“I remember sitting on a bench in New York and sobbing and realising that my ambition to be a singer was making me selfish - I was a mother with two children, and I needed a backup plan.”

English soul singer and songwriter

Rebecca Caroline Ferguson is an English soul singer and songwriter. She came to wider attention in 2010, when she finished as runner-up on the seventh series of The X Factor. She released her debut album, Heaven, in 2011, and it reached number 3 on the UK Albums Chart. She later added three more albums that also entered the top three, Freedom in 2013, Lady Sings the Blues in 2015, and Superwoman in 2016. Her influences include Aretha Franklin, Kings of Leon, Christina Aguilera, and Amy Winehouse.