Never heard of these people? Well, give it time and some media hype. Here are the bands and musos set to make it big in 2010  WORDS: Alison Grinter

Ellie Goulding

She’s all over the web like a rash and hasn’t even put out so much as a single yet. But with major label backing and insanely catchy single Under The Sheets ready to drop it won’t be long before this 23-year-old Brit singer/songwriter is a household name. 

Dionne Bromfield

She’s a precocious 14-year-old Brit who’s been raiding her parents’ (or grandparents’) record collection, if her vintage ’60s pop sound is anything to go by. She’s the first signing to godmother Amy Winehouse’s Lioness record label. Expect her debut single Mama Said to rise and rise. 

Jack Splash

Hailing from Miami, Florida, Jack Splash could be the new Prince, if his soulful croon and Missy Elliott-assisted hit-in-the making I Could Have Loved You is any indication. 

Bertie Blackman

With art in her blood (her father is iconic Australian painter Charles Blackman), this unconventional singer/songwriter has been making some serious waves Down Under, where she recently won the Best Independent Release Aria for debut album Secrets And Lies. She’ll be heading to Blighty in March next year.

Joy Orbison

Good old-fashioned house makes a comeback in 2010 via Giles Peterson-championed London producer Peter O’Grady – otherwise known as Joy Orbison – whose track Hyph Mngo has been bigged up by tastemakers at Pitchfork, Resident Advisor and Fact magazine.

Lawrence Arabia

In 2006 erstwhile member of The Brunettes and The Ruby Suns James Milne upped sticks from Auckland to live in London and try his hand as a solo artist. It seems to have worked out for him: he supported Feist on her European tour and has an achingly pretty debut album Chant Darling to plug here next year.

Frightened Rabbit

Scotland’s next great hope is indie folk quartet Frightened Rabbit, whose emotive song writing has won them many fans up north. Excitement is building around their third album, which is set to launch them into the stratosphere.

The Drums

They might be based in Brooklyn, NYC, but these up-and-coming scenesters have sought inspiration from across the pond with songs drenched in Smiths/Cure/Joy Division style melancholy, finished with an ’80s synth sheen. They’ll be touring the UK early next year. 

Pulled Apart by Horses

Full-throttle rock with a dangerous edge and a lead singer who channels the visceral power of Kurt Cobain is the order of the day from this Leeds indie outfit. Their tune E=MC Hammer is the sonic equivalent of a runaway train. Check it out online.

Gin Wigmore

At 16 she won the US-based International Songwriting Competition and her version of Hallelujah featured on One Tree Hill. She’s also a bona fide star in her native Godzone, where her debut album Holy Smoke went to number one. We look forward to hearing her unique rasp of a voice on these shores soon.

Everything Everything

With the crazed momentum of They Might Be Giants, this Manc quartet’s tunes Photoshop Handsome and Suffragette Suffragette have been big hits in cyberspace. They’re inspired by everyone from R Kelly to Ezra Pound, which gives you some indication of the highbrow/lowbrow lark they’re rocking.

Ke$ha

This Nashville native with dubious numeric name spelling has already slain the Saffa and Antipodean charts with upbeat hip-hop anthem Tik Tok. And she’s set to do the same in Blighty.

Esben and The Witch

A trio hailing from Brighton, their atmospheric, noirish soundscapes have already bewitched the UK indie press. They also do a haunting cover version of Kylie’s Confide In Me.