Rebecca Ferguson: Kids didn't hinder my pop dream

Rebecca Ferguson has eschewed the opportunity to earn huge sums of cash because it's more important to her to be a good parent.

When she's offered silly money to star in advertisements, attend awards ceremonies or blow her own trumpet, she usually declines. Such activities are unimportant. The stuff that counts is being there for her kids, Lillie May and Karl.

She's not immune to the trappings of success, of course. On occasion, she's taken the corporate shilling to enunciate the virtues of, say, Walkers Crisps or Nescafé. But fame hasn't caused her moral compass to spin in a peculiar direction. While many of her peers are in it for the glamour, the filthy lucre, the free holidays or the fancy clothes, Rebecca wants to do only two things: sing, or be at home with the kids.

"You have to put the kids first," she says, unequivocally. "You get paid a lot of money in this job. Don't get me wrong, I work really hard, I don't get anything for nothing. There are lots of opportunities and it's easy to say 'book another thing in the diary because it pays £XX much'.

"But there have been times when I've turned down ridiculous sums of money because I've already agreed to take Lillie May and Karl to the pictures. I've just said 'no, I can't do it that day, we're going to the cinema'.

"I want my children to have good memories of their mum. I don't want them to think 'she gave me this,that and the other'. I want them to remember when we played tig and put on Santa's elves suits, or went into the woods to play and got our wellies dirty. That's the important stuff."

It's a well-trodden route for former X Factor contestants to build their own careers and then, by the time of album number two or three or four, to cut the ties. Every Tom, Dick and Olly grows tired of the association with Simon Cowell's show, eventually repudiating their involvement.

Rebecca takes the road less travelled. "The original dream was just to sing and be successful. That was it. X Factor gave me that opportunity.

"I think when I also became famous I realised that it wasn't what it seems; it's not the same as it looks on the TV, or as it appears in magazines. For me, it's never been about the fame. It's always been about the music. I'm the person who shies away from celebrity. I don't go down that route.

"I spent years and lots of money chasing the dream, shelling out on auditions and things like that. In the end I realised I could spend the money on the kids instead. So I went on to a course and I got a distinction for law. I wanted to carry that through and get my qualifications.

"But X Factor changed everything. I was never a particularly confident person and I needed to hear people tell me that I could sing. I knew it, but I needed other people to hear it too. All I ever needed was someone to tell me they liked my voice and that's what happened when I went on TV. For years I was very insecure. But getting the public's support was a big help. I felt like 'Oh, people actually like me'."

Ferguson was the runner-up of the seventh series of X Factor in 2010. Mentored by Cheryl Cole she lost out to Matt Cardle.

Up until then she'd led a remarkable life. She grew up on Liverpool's Woolton Village estate, following the separation of her parents. She then moved to Anfield and became pregnant with Lillie May, whose birth was followed two years later by that of her son, Karl. She was poor as a child and suffered at the hands of bullies, who ridiculed her trainers and her clothes.

The arrival of her children put a hold on her dreams.

"I'd wanted to sing all my life. That was everything to me. As a child, I wanted to be a pop star. Singing was my world.

"When I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, I thought I wouldn't fulfil my dream. But actually, my kids are a blessing. They are never a hindrance. You have to let your kids inspire you. They are the ones who inspire me to work. They are the ones who make me humble. Without kids, I'd probably party a lot more and do what a lot of young celebrities do. So I'm thankful for them.

"If you go on X Factor you have to be a strong person. I've had a hard life and that's made me strong. You have to know who you are as an artist, too. The programme gives you a good platform, but you have to have the right mind for it. A lot of people don't have the right mind and they crumble. The people who fall in love with the money and the trappings go under."

Ferguson is strikingly different to most X Factor alumni. Her early audition tapes are characterised by vulnerability and shyness, rather than braggadocio and over-confidence. YouTube footage of her from those early years reveals a personality that is real. Her will to succeed is clear. She's the antithesis of the archetypal fake, plastic pop star. Her progression since those days, however, is also striking. She has grown in confidence and become less afraid.

"I'm honest," she says. "I'm not the sort of person who goes about telling people everything is great. You know, so many people are going through bad times. It's really apparent to me, especially this year. A lot of people are struggling to get by. The last thing people need to see is someone who is draped in falseness. They want people who are honest and who go through the same things. They want people who identify with them.

"I think when success comes, you go through a thing of not knowing who you are. It can knock you down. But the important thing is how you build yourself up from that.

"I love music. I do love it. I listen to a lot of old music and most of my favourites are old school, people like Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin. I think there are a few good people out there too, like Ben Howard and Adele, but I struggle beyond that. I was talking about this to someone the other day and telling them that I like real music. It's not necessarily that the music in the charts isn't real, people buy that and enjoy it and that's fine. But I like music that's got soul."

Ferguson's new album, Freedom, is just that. It follows her million-selling 2011 debut, Heaven, which went double platinum in the UK and entered the Billboard charts at 23. It tells the story of her life since then.

"I went through a crazy time when I had to adjust to fame. I guess I was trying to shake off the people who'd welcomed themselves into my life. The record is about me breaking free of the people who just wanted a piece of me. There are too many people who just want to be a part of it.

"God willing, I just want my family to be happy. I'd like to have more children and get married. I'd like to release another album and be more forward thinking. I'd like to experiment more. But I'm not complaining about what's happened. It was always my dream to sing and that's what I do. I'm very, very lucky."

Andy Richardson