Her fans would mob her in the street, easily spotting her thanks to her trademark 60s-style blonde bouffant.
Her music was astronomically successful, thanks to ‘earworm’ hits such as Warwick Avenue and Mercy.
Garlands came her way – three Brit Awards and a Grammy among them – as well as an extensive American tour.
Then, suddenly, Duffy, the soulful singer from Wales, whose full name is Aimee Duffy, vanished, right as her third album was about to start recording.
Those who know the singer say she simply ‘did not want to be found’.
Since that moment in 2011, Duffy has lived a strikingly reclusive life in her palatial Surrey mansion.
She’s not been seen in public, there’s been just one social media post of her – even those who worked hand in glove with her in her late-Noughties heyday say they probably wouldn’t even recognise her any more.
Then, last week, to much astonishment, Duffy announced she would be making a public comeback – and, from the sounds of it, it’s set to be no small affair.
According to a press release from streaming giant Disney+, Duffy, now 41, is set to star in a highly personal documentary which will be ‘driven by new, unprecedented access’ to her, along with a ‘rich and nostalgic archive, and interviews with family, friends, and close peers in the music industry’.
The statement added that it would ‘tell the story of her life, from her upbringing in Wales, through to her meteoric rise to fame and her withdrawal from public life following her unfathomable experience’.
That ‘unfathomable experience’ is the truly shocking story of how Duffy was drugged and held captive in her home for four weeks after being targeted in a restaurant as she was celebrating her 26th birthday in 2010.
She was then put on a plane and taken to an unnamed foreign country where she was raped in a hotel room. Duffy said she feared she would be ‘disposed of’ before escaping her captor’s clutches.
She stunned her fans – and, indeed, the industry professionals who worked with her – by recounting this ordeal back in February 2020 in a harrowing 3,649-word account on her website.
She detailed how this event – understandably – had a devastating impact on her life, and was the reason she stepped back from fame nine years previously.
‘The truth is, and please trust me I am OK and safe now, I was raped and drugged and held captive over some days,’ she wrote. ‘Many of you wonder what happened to me, where did I disappear to and why.
‘You wonder why I did not choose to use my voice to express my pain? I did not want to show the world the sadness in my eyes.
‘I asked myself, how can I sing from the heart if it is broken?’
Some details were missing from her account at the time – she did not name her captor, the country she was taken to, when the attack happened, nor was there any confirmation of a police investigation.
So while there was much sympathy for her speaking on the record and waiving her right to anonymity, she unfortunately also received nasty online trolling, with some saying they simply didn’t believe her story.
Since that statement, neither Duffy nor her management team have given any further detail about what happened.
But it sounds from the Disney press release that Duffy may be getting ready to tell the world more about – if not the event of the attack itself – certainly the emotions which led her to withdraw completely from public life.
And now I can reveal that the singer was so desperate to become invisible that, on June 8 2013 – two years after she retreated from public life – she officially changed her name, choosing a surname that is set to stir up yet more controversy around the star. Because, for the last 13 years she has been known as Duffy Jones.
Her choice of ‘Jones’ has added fuel to rumours which swirled in her heyday that she’s the daughter of Welsh singing legend Tom Jones.
Duffy publicly dismissed these claims insisting her father was a pub landlord called John from the small seaside town of Nefyn in North Wales. Whatever her insistence, her new surname will certainly set tongues wagging once again.
One associate of Duffy’s tells me: ‘Of course, Jones is a very Welsh surname, but to use it after the rumours about Tom is most bizarre. They always got on so well too.’
Indeed, viewers of the Brit awards back in 2009 would have seen Tom present Duffy with two of her gongs that night – best album and best breakthrough act.
So why the name change and why has Duffy chosen to make a comeback now?
There’s some suggestion among those who worked with her that a financial reward may have finally proved too tempting for a woman who bought her substantial Surrey property when her career was at its height. ‘Topping up the cash she made would be helpful,’ mused one music industry insider.
‘The upkeep of big houses is expensive these days.’
This would fit with the news I heard some months ago – that she had signed with music manager Ben Mawson at TaP Management. A self-confident individual, he’s renowned for securing lucrative deals for his artists and has form for creating ‘brands’.
Indeed, he was the man behind Dua Lipa’s success before her father Dukagjin took over her management four years ago, and he also takes credit for Ellie Goulding’s stellar status before he parted ways with her three months ago.
It’s said that he has been instrumental in orchestrating the vast pay cheque from Disney, and encouraging Duffy to recommence her career.
One source tells me: ‘There have been so many attempts at a comeback – meetings with senior industry figures to discuss a new album. As far back as 2018 and 2019, there were conversations with former members of the team who had worked alongside her during all those big years and everyone was excited.
‘But then there suddenly was silence again. All those people who had said they were up for being a part of her return to the limelight were cut off and heard nothing more – until she made that post online about what had happened to her.’
‘We were never told any more,’ says another music insider, who was in contact with her in 2020, shortly before she made the statement. ‘In fact, I didn’t hear from Duffy after she wrote it. It was like she really was having a difficult time, nobody could get hold of her.’
Now though, my source says: ‘Having Disney’s money involved must surely have made the difference. The Disney deal would have been eye-wateringly huge.
‘If anything is going to tempt her out of retirement and back into public life, it is this.
‘It would have been extremely hard to turn down.’ For all that professional guidance though, there’s no doubt that stepping back into the public eye will be an intensely nerve-racking experience for Duffy.
Her two studio albums, 2008’s Rockferry named after the Welsh town where she spent her childhood with her grandmother, and 2010 follow up Endlessly have so far been her only output, both topping the charts.
Tender-hearted, and prone to agonies about fame, she was known to be something of a sensitive soul. Even before she revealed details of her attack, she confessed to struggling with public attention.
And, of course, in the interim period, the world of fame has changed beyond comparison – more scrutiny, more social media, infinitely more attention.
One hopes that Duffy, who admitted that since her attack she spent ‘almost ten years completely alone’ will cope with the reality of her comeback.
In her 2020 statement she thanked her psychologist, saying that she felt she could ‘leave this decade behind’, but added: ‘I very much doubt I will ever be the person people once knew.’
Sources also suggest that the untimely death of Duffy’s mother last year ‘changed’ her mindset about her career. Her relationship with her family has been tricky over the years – she had a period of teenage rebellion after her parents split, and ran away from home.
And after her attack she had become estranged from her family – but she had been attempting to rebuild relationships with loved ones, including her mother, when she died unexpectedly after suffering a stomach ulcer.
No date has been given for the documentary to air, but when it does, there will surely be much anticipation over how much she might have changed.
Will she still be blonde, striking and stylish? Or will she have refashioned her look entirely?
The image on her management company’s website appears to date back several years, while the last post on her social media page – now the only remaining post after all others were deleted – is six years old, from June 2020.
In that clip she teases new music, a track labelled River In The Sky, and a revival of her trademark sound.
The music is set against a black and white picture showcasing her distinctive style, blonde hair draped over her shoulders and a classic black dress.
‘Who knows what Duffy will look like now,’ says one of her former colleagues.
‘But we are just so pleased to have her back.’
