I remember the day clearly, as if it was yesterday. In fact it was yesterday, although I also possess an exceptional memory.
The petulant storms were whipping at our window when without warning, a heavenly sound filled the air, the voice an angel no less, glorious and holy. And the world suddenly seemed a better place for it; the rain wasn’t so miserable, the wind not so irascible and skies cleared, blue as a shark hat. The voice belonged to diminutive Welsh popster Duffy, as the radio belted out her uber-slick, Motown-groomed anthem Mercy. It’s a gloriously kitsch throwback to the Sixties that never fails to brighten up the grayest of days.
Duffy is the hottest act in UK music right now, and deservedly so. Mercy has racked up four weeks as the country’s number one single, and her debut album Rockferry sold 184,000 copies in the first seven days when it was released last Monday - nearly as many copies as the rest of the top ten albums sales combined. Together the two releases have achieved a simultaneous number one single and album, which according to Music Week is a feat only nine female solo artists can lay claim to. Barbara Streisand, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Kylie Minogue, Beyonce, Leona Lewis, and now Duffy have all achieved the double.
Madonna is the ninth, though she has topped both charts on three occasions; according to everyhit.com’s date engine these were in June 1986 (Papa Don’t Preach / True Blue), March 1989 (Like a Prayer / Like a Prayer) and November 2005 (Hung Up/Confessions On A Dance Floor).
Meanwhile Mercy had sold 215,731 copies up until Sunday, and is the third best-selling single of the year, behind Nickelback’s Rockstar (250,316 copies sold) and Basshunter’s Now You’re Gone (305,375). Universal support from tv and radio means a fifth week at number one is likely. Aimee Anne Duffy, then. Girls respect her because of her (apparently) effortless, natural ways, and boys adore her because, well - just because. And everyone loves her music, as sweet and fattening as a spoon of Lyons Golden Syrup licked by Marlena Shaw.
And if you needed further proof of angelic qualities, there’s a story making the rounds of Duffy’s chance encounter with a down-and-out-record songwriter that changed his life forever. Coincidence? Or divine intervention? 78% of Americans can’t be wrong…
