broadcast as a weekly radio show on Area channel of Sirius XM satellite radio. The show is being broadcast every Friday at 8 pm ET and replays every Saturday at 5 pm ET and Wednesdays at 6 pm ET.

The first big achievement in his career was securing residencies at Judgement Sunday in Ibiza and at the Gallery in London. Sander has DJ'ed at many major clubs, parties and venues around the world. In June 2007 he presented one of Eddie Halliwell's shows on BBC Radio One. He also did an essential mix for BBC Radio One in June 2006, the same month he won 'Best New Producer' at the Trance Awards. His productions, both original work and remixes, in 2007-2008 have generally been well received in the electronic music industry. Notable artists he has done remixes for include Robbie Rivera, Matt Darey, Randy Katana, Mode Hookers (Steve Angello & Sebastian Ingrosso), Blank & Jones, TDR, Armin van Buuren.

On 3 March 2008 Sander released his first artist album under the record label Spinnin' Records. The album was titled 'Supernaturalistic'. It is a 13 track album with a variation of tracks with a base in trance but all with their own take on the genre.

March 2008 saw Sander win an award for 'Best Breakthrough DJ' in the International Dance Music Awards at the Miami Winter Music Conference in 2008 (beating the likes of Calvin Harris, Deadmau5 and Axwell). His track "Riff" also received a nomination as the best "Underground Track".

In the summer of 2010 Sander had residency at the world famous Amnesia nightclub in Ibiza, Spain. On Tuesday of every month Sander was going behind the decks with the likes of such super star DJs as Armin van Buuren, Markus Schulz and Gareth Emery.

2010 was a very busy year for Sander both in the studio and on the global dance floor. Sander's "Renegade" track was the official anthem of the biggest trance party in the world - Trance Energy 2010 in the Netherlands, where he played on the Main Stage. He also did the official cd compilation for Trance Energy 2010.

Sander headlined a lot of music festivals with Bal en Blanc 16 in Montreal, Beyond Wonderland in San Bernardino, Electric Zoo in New York and Transmission in Prague just to name a few. A month long tour of North America, which started in April was a great success with the finale "Dusk Till Doorn" show at The Guvernment in Toronto.

In August 2010, Sander released his double cd compilation "Dusk Till Doorn" with big launch party at Avalon nightclub in Las Vegas, where Sander played an extended 5 hours set. Sander already brought his "Dusk Till Doorn" show to many nightclubs around the world and the list keeps on growing.

Just like in 2009, all of Sander's tracks produced in 2010 including "Renegade", "Daisy", "Reach Out", "Hymn 2.0" and "Daddyrock" went to the top of trance chart at Beatport music portal.

2011 has been another mile-stone year for Sander. In between huge headlining gigs at Energy, Mysteryland, EDC and his residency at worldwide Sensation festivals, he released his frist true cross-over hits 'Love is darkness' and 'Koko'. Besides that, his Dusk till Doorn compilation got its 2011 version, all of which earned him a Dutch Silver Harp award.

Discography

Albums

''Supernaturalistic'' (2008)

''Eleve11'' (September 19, 2011)

DJ Mixes

2006 Dance Valley Festival 2006

2006 I-D Digital Mix

2007 Fast And Furious

2010 From Dusk Till Doorn

2011 Dusk Till Doorn

Singles & EPs

2004 Twister (RR, as Sam Sharp)

2004 Loaded (Oxygen)

2004 Punk'd (Oxygen)

2004 Dark Roast (Oxygen)

2004 Deep / In-Deep (Reset, as Sam Sharp)

2004 Theme Song (Liquid, as Sandler)

2005 Chemistry EP (Liquid, as Sandler)

2005 Bling Bling (Oxygen)

2005 ERROR (Reset, as Sam Sharp)

2005 Adrenaline / Push Off Me (Oxygen, as Purple Haze)

2005 A.K.A (Oxygen)

2005 S.O.S. (Message In A Bottle) (Whitelabel, as Filterfunk)

2005 Hoover:Craft (Reset, as Sam Sharp)

2006 Eden / Rush (Oxygen, as Purple Haze)

2006 Pumpkin (Oxygen)

2007 Grasshopper/ Grass-Hopper (Oxygen)

2007 By Any Demand feat MC Pryme (Spinnin)

2007 King of My Castle (Sander van Doorn Remix)(Spinnin)

2007 Riff (DOORN)

2008 The Bass (Nebula/EMI)

2008 Apple

2008 Sushi

2008 Organic (with Marco V)

2009 Close My Eyes (with Robbie Williams and Pet Shop Boys) (Nebula)

2009 Roundabout (as Sam Sharp)

2009 What Say (with Marco V)

2009 Bastillion

2009 Bliksem (as Purple Haze)

2009 Ninety

2010 Renegade

2010 Daisy

2010 Reach Out

2010 Hymn 2.0 (as Purple Haze)

2010 Daddyrock

2010 Season (as Sandler, from 2004)

2010 Intro (XX Booty Mix)

2011 Love Is Darkness (with Carol Lee)

2011 Koko

2011 Timezone (as Purple Haze with Frederick)

Remixes

2004 Code 1 - House Music (SvD Dub)

2004 Sander van Doorn - Dark Roast (S.V.D. Remix)

2005 Manny Romero - Compadre (S.v.D. Remix)

2005 TDR - Squelch (Sander Van Doorn Remix)

2005 FilterFunk - S.O.S. (Message In A Bottle) (Sander van Doorn Remix)

2006 Armin van Buuren - Control Freak (Sander van Doorn Remix)

2006 Mohamed Sehly - Amazing Beat (SVD Without Going Cairo Remix)

2006 Tiësto - Dance4Life (Sander Van Doorn Remix)

2006 Club Scene Investigators - Direct Dizko (Sander Van Doorn Remix)

2006 Technotronic - Pump Up The Jam (Sander Van Doorn Remix)

2006 Sander van Doorn - Pumpkin (SvD Remix)

2006 Mode Hookers - Breathe (Sander van Doorn Remix)

2006 Yello - Oh Yeah (Sander van Doorn Remix)

2006 Filterfunk - S.O.S. (Message In A Bottle) [Sander van Doorn Mix]

2007 Wamdue Project - King Of My Castle (Sander van Doorn Vocal Mix)

2007 Gleave - Come With Me (SVD Stripped Edit)

2007 Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down (Sander van Doorn Remix)

2008 Sia - The Girl You Lost To Cocaine (Sander van Doorn Remix)

2008 One Republic - Apologize (Sander van Doorn Bootleg)

2009 Sam Sharp - Roundabout (Sander van Doorn Main Mix)

2009 The Killers - Spaceman (Sander van Doorn Remix) Part 1

2009 The Killers - Spaceman (Sander van Doorn Remix) Part 2

2009 Depeche Mode - Peace (Sander van Doorn Remix)

2010 Swedish House Mafia - Miami 2 Ibiza (Sander van Doorn Remix)

References

External links

Official website

SVD TV

Interview Sander van Doorn - Actualites Electroniques Interview Sander van Doorn - Actualites Electroniques

Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:Club DJs Category:Dutch dance musicians Category:Dutch DJs Category:Dutch electronic musicians Category:Dutch record producers Category:Dutch trance musicians Category:Eurodance musicians Category:People from Eindhoven Category:Remixers

bg:Сандер ван Дорн cs:Sander van Doorn de:Sander van Doorn es:Sander van Doorn fr:Sander van Doorn it:Sander Van Doorn nl:Sander van Doorn pl:Sander van Doorn

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
name	Koko
birth date	July 04, 1971
birth place	San Francisco Zoo, USA
known for	Use of sign language }}

Koko (born July 4, 1971, at San Francisco Zoo) is a Western Lowland Gorilla who, according to Francine 'Penny' Patterson, is able to understand more than 1,000 signs based on American Sign Language, and understand approximately 2,000 words of spoken English.

As with other ape language experiments, the degree to which Koko masters these signs has been controversial, as has been the degree to which such mastery demonstrates language abilities.

Koko has lived most of her life in Woodside, California, although a move to a sanctuary in Maui, Hawaii, has been planned since the 1990s. Koko is short for the name in Japanese, a reference to her date of birth, the Fourth of July.

Use of language

Francine Patterson (her longterm trainer) believes that Koko's use of signs and her actions, which are consistent with her use of signs, indicate she has mastered the use of sign language. Other researchers argue that she does not understand the meaning behind what she is doing and learns to complete the signs simply because the researchers reward her for doing so (indicating that her actions are the product of operant conditioning). However, the latter position is not consistent with the claims that Koko uses the language freely and in novel ways, even when there is no foreseeable gratification. Another concern that has been raised about Koko's ability to express coherent thoughts through the use of signs is that interpretation of the gorilla's conversation is left to the handler, who may see improbable concatenations of signs as meaningful.

Patterson says she has documented Koko inventing new signs to communicate novel thoughts. For example she says that nobody taught Koko the word for "ring", therefore to refer to it she combined the words "finger" and "bracelet", hence "finger-bracelet".

On April 12, 1998, an event promoted as an online chat with Koko took place on America Online. The transcript of this event, available on many locations on the Internet, contains at least one instance of Koko making a statement resembling a sentence: "Lips fake candy give me"; uttered while Koko was trying to get Patterson to give her a treat. The last three words would constitute the use of an imperative verb accompanied by both a direct and an indirect object. It should be noted, however, that Koko does try a few other, seemingly random, signs translated as "words" before and after this "utterance", seemingly in order to achieve the same goal - obtaining a treat from Patterson. It has also been noted that Koko does not clearly seem to understand any language being directed to her in the transcript. Nevertheless, "candy give me" may be evidence that Koko can form a sentence.

Criticism from some parts of the scientific community centers on the fact that while publications often appear in the popular press about Koko, scientific publications are fewer in number. Such debate requires careful consideration of what it means to 'learn' or 'use' a language (see animal language for further discussion).

Koko's training began at the age of one. Patterson has assessed Koko's vocabulary at over 1,000 signs, which would place her among the most proficient non-human users of language. The bonobo, Kanzi, who learned to speak using a keyboard with lexigrams, picked up some sign language from watching videos of Koko; Kanzi's researcher, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, did not realize he could sign until Kanzi began signing to anthropologist Dawn Prince-Hughes, who had previously worked closely with gorillas.

Most of the claims about Koko's language use center around her use, not of sentences, but of adjectives, nouns, and noun phrases. For example, Penny will give Koko a treat if she points to an apple and gives the sign for "apple" or "red."

Michael and Ndume

Patterson claims that Michael, a gorilla who lived with Koko for several years, also developed a broad vocabulary of signs, over 600, but did not become as proficient as Koko before his death in 2000. Michael's caregivers believe that he witnessed and remembered his mother's death at the hands of poachers, but was unable to clearly express the event. In the PBS ''Nature'' special ''Koko: Conversation with a Gorilla,'' a group of Michael's signs is interpreted to be an attempt to convey a description of his mother being shot as he watched. While it was intended that Koko and Michael might produce a baby gorilla and teach it to sign, the two saw each other as siblings and did not mate.

Another gorilla, named Ndume, was selected by Koko from a group of videotapes shown to her by her "Mother" Penny, who played several tapes showing male apes of her species, in what may be described as an attempt at "video-dating." Despite these efforts, Koko and Ndume have also not mated. The Foundation is currently working to solve this, while Koko's biological clock still permits (possibly into her early forties).

Koko's cats

Although not unique, Koko is one of the few non-humans known to keep pets. She has cared for several cats over the years and Koko's relationship with All Ball was featured in the 1987 book ''Koko's Kitten'' (Scholastic Press, ISBN 0-590-44425-5), which was written by Patterson. In the book, Patterson reported that, in the summer of 1984, Koko asked her for a cat. Koko selected a gray male Manx from a litter of abandoned kittens and named him "All Ball." This breed is unusual in that it has no tail. Patterson wondered whether that influenced Koko's choice. Patterson wrote that Koko cared for the kitten as if it were a baby gorilla.

In December of that same year, All Ball escaped from Koko's cage and was hit and killed by a car. Later, Patterson claimed that when she signed to Koko that All Ball had gone, Koko signed “Bad, sad, bad” and “Frown, cry, frown, sad.” Patterson also reported later hearing Koko making a sound akin to human weeping. Patterson uses this to argue that non-human species can have human-like emotions.

In 1985, Koko was allowed to pick out two new kittens from a litter to be her companions. The animals she chose, later named "Lipstick" and "Smokey," were also Manxes like All Ball.

Other gorillas known to have cared for pets include Toto.

Sexual harassment

Three former female employees have claimed that they were pressured into showing their breasts to Koko. They alleged that Patterson encouraged the behavior, often interpreted Koko's signs as requests for nipple display, and let them know that their job would be in danger if they "did not indulge Koko's nipple fetish." All claims of harassment have been permanently dropped as of November 21, 2005, after the foundation and the parties involved reached a settlement. Patterson claims that Koko uses the word "nipple" to refer to humans because it sounds like "people". Jody Weiner, Koko's lawyer, writes about Koko and sexual harassment in the book ''Kinship With Animals''.

In popular culture

Koko was the subject of the 1978 documentary ''Koko: A Talking Gorilla'', directed by Barbet Schroeder.

Koko was mentioned in an episode of ''Seinfeld'' where George Costanza was given the nickname Koko, after the gorilla.

On ''The Ricky Gervais Show'', Karl Pilkington has occasionally re-told (if somewhat inaccurately) stories about Koko on the popular recurring feature Monkey News. For example, on a 2003 episode, Karl talks of a "Monkey on a chat room", and in a later episode Karl talks of "a Monkey Sanctuary where women workers were encouraged to bare their breasts to the gorillas."

Koko was referenced in ''The Big Bang Theory'', in the episode "The Gorilla Experiment". In the episode, Sheldon attempts to teach Penny physics, who, when she is trying to convince him to teach her, rationalizes it to being able to teach Koko sign language.

References

Patterson, Dr. Francine (1987). ''Koko's Kitten''. Scholastic, Inc. ISBN 0-590-44425-5

Further reading

External links

Gorilla Foundation - koko.org, the official site about Koko

A transcript of the AOL chat on April 27, 1998

SFGate.com - 'Gorilla Foundation rocked by breast display lawsuit: Former employees say they were told to expose chests', Patricia Yollin, ''San Francisco Chronicle'' (February 18, 2005)

Stanford.edu - When Koko the gorilla needs a checkup, Stanford docs swing into action', Mitzi Baker

Comprehensive essay about Koko at Thought Catalog

Online video

A Conversation With Koko, PBS

KokoFlix

KokoTV

Category:Apes from language studies Category:1971 animal births Category:Individual gorillas

de:Koko (Gorilla) es:Koko eo:Koko (gorilo) fr:Koko (gorille) id:Koko (gorila) nl:Koko (gorilla) ja:ココ (ゴリラ) no:Koko pt:Koko (gorila) ru:Коко (горилла) fi:Koko (gorilla) uk:Коко (горила) zh:可可 (猩猩)

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
name	Marina and the Diamonds
background	solo_singer
birth name	Marina Lambrini Diamandis
birth date	October 10, 1985
birth place	Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales
instrument	Vocals, keyboard, piano, glockenspiel, casio VL-tone, organ
genre	Indie pop, New Wave
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
years active	2007–present
label	Neon Gold, 679, Chop Shop
website	}}

Marina Lambrini Diamandis (, pronounced ; born 10 October 1985), better known by her stage name Marina and the Diamonds (sometimes stylised as Marina & the diamonds), is a 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 EP, 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. In 2011, Marina announce that she was working on her second album, "Electra Heart", no date has been announced. The first single from the second album is called "Radioactive" and is to release in the UK, on 3rd October 2011.

Her stage name, "Marina and the Diamonds", consists of Diamandis's first name and the translation of her surname which means "Diamonds" in Greek. Although "The Diamonds" is often mistakenly believed to refer to her backing band, it in fact refers to Diamandis's fans: she explains this on her Myspace page by saying "I'm Marina Diamandis. You are my fans."

Diamandis's 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, PJ Harvey, Yann Tiersen, Elliott Smith, Dolly Parton and Madonna.

Background

Diamandis was born in Abergavenny, Wales to a Greek father and a Welsh mother, and brought up in the village of Pandy with her parents and her older sister. She attended Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls, of which she said "I sort of found my talent there... I was the one who always skived off choir, but I had an incredible music teacher who managed to convince me I could do anything." 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.

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 Tech Music Schools. Diamandis enrolled on a degree in music at the University of East London, transferring in her second year of studies to Middlesex University, but she later dropped out. 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 to 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.

Diamandis has a synaesthetic condition that involves seeing musical notes and days of the week in different colours.

Musical career

2005–2009: Early career

In 2005, Diamandis created the name "Marina and the Diamonds". When describing the origin of the name, she said:

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's 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.

2008–2010: The Family Jewels

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." thumb|right|150px|Marina and the Diamonds at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ"Oh No!" became the album's fourth single on 2 August 2010. "Shampain" became the album's fifth single on 11 October 2010. She embarked on her first headlining tour on 14 February 2010, consisting of seventy 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".

In March 2010, Atlantic Records signed Marina and the Diamonds to Chop Shop Records in the United States. Before 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.

Marina and the Diamonds was nominated for Critics' Choice at the 2010 BRIT Awards and came fifth in ''SHREDnews''' "Ten Artists To Watch in 2010" list in March 2010. She also won the award for Best UK & Ireland Act at the 2010 MTV EMA awards, sending her into the Best European Act category, although she failed to reach the top 5 nominees.

2011–present: Electra Heart

Marina announced at a concert in Glasgow on the 1st of November, that she would be releasing new material as early as October 2011, although has since announced via her website that she is unsure how long it will take for the album to be completed. There is still no such indication as to date of release. In a January 2011 interview, she announced that her second album will mainly be about the female sexuality and feminism. On January 19, Diamandis was announced as a support act for the US leg of Katy Perry's "California Dreams Tour". Three early demos were leaked in early 2011, called "Sex, Yeah!", "Living Dead" and "Jealousy", each showing a more pop sound. A number of these previously unreleased tracks have been performed as part of the Burger Queen Tour. "Jealousy" made its television debut at the 2011 Glammy Awards in Germany. Of the leaked tracks it is so far the only to be confirmed for the new album, yet according to Diamondis "has nothing to do with the concept of the album". She is currently recording material with producers Guy Sigsworth, Labrinth, Greg Kurstin, Diplo, Dr. Luke, Stargate and Liam Howe.

On 8th August 2011 at 4pm, Diamandis uploaded a new video to her Youtube page titled "Part 1: Fear & Loathing". In an interview with Popjustice, Marina explained the whole concept of "Electra Heart" with the album to be under the same title and "Fear & Loathing" as an album track, and to be released on iTunes on September the 25th. However this will not be an official single. The high concept video for it sees Marina slowly transforming into the character of Electra Heart, a guise Marina says "epitomises and embodies the lies, illusions and death of American ideologies involved in the corruption of self." but will however not be an alter-ego as Marina says it is too "clichéd". Asked to describe just what Electra Heart is and stands for, Marina told Popjustice: "Electra Heart is the antithesis of everything that I stand for. And the point of introducing her and building a whole concept around her is that she stands for the corrupt side of American ideology, and basically that’s the corruption of yourself. My worst fear - that’s anyone’s worst fear - is losing myself and becoming a vacuous person. And that happens a lot when you’re very ambitious." The second song, 'Radioactive' produced by Stargate premiered on BBC Radio 1 on 22 August 2011. It is set to be released on iTunes on 3rd October 2011. Further developing the Electra Heart concept "Part 2: Radioactive" the official music video for the single premiered.

Aside from music, Diamandis became the new face of Max Factor. The venture was confirmed early 2011 with a number of photoshoots since taking place.

Music style and influences

Marina and the Diamonds has been influenced by a wide-range of musicians from PJ Harvey to Britney Spears. Diamandis has also noted Daniel Johnston as one of her major influences saying:

Diamandis calls herself a "DIY musician" and describes her sound as an alternative to mainstream pop music. In an interview with ''ClashMusic'' Diamandis said that she does not come from a musical background and explained “I probably have a bit of a different sound because I don’t really know what I’m doing”. Lyrically, she says her music analyzes people and that if she wasn't a musician, she would be a psychologist.

Critics usually catalogue Marina and the Diamonds as a New Wave pop artist. In an interview with ''The Guardian'' she said, "I suppose I'm an indie artist with pop goals". Although Diamandis has urged that she never tries to sound like any other artist or copy a genre of music, she has been compared to a variety of artists such as Kate Bush and most commonly Florence and the Machine. ''PopMatters'' commented on her vocal delivery and attitude saying it "has a tendency to overshadow the music, which is often melodically inventive, but we are rarely given the chance to realise this." ''The Guardian'''s Paul Lester wrote that "her songs are hard to fathom. They veer between simple keyboards-based ballads and more upbeat and catchy, quirky new wave-inflected numbers enhanced by percussion, guitar and drums."

Public image

As well as her music, Marina and the Diamonds is also notable for her unique attire. When asked in an interview to describe her fashion style in three words, Diamandis said "vintage, cheerleader and cartoon". You can see an element of this style in the video for 'Oh No!' Which was released in June 2010.She has praised model/DJ Leigh Lezark's fashion style and called Gwen Stefani her definitive style icon calling her image "cartoonized but in a very fresh way". Diamandis has mentioned that she sometimes makes her own outfits with clothes she buys from charity shops. She also collects vintage cheer jackets. She has often been seen wearing clothes by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Laura Mackness, Beyond Retro, Motel Rocks, Jervoise Jackets amongst others. Diamandis has admitted that she would "like to do something in fashion, not designing, not one of those skanky celebrity lines, but being involved behind the scenes".

As part of Selfridges' "Sound of Music", Diamandis designed her own window display for the London's Oxford Street branch in May 2010. She also appeared as a "live mannequin" for the display. Marina was featured on VOGUE.CO.UK throughout November 2010 for a popular sartorial section called Today I'm Wearing - where she blogged her daily style choices for the fashion website. On 20 December 2010, Diamandis announced on her Twitter that she would be the new face of the new make up range "Max Factor Max Colour Effects" and performed an intimate gig at London's Cuckoo Club.

Discography

;Studio albums

2010: ''The Family Jewels''

2011: ''Electra Heart''

;Extended plays

2007: ''Mermaid Vs. Sailor EP''

2009: ''The Crown Jewels EP''

2010: ''The American Jewels EP''

Touring

In 2009, Marina and the Diamonds played at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in Swindon early in May 2009, Glastonbury Festival in June 2009, and the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2009.

In promotion for her album and "Hollywood", Diamandis performed at Brand New: 10 for 10 at London's Dingwalls, had an eleven minute 4Music special - ''4Play: Marina and the Diamonds'' - on Channel 4, performed at T4's Outside-In Festival, New to Q Sessions in January 2010, was a musical guest on GMTV, ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'', ''The Review Show'' in February, 2010 and ''Later... with Jools Holland'' and T4's ''Frock Me!'' in April, 2010. She performed at the Isle of Wight Festival 2010 and Glastonbury Festival 2010 in June 2010 and is planned to appear at other music festivals across the United Kingdom, mainland Europe and North America.

Diamandis had already sold out the first leg of her first headlining tour, The Family Jewels Tour (including the third leg of her tour, The Gem Tour) before the release of her debut album. Her entire tour currently consists of seventy dates across six legs around the United Kingdom, North America, Ireland and mainland Europe. Diamandis was accompanied by support acts Clock Opera and Alan Pownall for the first leg of her tour and Spark on The Gem Tour.

;Tours

The Family Jewels Tour (February 2010 — September 2010)

The Burger Queen Tour (October 2010 - onwards)

California Dreams Tour (Supporting - 22 June - 9 July)

Backing band

;Current members

Peter Carr – electronic keyboard

Dan Gulino – bass

Jonathon Shone - keyboard

Sebastian Sternberg – drums

;Past members

Ben Epstein – bass

Nick Harsant – bass

Nick Johnson – drums

Tom Holdroyd – guitar

Chris Morris – drums

Awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable" |- ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Organisation ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Nominated work ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Award ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Result |- |rowspan="12"|2010 |BBC Sound of 2010 |Marina and the Diamonds |Sound of 2010 |style="background:lightgrey" |Second place |- |2010 BRIT Awards |Marina and the Diamonds |Critics' Choice | |- |SHREDnews |Marina and the Diamonds |Ten Artists To Watch in 2010 |style="background:lightgrey" |Fifth place |- |2010 NME Awards |Marina and the Diamonds |Hottest Woman | |- |2010 BT Digital Music Awards |Marina and the Diamonds |Breakthrough Artist of the Year | |- |rowspan="2"|MTV Europe Music Awards |Marina and the Diamonds |Best UK & Irish Act | |- |Marina and the Diamonds |Best European Act | |- |UK Festival Awards 2010 |Marina and the Diamonds |Best Breakthrough Act | |- |rowspan="3"|4Music Video Honours |Marina and the Diamonds |Hottest Girl of 2010 |style="background:lightgrey" |Eighth place |- |Marina and the Diamonds |Box Biggest Breakthrough of 2010 |style="background:lightgrey" |Tenth place |- |Hollywood |Best Video of 2010 | |- ||Virgin Media Music Awards |Marina and the Diamonds |Best Newcomer | |- |rowspan="1"|2011 ||Glamour Women of the Year Awards |Marina and the Diamonds |Best Band | |-

References

External links

Marina and the Diamonds on BBC Wales

Fan news site .net

Fan news site .org

Fan site documenting Marina's live career

Review of Marina and the Diamonds, Deaf Institute Manchester February 2010 Contact Music

Marina and the Diamonds on VOGUE.COM's Today I'm Wearing

Marina and the Diamonds Videography

Marina and the Diamonds Discography and Collectors Guide

Category:1985 births Category:679 Artists artists Category:Alumni of Middlesex University Category:Alumni of the University of East London Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:British people of Greek descent Category:English-language singers Category:Female New Wave singers Category:Glockenspiel players Category:Indie pop musicians Category:Keyboardists Category:Living people Category:People from Abergavenny Category:People from London Category:People with synesthesia Category:Warner Music Group artists Category:Welsh female singers Category:Welsh organists Category:Welsh pop pianists Category:Welsh pop singers Category:Welsh singer-songwriters Category:Wonky Pop acts Category:People educated at Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls

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