OUTTAKES: Rebecca Ferguson

It was rash of Neil McCormick in The Telegraph to give Rebecca Ferguson's debut album Heaven a 5-star review and to compare her to Nina Simone - but his heart was in the right place and he was responding to what he sees in her, rather than, as so many have done, dismissing her without listening or viewing, simply because she emerged via The X Factor and is entangled with Simon Cowell's Syco machine.

The videos for her two singles are boringly formulaic and almost identical, and her album disappoints - only three strongish songs, too much high-end voice - but she doesn't. She's a thrilling singer, a beautifully nervous live performer whose integrity shines out through her inventive phrasing when she “does covers” (I tried to describe this once before, when, on The X Factor, she tackled one of my least favourite Dylan songs). Musical integrity shines out no less on this, the acoustic version of her first single, ‘Nothing's Real But Love’ (and if the video disappears again, you'll find it here on YouTube):

What a voice! And the woman has dignity. If I were in Britain (or Dublin) in the next few weeks I'd go and see her like a shot. More than once. Especially at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. (It's a good small venue, by rock concert standards; it's just across the street from the wonderful Philharmonic Pub; and it's in Rebecca Ferguson's home town.) Her tour dates are:

Bridgewater Hall Manchester

Mon 20/02/12