2003–2006: Musical beginnings 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". Duffy returned to Wales in 2003 and was invited to appear on
Wawffactor, a Welsh television talent show. She was expected to win but came second to winner Lisa Pedrick. In 2004, following success on
Wawffactor, Duffy recorded a three-song Welsh
extended play, titled
Aimée Duffy, while working part-time in two jobs as waitress and in a fishmongers. It later achieved Welsh chart success in 2008, charting at number one on the "Siart
C2" music chart. Duffy, now in high demand, appeared on
Mint Royale's
See You in the Morning as a back-up singer. Duffy was introduced to
Jeanette Lee of
Rough Trade Records in August 2004, after singing
Richard Parfitt's "Oh Boy". Lee moved Duffy to
Crouch End in London, orchestrating a meeting between Duffy and
Suede's ex-guitar player
Bernard Butler. Lee, with Rough Trade, would eventually manage Duffy. After Butler had given Duffy a
soul music "education" by downloading tracks on to her
iPod that she could listen to while around London or travelling back to Wales, the pair co-wrote with her and helped create a new retro sound. The music included tracks by
Al Green,
Bettye Swann,
Ann Peebles,
Doris Duke,
Scott Walker,
Phil Spector and
Burt Bacharach.
2007–2008: Rockferry and international breakthrough , 15 March 2008 Duffy was contracted to
A&M Records (UK) on 23 November 2007. She performed on the BBC Two television show
Later with Jools Holland, which resulted in a second appearance on the related broadcast
Hootenanny, where Duffy performed with
Eddie Floyd. On 22 February 2008, she appeared on
Later with Jools Holland for a third time and performed "
Rockferry", "
Mercy", and "
Stepping Stone". Duffy also made appearances on the BBC Two television programme
The Culture Show on 23 February 2008, performing "Mercy". In January 2008, Duffy came second to
Adele in the annual
BBC News Online poll of industry experts
Sound of 2008, for acts to emerge in the coming year. In Wales, following Duffy's recent promotion of her music,
Aimée Duffy reached number-one on the "Siart
C2" music chart. By 2007, Duffy was finalising her debut album effort, to be titled
Rockferry, after
Rock Ferry, where her grandmother lives. She subsequently struck a US label deal with
Mercury Records, a newly re-activated imprint of
Island Def Jam Music Group. The first single from the album, also titled "Rockferry" was critically well-received with Allmusic calling it a "grand, sweeping ballad". Butler and his musical partner
David McAlmont, along with a number of other musicians, formed the backbone of Duffy's band for her debut album,
Rockferry, which was released on A&M Records on 3 March 2008. The black-and-white album art and video for the title track were shot by directors Luke Seomore and Joseph Bull, on and around the
Ffestiniog Railway in
Porthmadog, which was renamed 'Rockferry' for the occasion. According to Duffy, "The album took nearly four years to make. We had to hire cheap, tiny studios and sometimes there would be three-week periods between writing and recording." Bernard Butler, who was not initially paid, produced four songs for the album, including the single "Rockferry". The singles "Mercy" and "Stepping Stone" were co-written and produced by Steve Booker, and the third single "
Warwick Avenue", by
Jimmy Hogarth and
Eg White. Duffy released the debut limited-edition single "Rockferry" in November 2007; it was followed by "Mercy", produced and co-written by Steve Booker, which went straight to number one. "Mercy" was the last song written for the album. The single was physically released on 25 February 2008. She said that both "Mercy" and "Stepping Stone" are autobiographical; "Mercy" is about "sexual liberty" and "not doing something somebody else wants you to do", and "Stepping Stone" is about not expressing her feelings to a person she fell in love with. "Warwick Avenue" was the second single released from the album. The song occurred when Duffy, then 19 years old, was familiarising herself with the
London Underground and accidentally found herself at the
Warwick Avenue station. The following day the song "just sort of came out". At first the video for the song was meant to be an elaborate production, but ended up a tearful head shot in a taxi cab with Duffy's mascara smudging. Duffy has said "That's as close as I'm ever going to get to doing a performance that's real in a video." , 2009 By May, "Mercy" was a staple on
VH1 and a hot
Adult Contemporary radio hit and had been featured in the season finale of the American television medical drama ''
Grey's Anatomy as well as being on the soundtrack album for Sex and the City: The Movie. A remix of "Mercy", featuring rap artist The Game, was released on 10 May. On 13 May, Rockferry'' was released in the United States to positive reviews. The album's low cost of production reaped Duffy substantial financial benefits. In November 2008, the single "
Rain on Your Parade", produced and co-written by Steve Booker, was released. The song was first released on download sales only on 10 November 2008, before being released physically on 17 November 2008. Duffy describes this as "a big, disco-y dance song". It entered the
UK Singles Chart at number twenty-two before rising to a peak of fifteen the following week. The track was included on the deluxe edition of
Rockferry. At the
2008 MOJO Awards, Duffy won the "Song of the Year" award for "Mercy" and was nominated also for "Album of the Year" and "Breakthrough Act". These three nominations were the largest number of nominations for any one act. She also received a 2008
Q Award in the category of
Breakthrough Act, a nomination for the Q category of
Best Track for "Mercy", a Music of Black Origin Award nomination for
Best UK Female. At the
MTV Europe Music Awards, she received nominations in the categories of
Album of the Year,
Most Addictive Track, and
New Act. She performed at the EMA show. Duffy has performed at concerts and festival gigs around the world. Her first American performances took place at the
SXSW conference, and the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was her first festival gig. To coincide with the release of
Rockferry, Duffy performed at the
Apollo Theater in New York City. Duffy received the honour of performing at the
Royal Variety Performance 2008. In 2008, Duffy played many festivals in Europe. This included visits to French, Swedish and Irish summer festivals, amongst others. In the United Kingdom, Duffy played venues such as
Glastonbury and the
Evolution Festival. She also toured the American summer festivals in 2008, including a visit to
Lollapalooza in Chicago. She toured the United Kingdom and Ireland during November and December 2008. To promote
Rockferry, Duffy made many visits to American television, including ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Saturday Night Live''. Duffy played a fourteen-city North American tour. Plans had called for her to open for
Coldplay on six of the dates. During a concert in Cleveland, Duffy accidentally set the left side of her hair on fire. In New York, Duffy was left apologising to an audience after briefly bursting into tears. She stated to the audience that this happens in one out of every 15 of her shows when she feels exposed for reasons she does not fully understand. Duffy also made a recording for British broadcaster BBC, performing at the LSO St. Luke's. The performance was televised in 2009 on the British television station BBC One.
2009–2010: Continued success and Endlessly , 17 July 2009 At the
51st Grammy Awards held in February 2009, Duffy won a Grammy Award in the category of
Best Pop Vocal Album for
Rockferry. Earlier she had been nominated for awards in the categories of
Best New Artist and
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her single "Mercy". Duffy equalled Coldplay with four 2009
Brit Awards nominations. She eventually won three awards, including Best Album for
Rockferry, one behind the record held by Blur for the most won in one night. "I cannot tell you what this means after five years of hard work," Duffy said. At the awards ceremony she performed "Warwick Avenue". Record producers & songwriters Steve Booker & Bernard Butler gained awards for their work on the
Rockferry album. She shared a 2009
Ivor Novello Award in the category "Most Performed Work" with Steve Booker for their work on
Mercy. Songwriter
Eg White won the award for "Songwriter of the Year" in part for
Warwick Avenue, which he co-wrote with Duffy. "Mercy" was played on United States radio and television more than 3 million times earning Duffy a 2009
Broadcast Music Incorporated award. The album was nominated and shortlisted for the
Album of 30 Years category at the 2010
Brit Awards. The album's success led to a period of confusion about her role in the music business that nearly led her to quit music. Duffy recorded a cover of
Paul McCartney and Wings' song "
Live and Let Die". It was used on the
War Child charity album titled
War Child Heroes, Volume I. Acclaim came from Paul McCartney, saying that Duffy's version "is great –I was really impressed". Duffy and Bernard Butler wrote the song "Smoke Without Fire", which appeared on the soundtrack for the film
An Education. For the 2009 movie called "The Boat That Rocked" in the UK and "Pirate Radio" in North America, Duffy sang Lorraine Ellison's "Stay With Me Baby". Duffy said that she needed to slow the pace of her career in order to write her second album. In January 2010, Rough Trade Management, who with
Jeanette Lee had managed Duffy, announced that they and the singer had parted amicably. Duffy's new management stated that "the professional relationship between Duffy and Rough Trade management has run its course." in the year prior to the announcement. Duffy formed a song writing partnership with
Albert Hammond for the record.
Endlessly was released in the United Kingdom on 29 November 2010 and placed at number 9 in the album charts of 5 December. The album's first single failed to achieve the success of previous singles, entering the UK charts at number 41 on 21 November. Called "Well, Well, Well", the single features a rhythm section by United States
hip hop group
The Roots.
2011–present: Planned third album, acting debut and hiatus from entertainment industry In 2011, producers
David Banner and
Albert Hammond announced that Duffy was in the studio for her third album, but nothing happened for the next few years. In August 2011, Duffy was scheduled to perform in Monaco for the Sporting Summer Festival, but cancelled. In October 2012, Duffy was announced as a performer for the Atelier Festival in Dubai but also cancelled. In September 2013, Duffy gave her first live performance in three years during a tribute to
Edith Piaf in New York City. At the
2014 Cannes Film Festival, it was announced that Duffy would star in a film project called
Secret Love which was never released. In 2015, she appeared in the crime thriller film
Legend, playing American singer
Timi Yuro and also contributed three songs to the soundtrack, her first recordings since 2010. After years of avoiding the media and public events, as well as not releasing new musical material, Duffy said in an interview in 2020 that she was "raped and drugged and held hostage" years ago and that was the reason for her hiatus. On 26 March 2025, Duffy appeared in a video posted to
TikTok, lip-syncing to a garage remix of "Mercy" by The Emotion; the track is expected to be released, however no date has been announced. On 8 April 2026,
The Mirror reported that Duffy changed her legal name from Aimée Anne Duffy to Duffy Jones. ==Artistry==