Ebony Bones!

Influenced by the Tom Tom Club, Gang of Four, and Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, soap opera actress turned genre-hopping pop star Ebony Bones was never likely to follow the same musical path as Neighbours' Kylie Minogue or EastEnders' Martine McCutcheon. Born Ebony Thomas, her career began when she was spotted by the artistic director of the Shakespeare Globe Theatre, who cast her in a production of Macbeth. In 1998, she landed the part of Yasmin McHugh on Channel 5 soap Family Affairs, a role she continued until the show was canceled in 2005, and following a chance meeting with the Damned's Rat Scabies in a London pub, who encouraged her to start a music career, she began writing and recording material and uploading it to MySpace. Her debut Björk-esque single, "We Know All About You," was declared "the Hottest Record in the World Today" by Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe, and following a slot supporting the Slits, she performed at Massive Attack's Meltdown and Glastonbury festivals. She wrote, produced, and played every instrument on her critically acclaimed 2009 debut, Bone of My Bones, and later worked with the Symphony Orchestra of India on follow-up Blood Is the New Black, scheduled for release in mid-2011. ~ Jon O'Brien, Rovi