Duffy - Souled out

Source: The List (Issue 607)
Date: 17 July 2008 (updated 28 July 2008)
Written by: Mark Robertson

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In an age of stack ‘em high, sell ‘em out record company profile maximalisation Aimee Anne Duffy is a true original. Instead of tumbling off the BRITs school production line, Duffy found a collaborator and mentor in former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler. In between producing albums for perennial indie types Sons and Daughters and The Cribs, Butler took Duffy under his wing, and gave her schooling in soul music, filling her iPod with the classics while she commuted to her day job.

The pair’s collaboration resulted in Rockferry, her debut album which arrived in February this year. To say it did well is an understatement. It sold 60,000 copies on its first day of release, had shifted 700,000 copies by June and hasn’t been out of the top five since. We shouldn’t be surprised. The Cardiff-born songstrel is in possession of a phenomenal set of pipe, in the classic husky Motown soul tradition, à la Winehous, and the songs, while familiar, are insanely addictive. This is one of her first festival appearances and a chance to dispel the ‘new Amy’ tag by proving she’s very much her own woman. (MR)

Guitars and Other Machines Stage, Sun.

More: Music, Previews (Music), Connect Festival, Duffy, Rock & pop, Soul