Rebecca Ferguson

Introduction
Rebecca Caroline Ferguson (born 21 July 1986) is a British singer and songwriter. Ferguson came to prominence in 2010 when she became the runner-up of the seventh series of The X Factor. She subsequently signed a joint record deal with Syco and Epic Records in the UK. She later signed in the United States to Columbia Records. Ferguson's debut album, Heaven, was released in 2011 to commercial and critical success. It was co-written by Ferguson. The album is certified platinum in the UK and Ireland. She cites Aretha Franklin, Kings of Leon and Amy Winehouse among her influences. She has endorsements with Nescaf and Walkers.

Live and career

Rebecca Ferguson was born on 21 July 1986 at Mill Road Hospital, Everton, Liverpool. She spent the first two years of her life in Huyton. She has a younger brother Sam. The family then moved to a house on an estate in Woolton Village when her parents separated. As a teenager she later moved to Anfield that was when she became pregnant with her first child Lillie May. Ferguson has said her family supported her ambition to become a professional singer and helped her through two previous X Factor auditions. She also revealed that she was "bullied as a kid because my family were poor and I never had the right clothes or toys." Despite having a difficult start in life, the hopeful insisted she wanted people to focus solely on her talent.Ferguson also revealed as a child she always wanted to be a pop star. Ferguson sang "A Change Is Gonna Come" during her initial audition. At her bootcamp audition, she sang "Like a Star" to which Cowell said "That is a recording voice!" and Nicole Scherzinger said, "I told you first time I saw her, she

is our generations songbird." She sang "Fireflies" at judges' houses and made it through to the live shows. For the first live show she sang "Teardrops" and in the second live show she sang "Feeling Good". In the third live show she sang "Why Don't You Do Right?" and in the fourth live show she sang "Wicked Game". In the fifth live show, Rebecca received a standing ovation from Simon and Cheryl following her performance of "Make You Feel My Love". In the following episode, Rebecca received another standing ovation from Dannii and Cheryl after singing "Candle in the Wind". In the final, she performed a duet with Christina Aguilera, performing Aguilera's hit single "Beautiful". Ferguson's winner's song was a cover of Duffy's "Distant Dreamer", but she finished as the runner-up to Matt Cardle, making her the first female runner-up on The X Factor. After the final, it was announced that Ferguson had been signed by Syco Music. In January 2011, it was reported that Ferguson had signed a joint record deal between Syco Records and Epic Records. Ferguson and nine other contestants from the series participated in the X Factor Live Tour from February to April 2011. The tour saw Ferguson performing for 500,000 people throughout the UK. Ferguson previously dated fellow The X Factor contestant and One Direction member Zayn Malik, which caused controversy due to the six-year age difference. The relationship ended after four months together. In November 2011, Ferguson addressed the media interest, saying: "When I was in a relationship with Zayn it was quite hard, but it comes with it. Me and Zayn just grew apart. I wish him all the best." In 2011, Malik also commented, "Even though it was a mutual decision, when you have a proper heartache like that, I don't think you fully get over it. We're still friends and talk all the time." Ferguson released her debut single "Nothing's Real but Love" on 20 November 2011, which was written by Ferguson and Eg White. The single peaked at number ten on the UK Singles Chart.[11] Her debut album Heaven followed and was released 5 December 2011 in the UK. The album features Ferguson collaborating with Eg White, Steve Booker, Fraser T. Smith, Xenomania, Paul Barry, Mark Taylor and Brian Higgins. Ferguson later revealed that she would be co-writing the whole of her album in order for her to "connect" with the songs. The album would feature genres like Soul, pop and Blues. The album came to critical acclaim with critics lauding Ferguson for being the first credible artist to come from reality television format. Cowell also praised the album tweeting on 21 November how proud he was of Ferguson, "I am absolutely blown away by Rebecca Ferguson, her album and by her performance. Congratulations!".[12] The album was certified platinum for shipments of 300,000 units by the British Phonographic Industry in its first two weeks of release.