Hear us now: 10 rising music stars for 2006

NEW YORK - You read it here first. These 10 faces to watch represent Billboard’s picks for 2006. They either have a highly anticipated debut album ready to come out in the first quarter or have been under-the-radar and are expected to explode at any moment.

Pop rock: Arctic Monkeys
Of the coolest British newcomers to emerge in 2005, Sheffield’s Arctic Monkeys climbed to the top of the heap.

Domino Recordings, home to Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand, came out on top amid frenzied label interest to ink the four-piece to a recording contract.

Lifted by a dedicated fan base and an online marketing campaign, Arctic Monkeys’ Oct. 17 debut single, “I Bet That You Look Good on the Dancefloor,” vaulted to the top spot at home and to No. 7 on the Billboard Eurochart Singles chart.

Because of that success, interest is building for the band’s forthcoming album, “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not,” which will be released in the U.K. Jan. 30. The album will be preceded by a second single, “When the Sun Goes Down.”

Details on the act’s U.S. push will be released this month.

Country: Shannon Brown
After 11 years in Nashville, Shannon Brown is not a newcomer to the country music industry. But Warner Bros. is launching her label debut with all the energy and innovation usually associated with a promising new artist.

In a creative initiative, Warner Bros. teamed with AOL Music to introduce Brown to the online audience through a six-part Web video series. Titled “This Is Shannon Brown,” it launched on aolmusic.com last summer. In bite-sized video snippets, the series offers a behind-the-scenes look at everything involved in releasing a new album and introducing an artist who has not yet become a household name.

Big & Rich’s John Rich produced Brown’s new album, due Feb. 28.

’She’s been around the block a couple of times and hasn”t been able to break through,” he says, referring to her time on Arista Nashville and sister label BNA Records between 1997 and 2002. ’Shannon and I finally captured musically what she is all about. We wrote some big old hits. Her head’s in the right place, and she’s going to come out and absolutely rock’n’roll.”

The Iowa native’s debut single, “Corn Fed,” is currently on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

Indie rock: Decemberadio
Spring Hill Music Group’s new Slanted imprint gained critical kudos for introducing torchy rock vocalist Charity Von, but in 2006 look for DecembeRadio to put the scrappy indie label on the dial in a big way.

Formed in 1998, this Blacksburg, W.Va.-based rock outfit cites such influences as Aerosmith, Lenny Kravitz and the Black Crowes, and serves up hard rock with a Southern flavor.

The group is the resident worship band for Camp Berea’s Deep Freeze youth camps near Concord, N.H., where it has developed a rabid teen fan base. It was voted breakout band of the year by radio stations attending the 2005 Rock Summit, and it has already scored slots on AtlantaFest and Rock the Universe, two of Christian music’s largest festivals.

Produced by Scotty Wilbanks (Third Day, Overflow, NewSong), the band’s debut is slated for late summer/early fall. Slanted is distributed by Warner Bros.-owned Word Distribution.

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