Duffy Burns Through the Blues During Lollapalooza Afternoon

The heat was definitely getting to Duffy. Midway through the Welsh songstress' Friday afternoon set at Lollapalooza, she had to dab her melting makeup with a towel. "I'm not used to this heat, Chicago," she said. But she didn't let what she called "Welsh melodrama" get in the way of a groovy performance that seemed to have a cooling effect on the crowd. Dressed in a sexy sailor outfit, Duffy wrapped her soulful, feathery voice around blues-soaked tunes like "Syrup and Honey." She even dropped in a rocksteady cover of Solomon Burke's "Cry to Me." "I don't normally do covers, but it's a festival, so fuck it," she joked. It was an excellent attitude to adopt as a way to kick off a long and rocking weekend.

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Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

More Song Stories entries »

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