Alice's Now And Zen 2008

At first people thought Aimee Duffy was a bit like Amy Winehouse, only without all the interesting tattoos and bloody clothes. But with her first album, "Rockferry," the petite singer from a remote Welsh village (who goes by her last name) has become Britain's best-selling artist of the year while handily conquering America with torchy, retro-soul singles such as "Mercy" and "Warwick Avenue." She's already been on the cover of Spin, a musical guest on "Saturday Night Live" and a regular on VH1's weekly video countdown. Duffy, 24, plays Alice's Now and Zen festival with Sara Bareilles, Gavin DeGraw and Sugar Ray at Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park. -- Aidin Vaziri, San Francisco Chronicle