Rebecca Ferguson

Rebecca Caroline Ferguson (born 21 July 1986) is a British soul singer and songwriter. In 2010, Ferguson finished in second place in the seventh series of The X Factor. She later released her debut album titled Heaven in December 2011. The album peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart. Ferguson celebrated three more top-ten albums: Freedom (2013), Lady Sings the Blues (2015) and Superwoman (2016). She cites Aretha Franklin, Kings of Leon, Christina Aguilera and Amy Winehouse among her influences. Early life Rebecca Ferguson was born on 21 July 1986 at Mill Road Hospital in Liverpool to a father of Jamaican descent and a white British mother. She has a younger brother, Sam. She spent the first two years of her life in Huyton. Her family moved to a house on an estate in Woolton Village when her parents separated. Ferguson received her primary education at Woolton Primary School and her secondary and sixth form education at Gateacre Community Comprehensive School. As a teenager she later moved to Anfield, where she became pregnant with her first child, a daughter. Two years later she had her son. 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 was poor, and I never had the right clothes or toys." Despite having a difficult start in life, Ferguson insisted she wanted people to focus solely on her talent. Ferguson also revealed that as a child she always wanted to be a pop star. She revealed on Loose Women that she was sexually abused in a care home when she was 8 years old. Ferguson is a qualified legal secretary, having studied at Hugh Baird College, Bootle. She later commented, "There is only so long you can chase the dream when you are a mum. I wanted the kids to see me do well and be a better role model. They were always seeing their mummy fail. That was why I started college." Career