British soul singer Duffy debuts in the U.S. | Newsweek Entertainment: Music

MUSIC
She's No Angel. And She's No Beyonce, Either.
Susan Elgin 7/9/2008 12:00:00 AM
Prior to this interview, the publicist had one request: No Beyonce questions. Solange Knowles, the younger sister of you-know-who, wants to step out from behind her famous sister's shadow with the release of her sophomore album, "Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams" on Aug. 26. Besides her famous name, Knowles is also known for other things: her marriage at 17, the birth of her son at 18 and her divorce last year. Gossip blogs slapped the singer with the label "So-Long Career" following her first album and when her movie "Bring It On: All or Nothing" went straight to DVD. Not a great start.
Sex and Politics
Motown Smackdown
Keith Naughton 3/25/2008 12:00:00 AM
It took Eliot Spitzer all of two days to resign after he was caught for cavorting with a call girl. In Detroit that feels like a New York minute. Two months into his own sex scandal, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is preparing for a Motown Showdown as he fights new charges. In one corner is Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who on Monday unsealed a 12-count indictment against the mayor and Christine Beatty, his former chief of staff whose sexy text messages appear to reveal an adulterous affair the two denied under oath. In the other corner is Kilpatrick, 37, who is the first Detroit mayor ever to be charged with a crime while in office. Sure, he faces 80 years in jail if convicted on all of the eight counts he faces, which include perjury, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and misconduct in office. But Kilpatrick vowed to keep swinging in what is shaping up to be a bruising battle that could last into 2009—when he'll be up for re-election. "There will be a full airing of all the facts in this case," Kilpatrick promised at a press conference Monday, before turning himself in for fingerprinting and booking, "that will result in my full and complete vindication of all that has been laid before you."
DEBUT ALBUMS
Welsh Soul
Ginanne Brownell
Following in the famous footsteps of fellow Welsh crooners like Dame Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones and Charlotte Church, 23-yearold singer Duffy (first name: Aimee) is blowing up the charts. Her soulful debut album, "Rockferry," topped the Pan-European Album Chart soon after its release this spring. Since then, it's reached No. 1 in Britain, Ireland and Sweden and has just been released in the United States.
Q&A
The Gospel According to Al
Joshua Alston
Al Green is busy. He's leading his Memphis church and touring for his album "Lay It Down." He spoke to Joshua Alston.
BUSINESS
Private Equity’s Bog
Keith Naughton
Last month in a large conference room at a white-shoe law firm in New York, a group of power brokers gathered to bail out bankrupt auto-parts maker Delphi Corp. After more than two years of battles, Delphi had finally arranged $6.1 billion in financing it needed to emerge from Chapter 11. But as the creditors, lenders and lawyers gathered around a long conference table to close on the complicated deal, one seat remained empty.
CULTURE
Toward a New New Orleans
Malcolm Jones
Drive through St. Roch, a tough New Orleans neighborhood northeast of the French Quarter, and you'll travel down street after street of shockingly dilapidated houses. Many are abandoned, some still marked by the spray-painted orange crosses of the rescue workers who searched for survivors—and bodies—in the days after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In St. Roch, where 51 percent of the households had annual incomes of less than $20,000 before the storm, these tiny historic houses had long been in a state of decay. So maybe it's not surprising to come upon a shambles of a shotgun house that's filled with dirt.