LA ROUX:UK electro-pop duo comprising singer/synth player Elly Jackson and co-writer/producer Ben Langmaid. Influences include Prince, David Bowie and Annie Lennox. Jackson, meanwhile, co-designs her own clothes. Debut album due in June.

ESSER

If Lily Allen can script a girl's night out, celebrityhood and Chinese takeaways, why can't Chelmsford bloke Ben Esser provide the male perspective? Debut album out now.

MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS

Woman with a keyboard doesn't necessarily equate with Kate Nash. This is just as well, as this lot plough a more Adam Ant-like glam-pop furrow. Debut album forthcoming.

VV BROWN

Northampton songwriter Vanessa Brown, who has already written for the Sugababes and Pussycat Dolls, bypassed attempts by P Diddy to sign her to his label, Bad Boy Records. Describing her music as "musical mashed potatoes", Brown has two things to look forward to in June: the release of her debut album, Travelling Like the Light,and the opening of her vintage clothing store.

BLUE ROSES
Yorkshire's Laura Groves wasn't in the start-of-year lists of "People to Watch", but over the past few months she has stepped up to the mark with advance listens to her recently released self-titled debut album, which places Blue-era Joni Mitchell beside eerie, compelling idiosyncrasy.