Duffy Jones, known mononymously as Duffy, is a Welsh singer and actress. Her music style has been described as a mixture of soul, blue-eyed soul, pop rock, neo soul and pop music.
real name: Aimée Ann Duffy
formed in: Cardiff
labels: A&M Records, Polydor Records
genres: pop music, soul, rhythm and blues, blues
plays: voice
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Duffy was born on 23 June 1984 in Bangor, and was brought up by her English father John Duffy and Welsh mother Joyce (née Williams) in Nefyn. Duffy's parents divorced when she was 10 and she moved to Letterston, near the Pembrokeshire town of Fishguard, with her mother and two sisters.
After finishing her GCSEs in Pembrokeshire, Duffy returned to Nefyn, to live with her father, when she was fifteen, and started singing in various local bands. Duffy then spent six weeks in Switzerland (before she started college), collaborating with the writer-producer Soren Mounir, under the name Soulego. She was advised by a lecturer at Chester University to "Go on the dole, love, and become a singer". She also built up a following at Alexander's, a local jazz and blues club in Chester, where she performed with guitarist David Burton from the band The Invisible Wires, and met songwriter Lucia Cordaro, going on to perform and record one of her songs ("I Melt"). Duffy returned to Wales in 2003 and was invited to appear on Wawffactor, a...
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"Stepping Stone" is the fourth single by British singer Duffy from her debut studio album, Rockferry. The single was officially released as both a digital download and CD single on 1 September 2008 in the United Kingdom.
Although it followed the massive success of previous singles "Mercy" and "Warwick Avenue", it did not perform well in worldwide music charts. However, the single received widespread acclaim.
"Stepping Stone" was written by Duffy and Steve Booker (who also co-wrote international success "Mercy"), and recorded at Booker's "Bookerland studios". It was the first song the pair completed together. According to Booker in an interview with HitQuarters, Duffy firstly wanted to do the song "completely Supremes and up-tempo" because she felt that her album still needed a "big song" to complete it. The following day she changed her mind about the song's direction and the ongoing search for a big up-tempo song would eventually lead to "Mercy".
It was released worldwide as the third single from Rockferry, and the fourth in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Ireland, after "Rockferry", "Mercy" and "Warwick Avenue". The single was not released in mainland Europe, despite reaching the charts in many countries in this region. The cover art was produced by Studio Fury, and photographed by Max Dodson.
The music video for "Stepping Stone" depicts a mature, sophisticated style as Duffy is involved with one mysterious man. The video begins with Duffy sitting in bed, singing that she "will never be a stepping stone" to her lover. The video continues with Duffy trying on many different outfits throughout the day whilst singing the song, as if trying to impress somebody. Each time she leaves her house, she is seen going back to get changed, before finally building up the courage to leave. It ends with Duffy entering a filled bar, whilst someone enters and she looks up. The storyline suggests that Duffy is in love, however he does not love her in the same way. This fits in with the theme of the song, with its chorusline "I will never be a...
The song was covered by the operatic soprano Renée Fleming on her 2010 album, Dark Hope.
"Warwick Avenue" is a song by British singer Duffy from her debut album Rockferry (2008). The title refers to Warwick Avenue tube station in London.
It was written by Jimmy Hogarth, Eg White, and Duffy and produced by Hogarth. It was released in May 2008 as the third single from the album, but had already charted by March and April due to download sales.
The song received mostly positive reviews from critics. Digital Spy called it "cooler than a polar bear's freezer," "probably the finest cut from her debut LP," and "a classy affair," whilst also awarding the song four stars out of five.
The music video for "Warwick Avenue" premiered on 23 April 2008, on Channel 4 and was directed by Daniel Wolfe. The video is almost entirely composed of a single shot; it starts with Duffy leaving Warwick Avenue tube station in the back of a black taxi, crying as she is singing the song. The video finishes with Duffy still in the car, wiping her tears, which had ruined her make-up. The taxi scene was only meant to be one scene from the whole video but the director felt that it was best to use this scene only when Duffy cried real tears. He continued to film it as the whole music video.