Monday, March 24, 2008

"Mercy" - Duffy

If Amy Winehouse can channel the Ronettes, Duffy can channel Motown! From Wikipedia:
Raised in Nefyn on the Llŷn Peninsula with her twin sister, Katy, her parents divorced when she was 10, and she moved to Pembrokeshire with her mother and sisters, while her father remained in Nefyn. Her early interest in singing was apparently inspired by her father John Duffy's videotape of the 1960s television rock show Ready Steady Go!.

Duffy returned to Nefyn when she was 15, and started singing in various local bands. After being involved in an unsuccessful music project in Switzerland, Duffy returned to Wales in 2003 and auditioned for Wawffactor, a Welsh alternative to Pop Idol on S4C where she was expected to win, but eventually came second to winner Lisa Pedrig.

Duffy was elected president of the Students Union at Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor, before transferring to study at the University of Chester, Chester, England where she built up a following in Alexanders, a local jazz and blues club. She recorded a three-songs-EP in Welsh in 2004 and also appeared on two tracks on the album See You in the Morning by Mint Royale while working as a waitress and in a fishery. Owen Powell of Catatonia and Richard Parfitt of Newport band 60ft Dolls, introduced Duffy in August 2004 to former Public Image Ltd. member turned music manager and part-owner of Rough Trade Records Jeanette Lee. Lee moved Duffy to Crouch End in London, and orchestrated a meeting between Duffy and Suede's ex-guitar player Bernard Butler, who then co-wrote with her and helped create a sound that has been compared to Dusty Springfield.

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