I've got fellas all over the world

POP sensation DUFFY is well on course to land a special milestone in an amazing, whirlwind career – becoming the biggest-selling UK artist of 2008.

The cute Welsh warbler should reach the incredible global sales tally of four million copies of debut album Rockferry by Christmas.

And it’s not just the charts the bubbly singer is setting alight.

Her blonde barnet went up in flames moments before she met Chris Martin — one of her musical heroes — in Cleveland, USA, last week.

Duffy, 24, real name Aimee Duffy, had to explain the odd smell in her dressing room to the Coldplay frontman when he popped in for a chat after she supported his band.

She said: “I was in the dressing room and I had music on and candles alight.

“The venue was a huge stadium, like a big sports centre. The dressing rooms had big white lights, no mirrors and lockers all along. They were super cool but you wouldn’t want to spend three hours in there.

“So I was giving it a little bit of razzle dazzle. I had dimmed the lights then I lit this candle and it started melting a bit.

“I thought, ‘S***!’ and started blowing it out. I got a cloth to wipe it and bent down, not realising it was still lit. Then the entire left side of my hair went up in flames.

“At that moment Chris was walking down the corridor to say, ‘Hi’. I hadn’t met him before and the place stank of burning hair.

“Somebody came in and said, ‘Is someone cooking chicken?’"

“I had black crumbs of hair all down me so I had to give it a chop and pin it back. "

“It was really bad and properly embarrassing. Chris could smell it. You couldn’t avoid smelling it."

“Can you imagine if I had gone up in flames? Nightmare. I honestly saw my life flash before my eyes.”

Chris laughed it off and sent Duffy and her band champagne before winding her up about their chart battle in America. I predict Chris will be on the losing end of that argument.

Duffy speaks like she lives her life — at 100mph.

She is full of energy and loving every second of performing with her band on the tour — even though most of her time is spent in a bus with a bunch of blokes.

I went out to meet Duffy in New York, where she played a sell-out gig at Webster Hall, Manhattan.

A crowd of autograph hunters, top heavy with admiring male fans, queued afterwards to get their pictures taken with the pretty girl from Nefyn, North West Wales, in her little pink dress.

It was a sign of her growing fame in America, where a series of performances on top TV shows and a Motown tribute gig in LA earlier this month have propelled her into the limelight.

But Duffy has found herself explaining in most of her interviews that she is not Tom Jones’ daughter, as rumour has it Stateside.

She joked: “I’d like to clear up now that he’s not my dad. That is nonsense — unless there’s something my mum wants to confess to.

“I suppose because we’re from the same country people team us up.”

Duffy is fiercely proud of her Welsh — and British — roots.

She even reckons she is an unofficial ambassador for the Wales tourist board.

She said: “It’s so nice to support the British music scene and I’m really proud to be part of it. I know it sounds a bit nationalist, but to represent Britain where we go is an honour.

“You can go to Japan and they don’t really know much about Britain other than London, so you sit there and talk about the music and the culture and how you were brought up — that’s what they will know about your country. Not many of them know where Wales is. I point it out on a map."

“Wales has a lot to be proud of, too. I’m a massive fan of boxer Joe Calzaghe. He’s my idol.

“I read his book and I don’t read, so that’s an achievement for me. He’s very handsome, but taken.”

I interviewed Duffy in January this year when she was still learning her trade as a live performer.

Since then she has grown in confidence, blossoming into an impressive stage presence capable of holding her own vocally with stars such as her “showbiz dad” legend Tom.

And her cheeky smile and dimpled cheeks have been charming blokes across the globe.

Talking about the love in her life, she giggled and told me: “I have fellas in all different parts of the world."

“There are a couple of good-looking gentlemen dotted around to keep me entertained. I have different phones which work in different areas."

“I lost my English one so the English guy is just going to have to understand."

“Getting to spend time with them is another thing. It’s all based on a little bit of text banter. My phone bill was a whopper last month."

“There is one guy who is a plumber. He keeps coming in and out but he’s a text pest.”

Duffy’s cheeks lit up when I asked her if there were any naughty pictures on her lost phone which could come back to haunt her.

She giggled, bit her lip and said: “Let’s just say it’s just as well that I lost the phone in Chicago and not Wales."

“There are some, er, inflammatory texts which I’m a bit worried about. You know when you have one of those heart attack moments when you start frantically worrying about what is on it?”

Duffy’s success isn’t costing her only in mobile phone bills. She is already concerned about Christmas present expectations from friends and family.

She revealed: “I bought myself a watch. It’s a Cartier. It cost a few bob and should raise expectations at Christmas."

“I’m going to have to cough up for at least a round at the bar, which I’ve avoided for the past 24 years."

“The money thing is not like a f*** and run, for want of a better expression, which many of my friends do to certain gentlemen."

“What I mean is that my career is not a one-night stand."

“I don’t do that in my life so I’m not going to just run away with everything I’ve got."

“I could buy expensive cars but if it all goes tomorrow I still want to have a decent life."

“There’s a lot of talk about the credit crunch but all I know is that I can afford to take my mate out for lunch if I want to."

“I can afford to get a cab, I pay my rent on my place and I know a pint of milk is 98p.”

Well, a pint is nearer 42p these days, Duffy, but we won’t hold that against you.


Original article here