Rockferry: Duffy
So many young soul singers coming out of the UK at the moment! Having grown up in a small Welsh village, with no record collection, and then leaving school at 15 to pursue a singing career, Amy Duffy (Duffy to you and me) admits she had a lot of catching up do musically. Schooling her in the wonders of Motown, Stax and Bacharach was Suede’s Bernard Butler, who also co-produced and co-wrote Rockferry.
The album is immersed in 60s style soul and pop and the distinctive crackly edge to Duffy’s voice shines with a power reminiscent of Dusty Springfield. When listening to Rockferry, you need to remind yourself that you’re listening to modern music by a hotly-tipped young artist and, as on Amy Winehouse’s amazingly successful Back To Black, certain songs on this album genuinely do sound like they were recorded in the sixties. Fantastic.