Friday, April 18, 2008

18 Apr: Sky News Duffy Interview

The below article appeared today on Sky News. "Debut single" is obviously wrong (unless Rockferry went to number one and I missed it). You would have thought they could have checked the details....... although I suppose since Rockferry was never released on CD maybe that is what they mean......

Judging from all the chatter over these...
a) Tescos announcing they are setting up a digital music shop by the end of the year (DRM free), but some people think this is a dumb idea because CDs is where the real money is...
and
b) Starbucks giving away free downloads of top tunes and vids (including Duffy's music)

...everyone is saying that DRM digital music is on it's way out and that since digital music has always been a drop in the ocean compared with sales of physical releases.

So then, maybe Sky News is on top of things in ignoring Duffy's Rockferry single, which was only released on download and vinyl...... then again maybe they are just bozos for getting it wrong.
LOL
Good job I can type quick or I'd be here all day rambling on with my nonsense... ;-) Article pasted below.

Duffy Speaks On Her Rise To Stardom
Steve Hargrave
Sky News showbiz correspondent
Updated:07:25, Friday April 18, 2008


You don't get many pop stars squeezing you in for a quick interview when they're meant to be knee-deep in rehearsals for the biggest gig of their career so far.

But then you don't get too many interviewees like Duffy.

The Welsh sensation is riding high in the album charts at number one, with her debut single having only just dropped off top spot in the singles chart.

The 23-year-old has had a phenomenal rise to the top in such a short space of time that it's a wonder she isn't slightly more confident about her success.

But it's good to see when we meet at the Royal Albert Hall she's remarkably modest about the fact that her album has just sold more than a million copies in a month across the world. Success hasn't tainted her charm.

"It's really weird," she tells me. "I'm in this adjustment stage right now, and I think I'll only take it in when I'm 50 and I look back over something and think 'Wow, that was crazy'.

"I keep making music but I don't know how long they'll be a demand for what I do, but I'm just enjoying what I do right now."

I'm hearing all this through some slightly battered ears. As we speak, her drummer is taking the opportunity to do his sound check behind us. The banging of the snare drum is throbbing through my head. But Duffy takes pity, and tries to shut her band up for a few minutes to accommodate our interview.

"Rusty, can you keep it down?" she shouts over to the stage, but sadly to no avail. They have a time schedule to keep to, which means the rest of our interview will be interjected with bangs and crashes.

"OK," she apologises, "I can't sabotage my music. I'm sorry about the noise!"

A lot of people have labelled Duffy the next Amy Winehouse, minus the drug problems, but the singer herself says she's very much her own person.

"We've had some great women in the British music scene," she says. "I've not ever met the majority of these people though. It's strange in a way. I think we're all kind of individual."

Duffy - real name Aimee Anne Duffy - rose to success thanks to the help of Bernard Butler, the former guitarist from Britpop stars Suede.

He produced the album Rockferry, which spawned the number one Mercy. She's been battling hard to make a name for herself for years. She even entered the Welsh equivalent of X-Factor, although it was a very low-key affair compared to the UK version.

"I think you've got to make a lot of mistakes in anything, you know, it's the same with music," she says. "I don't look in the past you know, I look forwards."

Her next single will be Warwick Avenue, a slow-burning, charming ballad from Rockferry that looks set to send her back toward the top end of the charts.

She's also just about to launch the album in the States, where industry bosses are already tipping her to be the next big UK act to break through.

But don't think she's ever going to forget those humble Welsh roots. "I think nine times out of 10 if you come from Wales you kind of carry it with you," she explains with a smile.

"It's not a big country you know, we have a language and a community and Welsh cakes - how cool is that we have cakes that are Welsh!"

No comments: