Singer Duffy to perform live for first time in more than a decade following kidnap ordeal
Warning: This article contains discussion of rape and suicidal ideations which some readers may find distressing.
Welsh singer Duffy will return to the stage with her first live concert in the UK in more than 15 years.
The singer, 41, whose real name is Aimee Anne Duffy, announced her comeback gig, due to take place on Sunday (5 July), in an Instagram story last month.
She said: “I’m doing a secret intimate gig in London on the 5th July… and I would love nothing more than for some of you to attend.”
Advert
She shared a link for fans to use to sign up and also added that it was 'only small capacity so we can only select a few, but really looking forward to it, I will sing some new songs'.
She will feature in a Disney+ feature-length documentary
In March this year it was announced that she will feature in a new Disney+ feature-length documentary, which will recount her rise to fame and subsequent kidnapping and sexual assault.
The singer, known for the songs 'Mercy' and 'Warwick Avenue', will also open up about her life and time away from the public eye in the documentary.
She rose to fame in the late 2000s following the release of her debut album Rockferry, which contained the hit single Mercy.
The song was a UK number one for five weeks in 2008 and the album went on to win the Grammy award for best pop vocal album in 2009, also winning three Brit Awards including Best British Female, British Breakthrough Act and British Album.
She released her second album, Endlessly, in 2010 featuring the song Well Well Well, which peaked at number nine in the UK album charts, before withdrawing from the public eye.
She had a cameo role in the 2015 film Legend, starring Tom Hardy, playing an American singer.
In 2020, having mostly disappeared from the public eye, she revealed that she had been drugged, raped and held captive.
The upcoming documentary will chronicle her life, from her upbringing in Wales to her music career and then onto the present, more than 15 years after she was attacked.
It will also include interviews with her family, friends, and peers in the music industry.
Director Gill Callan said: “Duffy’s life has been shaped by success and fame, but equally by pain, defiance, and an irrepressible sense of self.
“I’m drawn to the tension between vulnerability and confidence in her story and how a person can be deeply affected by their experiences, yet still find a powerful, expressive voice that is unmistakably hers.”
Sean Doyle, vice president of unscripted at Disney+, added: “This film will give Duffy the chance to tell her story in her own words.
“We set out in a search for impactful, female-led stories in collaboration with Northern Ireland Screen, and it’s a privilege that Duffy’s is the first we’re able to help tell. But above all, I’m especially in awe of Duffy – for her honesty and courage to share her story.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Duffy shared a song titled Something Beautiful with BBC Radio 2, however, the track was never officially released.
Her last live concert in the UK was at Capital FM’s Jingle Bell Ball at the O2 Arena in London in December 2010. Last month she was also seen posing for pictures with staff at a cafe in Wales.
Posting on her Instagram account in May, she shared a black and white picture of herself in a music studio and captioned it: “If only I could find the right words to explain how much I’ve missed you all. Working on coming back to you.”
What happened to Duffy?
In a post shared via her official Instagram account in 2020 she explained: “It was my birthday, I was drugged at a restaurant, I was drugged then for four weeks and travelled to a foreign country.
"I can’t remember getting on the plane and came round in the back of a travelling vehicle.
“I was put into a hotel room and the perpetrator returned and raped me. I remember the pain and trying to stay conscious in the room after it happened. I was stuck with him for another day, he didn’t look at me, I was to walk behind him, I was somewhat conscious and withdrawn. I could have been disposed of by him.”
She added that she does not know how she had “the strength to endure those days”, and claimed the perpetrator made “veiled confessions of wanting to kill me”.
The singer said she was sharing her ordeal because “we are living in a hurting world”.
She continued: “I hope it comforts you to feel less ashamed if you feel alone.
“I am no longer ashamed that something deeply hurt me, anymore. I believe that if you speak from the heart within you, the heart within others will answer.
“As dark as my story is, I do speak from my heart, for my life, and for the life of others, whom have suffered the same.”
Duffy said that she escaped by 'fleeing', but did not provide an account of how she got away, adding she 'cannot remember getting home'.
She initially feared going to the police, but eventually told a female officer what happened after someone threatened to 'out her story', she said.
She added that she was at 'high risk of suicide' following the ordeal and had spent 'almost 10 years completely alone'. But she said she felt she could 'leave this decade behind' and thanked her psychologist for helping her through the trauma.
She said she hoped to release 'a body of work some day', but added: “I very much doubt I will ever be the person people once knew.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline on 0808 500 222, available 24/7. If you are currently in danger or need urgent medical attention, you should call 999.
Kerri-Ann Roper