SINCE she shot to fame on the X Factor six years ago, Huyton-born Rebecca Ferguson has won millions of fans on both sides of the Atlantic. She has toured Britain, Europe and America, has been showered with plaudits from music critics and even gets a round of applause from Adele.

So it was something of a rare and unexpected Tuesday night privilege when the 30-year-old singer turned up at the Liverpool Malmaison to launch her third album, Superwoman, released by Sony Music.

Comparisons to Macy Gray and Aretha Franklin are never far away, however Ferguson - since first first X Factor appearance - posesses an air of vulnerability that owes more to Billie Holiday

It’s an album about tough times, for people nursing the wounds of heartache, penned by the mum of three who recently moved to Paris. 

“It’s nice being around scousers, actually,” she told the invited audience. “I find that my accent gets thicker and thicker when I come home."

However lovely Ferguson's Liverpool lilt might be, it was quickly submerged by the deep soul purr of the delta - and not the taxi firm - when she launched into the new first single, Bones, before rattling off a few more from the new and back catalogue.

Accompanied by just a keyboard player, in the Mal’s fireside lobby area, the crowd fell into a hush.

The comparisons to Macy Gray and Aretha Franklin are never far away, however Ferguson, from first X Factor appearance until now, posesses an air of vulnerability that owes more to Billie Holiday.

“I wrote Superwoman because I had a bit of a crap year, last year, that we all go through at certain times in our lives” she revealed. 

“At one point I was really depressed and people were trying to get me out of bed and I couldn’t. I needed to hear a song or something that would help me. So I decided to make an album that would encourage other women and other people when they were feeling down."

Well known names at the event included the Hollyoaks cast, TV stars Jimmy Essex and Sophie Porley, model Jade Ainsworth and Liverpool Football Club stalwart Alan Kennedy.

The party featured a specially created cocktail from Malmaison named after the new album. The Superwoman features Champagne, Bombay Sapphire gin and a dash of lemon and sugar syrup.  

The boutique hotel brand will continue to work with Rebecca Ferguson to promote her new album over the next few weeks. Superwoman will be played across each of its 15 hotels in the run-up to its official release this Friday (14th October).

Here are some pictures of people enjoying themselves at the bash. Some of them are probably famous. After all, they do scrub up rather well and they do know how to take a good photie.