DUFFY

Back in the Sixties there was no shortage of big-voiced, big-haired, slightly tragic female singers with a break in their heart and an orchestra in their pocket: Dusty Springfield, Bobbie Gentry and Nancy Sinatra are a few that come to mind. With Amy Winehouse suffering severe husband withdrawal, it’s up to the North Wales villager Duffy to take on the spiritual mantle of such legends – and she has the voice, the hair and, most importantly, the mascara to do it. She has collaborated with the former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler and is now signed to A&M. Her first single, the epic lonely hearts-friendly tearjerker Rockferry, is released on Monday, and Radio 2 will broadcast a half-hour Duffy special on Dec 14 (7pm). She’s polished but bruised, heartfelt but with more than a touch of stardust camp, and she has a grounded maturity that will stand her in good stead for the road ahead. “There’s a side of me that’s trying to hold it together,” she says. “But then there’s a side that just wants to scream, run out onstage and say: ‘I’m here!’ ” Duffy plays the Royal Festival Hall (supporting the Magic Numbers) on Dec 5; Central Station, Wrexham, Dec 6; and the Pigalle Club, London, Dec 16 www.iamduffy.com

EBONY BONES

Imagine, if you will, the sound of what Amy Winehouse looks like – a hard-as-nails Fifties chick with a touch of the Hammer Horrors and a menacing caw – and you’ve got Ebony Bones. Real name Ebony Thomas and a former soap star (she was in Family Affairs on Channel 5 for more than seven years), Bones, 25, has been reborn as a pop superheroine with the powers of “sassiness” and “coming up with catchy songtitles”, such as the wonderful I’m Ur Future X Wife.

Like Winehouse she is a fan of retro dresses and towering hair, but her dresses are matched with lurid tights and her hairpieces are bright pink and made of feathers. She sounds like Siouxsie Soux backed by a disco surf band and with two equally in-your-face backing vocalists – you can’t imagine her crying off because her husband got banged up. Rather, you’d imagine Ebony Bones would see that as a perfect opportunity to flog his most expensive possessions on eBay and get the hell out of Dodge. Ebony Thomas, on the other hand, probably wouldn’t let herself get into that kind of scrape in the first place.

Ebony Bones plays Greenspaces December 1 and Catch, London, on Dec 22. www.myspace.com/ebonybones

ADELE

Brit School graduate, check; ridiculously powerful jazz-soul voice that seems to come out of nowhere, check; reputation for being a gobby Cockney sparrer, check. Yes, Adele Adkins, 19, is Winehouse redux. Except that she’s not. For one thing, she loves food. “I read a comment on YouTube that I thought would upset me,” she said in a recent interview. “ ‘Test pilot for pies’ – but I’ve always been a size 14-16, and been fine with it.” More importantly, even though she has recorded a Spectoresque-brass song with Mark Ronson, her forthcoming debut album, 19, will mark her out as a unique talent, the rest of it being a collection of quite frankly spine-tingling ballads awash with strings and on just the right side of powerful. She is signed to the edgy label XL, home to leftfield talents such as Radiohead, M.I.A. and the White Stripes and is “the first artist we’ve ever had playlisted on Radio 2”, according to the label’s founder, Richard Russell. Adele plays the BBC Radio 2 Music Club, London, W9, on Dec 9. www.adele.tv

ALELA DIANE

Like the harpist Joanna Newsom, Alela Diane was born and raised in the onetime California Gold Rush mining town of Nevada City – and the two are friends, sharing a love of the blues, bluegrass and folk music. But unlike the rather shrilly voiced Newsom, Diane’s voice is a smoky thing, conjuring an altogether earthier sensuality as it coils around her black-eyed songs. Diane says that her earliest experiences of music were listening to her parents singing folk songs in the kitchen, which may explain the ease with which her songs hark back to such greats as Joni Mitchell. When she left home to go to college, her parents divorced and Diane was left “rootless and heartbroken” – hence the sweet sorrow and homesick longing that runs through the songs on her debut album, The Pirate’s Gospel (Names Records). Alela Diane plays the Purcell Rooms on Dec 11. www.aleladiane.com

ONE LITTLE PLANE

With her cute moniker and even cuter singing voice, One Little Plane, aka Kathryn Bint, from Chicago, could be responsible for some sickeningly cloying music. Thankfully, there are enough barbs and honest admissions in her songwriting to stop things getting sticky, as well as some clear-channelled electric guitar on songs such as Sunshine Kid and deliciously shaky bits of percussion (rainsticks, tambour etc). Onstage, she’s often accompanied by Kieran Hebden of Four Tet on guitar, and you may already have heard Bint singing on the Four Tet remix of Caribou’s Melody Day or performing at the Homefires festival in London last June. Humble beginnings, certainly, but the start of something sweet.

One Little Plane plays the Purcell Rooms on Dec 11. www.myspace.com/onelittleplane

BRIDGETTE AMOFAH

It must be no easy thing to step into KT Tunstall’s shoes, but that is what Amofah, 23, did when she joined Oi Va Voi as lead vocalist. Unlike Tunstall’s Fife folkie beginnings, however, the London-born Amofah’s early years were spent passing Amy Winehouse in the corridors of the Brit School in Croydon. After graduating she flirted with musical theatre, but quickly realised that hoofing was not the career for her. Since then she has travelled the world with Oi Va Voi, all the while working on her own material. With influences as diverse as Minnie Ripperton, Fiest and Ivor Cutler, Amofah’s chocolaty soul pop somehow manages to marry Bill Withers with Dido and still sound great. Bridgette Amofah is at the Tricycle Theatre, London NW6(Dec 2), and 93 feet East (Dec 12). www.myspace.com/bridgetteamofah

LAURA MARLING

If you like your young chanteuses to be shrill, skittish frock-wearers, served up with a dollop of Estuary enunciation, then you’re probably not Devendra Banhart. This month the cosmic nabob of alt.folk elected to take Marling on a bout of European shows with him, throwing the 17-year-old from Reading and her acoustic guitar into an environment a world away from the giddy “all-age” concerts that first helped to win her a deal with Virgin. You suspect this suited her fine. Her debut EP, London Town, released in May, led to her being pegged as the M4 Corridor Joni Mitchell, though the more recent EP My Manic and I has an altogether bleaker air. The odds against her producing something remarkable before she hits 20 are shortening. Marling plays Aunt Annie’s Porter House, Dublin on Wed.

LISA KNAPP

The Tooting-born Knapp was enjoying a typical adolescent Londoner’s journey through the urban music styles of house, R&B and drum’n’bass when she chanced upon a friend’s collection of English folk records. Mesmerised by the haunting purity and sheer quality of singers such as Shirley Collins, Anne Briggs and Sandy Denny, Knapp dug out the violin she had played as a child, starting doing floor spots in local pubs, and thought about going professional when she was struck down by serious health problems.

Her career would probably have stopped there had not the major rock producer Youth heard one of her demo tracks playing in a studio in Denmark Street. He subsequently worked on Knapp’s debut album Wild and Undaunted (Ear the the Ground Records), a collection of traditional songs and original material. Knapp is at the Magpie’s Nest, the Old Queen’s Head, London N1, on Dec 12

TAWIAH

Ever wondered who belts out Lily and Amy’s vocals when Mark Ronson hits the road? This young lady. Yet another Brit School alumnus, the likeness to Winehouse ends there. A tomboy with a voice to melt hearts and bring down buildings, Tawiah is a veteran at 21, having backed artists such as Corinne Bailey Rae, Eska and the Guillemots. The arrival of her solo EP has to be one of 2008’s most anticipated events. Tawiah plays Cargo, London EC2. Dec 16. www.myspace.com/tawiah

AND FINALLY . . . TANIA ALBONI (OR IS IT AMY WINEHOUSE?)

“It’s not just the songs,” says Tania Alboni, a professional Amy Winehouse impersonator. “I do all the head flicks and the skirt ruffling – all the mannerisms.”

Until a few weeks ago, Winehouse had formed only part of Alboni’s set – she can also turn her hand to Cher, Shania Twain, and, impressively, all of Abba. But since the release of Valerie, Winehouse bookings have gone through the roof. Currently, Alboni charges an average of £800 for an “Amy”, but it’s a fee that varies according to the size of the venue. It’s a development that thrills Alboni. “I wasn’t a huge fan of the other people I impersonated, but I played Amy’s album Back to Black constantly, ever since I got it for Christmas last year.”

The 30-year-old singer has dyed her hair black and bought a hairpiece, but says that she doesn’t think her voice is as “amazing” as that of her nominal doppelgänger. However, fans who have turned up to Winehouse shows only to find them cancelled will be reassured to learn that her imitator prides herself on her punctuality. “I’m a one-woman antidrug squad,” she adds helpfully.

At her recent Birmingham NIA show, the real Winehouse responded to hecklers by suggesting that her husband – currently awaiting trial for GBH – might have something to say about all this when he “gets out”. Alboni is married too – to a Simply Red tribute act. So does she adopt a similar line when confronted with demanding punters? No – and, in terms of forging a reputation for herself as “the Amy you can rely on”, it’s probably for the best.

On New Year’s Eve she’s playing “a restauranty pub in Leeds called the Black Horse”. Tomorrow she’s at Room 66 in Glasgow. “I’m expanding the set all the time,” enthuses Alboni. “Especially now that you can get a whole karaoke CD of Amy Winehouse songs.” www.spotoneventsdirect.co.uk

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