Rockferry
album by Duffy
Rockferry is the debut studio album by the Welsh singer Duffy, released on 3 March 2008 in the United Kingdom by A&M Records. It was released in the United States by Mercury Records. Taking four years to record the album, Duffy worked with several producers and writers including Bernard Butler, Steve Booker, Jimmy Hogarth, and Eg White. Primarily a soul recording musically, Rockferry is composed of ballads, torch songs, and up tempo songs in the style of 1960s pop music. It was well received by music critics, who praised the record's musical and lyrical depth and occasional darkness, Duffy's vocal performance, and the record's contemporary instrumentation and production which created a warm sound. Music critics favourably compared Duffy's work on Rockferry to the music of Dusty Springfield and Duffy's contemporary Amy Winehouse.
Rockferry was a commercial success, reaching number-one in several music markets. It was the fourth best-selling album of 2008 worldwide according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and the highest of that year in the United Kingdom. The album was still in the top five of the UK Albums Chart a full year after its release, spending most of those weeks in the top ten albums, and a significant amount in the top three. In 2010, it was ranked as the 22nd best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK. The album has won a number of awards since its release, including the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 51st annual ceremony (2009).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Rockferry” is album by Duffy. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Rockferry, album and Duffy, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “album by Duffy” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2014526. The first chronological checks are 2008, 2010 and 2009.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Rockferry”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Rockferry primary sources, Rockferry archive and Rockferry research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Rockferry”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Rockferry” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.