Grammy Award winner Duffy has been spotted in public for the first time in 16 years.
The Welsh singer vanished from the public eye after becoming the victim of a rape and kidnapping plot.
She was spotted at Caffi Largo in Pwllheli, Wales, U.K., after the restaurant shared a picture of her on social media on Wednesday.
“Celebrity singer from Nefyn, Amy Duffy, popped into the Caffi this morning,” the eatery wrote. “Always lovely to see local talent supporting local spots. ❤️”
She shot to fame in 2008 with her hit song “Mercy,” which won her three Brit Awards in addition to her 2009 Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album for her debut studio album, Rockferry.
She went on to release three albums but then disappeared from the public eye. The Daily Mail reports that a source at the time said she simply “did not want to be found.”
It was not until 2020 that she revealed where she had really been, when she told all in an essay titled “The 5th House.”
In it, she said she had been drugged while out for dinner in 2010. She had been celebrating her 26th birthday.
Duffy, whose given name is Aimée Anne Duffy, says she was taken abroad and raped before she was flown home by the predator and kept in her own home by them for four weeks.
She did not name the person, who has not been arrested or charged, but said that had she not escaped, she feared she would have been “disposed of.”
“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 said in the post. “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?”
She said that after the horrific attack, she had been suicidal and had not wanted to open up to anyone about it.
Now, 16 years later she is mounting a comeback, revealing on Instagram that she plans to hold an “secret intimate gig” in London in early July.
“I’m doing a secret intimate gig in London on the 5th July, next month, and I would love nothing more than for some of you to attend,” she said. “It’s only small capacity so we can only select a few, but really looking forward to it, I will sing some new songs.”
New music is expected too, after she released another post with a picture of her in the studio, saying, “If only I could find the right words to explain how much I’ve missed you all. Working on coming back to you. Duffy x.”
