REBECCA Ferguson, a woman described as the first credible pop star to graduate from TV's X Factor, is taking her refreshingly different voice to Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall.

For a woman seen as shy and retiring on her early X Factor days it's a major venue to conquer but she's quietly confident.

Her debut album, Heaven, shot to No 3 in the UK chart and her Nottingham date is part of her debut UK tour, which includes a date at the Royal Concert Hall.

It's a meteoric rise for the grounded young mum, but one she deserves. Unlike most pop wannabes, not only has she got a wonderfully distinctive voice but she pens her own material. Her album Heaven delivers a classic sound. Was that intentional?

"I have the most random iPod – everything from Swedish House Mafia to the classical singer Lisa Gerrard to Katy Perry and Kings Of Leon. But my real love is that classic old-school soul sound of Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and Sam Cooke.

"There's just something about them as singers, isn't there? They just ooze soul. They feel every word. I would love people to say the same about my music, so the inspiration came from them."

Rebecca took inspiration from her own life to pen her heartfelt songs.

"I was having this conversation with Eg (White, songwriter/producer) about how the most important thing for me wasn't money or cars but my family. All the people I care about. That's what's real, after all. And he jumped up and said "wow, let's write about it!" It's so interesting to see how easily people get caught up in the things that don't matter, isn't it? So once we'd talked about that, it all flowed out.

"I've always said to myself that no matter what happens I want to make an album that I'm proud of. To be honest, how successful it is doesn't matter so much to me as whether I can listen to it and say 'that's me, and I believed in that'. I think my journey is reflected in some of the songs. I talk about what it's like to be a singer when nothing's really happening for you, or about not relying on things which could so easily slip away. I'd been sitting in studios and sending off demos for years and was just losing the will to keep doing it. So I said to myself I was going to give myself one last chance and then I'd have to go and do a "mum career"!

"I got the e-mail from The X Factor asking me to audition and I must admit, I'd forgotten that I'd applied. I decided to go but it was more by chance than I care to think about now!"

WHAT: Rebecca Ferguson

WHERE: Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham

WHEN: Monday, 7.30pm

TICKETS: £19.50-£32.50

BOX OFFICE: 0115 989 5555