Welsh Soul

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.

Duffy, who grew up listening to her father's Motown records, says soul touches a special chord for her: "I long for a sense of truth, a sense of honesty, a sense of desperation." Indeed, the isolation and longing in the sounds of 1970s Detroit may help explain why soul has been so popular with singers from Wales, a region that's battled rural poverty and has long been the cultural black sheep of Britain. One thing's clear: Wales may be a long way from Motown, but Duffy's right at home in both.

© 2008