LIVERPOOL chanteuse Rebecca Ferguson will sing the blues at York Barbican on February 6 next year as part of a 20-date tour.

The scouse soul diva, runner-up to Matt Cardle in the 2010 series of The X Factor, is celebrating this month’s Top Ten debut of her new album, Lady Sings The Blues, her tribute to the great American songbook of Billie Holiday, on the RCA label.

Rebecca, who will play a three-night London run this week at the St James Theatre from tonight, recorded her reinterpretation of the Holiday catalogue at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles to mark the centenary of Lady Day, the New York City jazz singer and songwriter.

The Ferguson album combines songs from Holiday’s iconic 1956 record for the Clef Records label, Lady Sings The Blues, with other favourites such as the new single Get Happy, Summertime and Embraceable You.

Holiday’s most celebrated album and life story led to a multi award-winning 1972 film and record starring Diana Ross, and now 28-year-old Rebecca brings her own experience and story as a single mother of three to these vintage songs for a new generation.

Rebecca wanted to record in a studio where Billie herself had recorded, so chose the famed Capitol Studios, where many classic recordings were made by Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald too. Billie’s recording sessions for Lady Sings The Blues had been divided between Capitol Studios on September 3, 1954, and Fine Sound Studios, New York City, on June 6 and 7, 1956.

Now comes Ferguson’s Lady Sings The Blues, produced by Troy Miller, who has worked with the likes of Amy Winehouse, Rumer, Laura Mvula, Dexys and Chaka Khan.

First single Get Happy was recorded by Rebecca as part of her Los Angeles sessions because she always loved the song and felt it would fit well with the rest of her record, a feeling confirmed by the reaction to her version at a series of intimate showcases. This week she will be perform her Lady Sings The Blues album in its entirety at her St James Theatre shows. Next year’s tour set is expected to take in material from her million-selling 2011 debut, Heaven, and its 2013 sequel, Freedom, too.

Rebecca made her York Barbican debut in March 2012, when The Press review commented: “Rebecca taking a seat to perform the ballad Teach Me How To Be Loved is an inspired move (she could do it more often); Rebecca dancing in Run Free is a joyous sight (she should do that more often too); and Nothing’s Real But Love is the perfect encore. She is real, and long may this diamond have rough edges, but there is room for a guiding hand to make her live show even better.”

Roll on to February next year, when Rebecca Ferguson will sing the blues her way. Get happy at that thought and snap up a ticket on 0844 854 2757 or at yorkbarbican.co.uk from today at 9am.