Duffy : Almost Famous Blender 2008

Hi everyone, Duffy is having a well earned break and so I thought I'd share some more articles and photos from the past. Here is a nice little article from blender 2008.


If Aimee-Ann Duffy’s blue-eyed R&B sounds like something out of a ’60s time capsule, that’s probably because she grew up in one. The tiny singer hails from the wee Welsh coastal village of Nefyn, estimated population 2,550. “Fifty years ago, it was a booming place—hotels, restaurants, rich people on vacation,” she explains, calling Blender during her first American club tour. “Then, by the ’70s, hotels closed, people stopped coming—it just froze.”

Which left Duffy, born in 1984, in a bit of a jam: “I’ve wanted to sing since I was a child, but I had to keep it to myself,” she recalls. “Nefyn was so small, so remote, every­one would have laughed at me.” That isolation, though, helped inform her musical tastes. Duffy’s first exposure to pop came in the form of her parents’ record collection—heavy on old Motown and Stax vinyl—and a ­Sunday-night DJ on BBC Radio 2 whose notion of a brand-new smash was the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody.” You can hear these vintage influences on Duffy’s debut, Rockferry, which sounds like the record Amy Winehouse might make if Norah Jones were her AA sponsor. “Warwick Avenue” is a bluesy, slow-stroked kiss-off to a no-good ex; “Mercy” is a head-over-heels crush jam perfect for twisting your hips and/or shopping for housewares.

The latter topped the U.K. singles charts for five weeks straight—but Duffy’s Brit domination took work. She pumped gas, sold used clothes and made hotel beds; at 18, when she’d scrounged together enough cash, she moved to London and cut a demo, which led to a major-label deal. “But I’m not far removed from home,” she insists. “My best friend is a blacksmith. My other friend works at the local cinema, which seats 70 people and plays six-month-old movies. If I wasn’t doing this, I’d probably be dating a fisherman. But he’d be the hottest fisherman in town!”

All About Me!

Worst job ever:
“I was an optician’s ­secretary. I had to sit up front and wear these giant fake glasses, pretending I had bad eyesight all day.”

Last great movie I saw:
“Control. It was unbelievable. I love Joy Division—and Sam Riley is hot.”

Favorite famous Welshman:
“David Lloyd George. He was the first and only Welsh prime minister, a real man-of-the-­people type. There’s a Lloyd George statue where he lived, so you can go hang out with him there.”