Diana Vickers is about to kick off her pop career in fine style with the release of her debut album on 3rd May, through RCA Records.

'Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree' is the result of over a year's worth of work for Diana with an amazing array of co-writers and producers. 'Right from the start RCA were interested in the fact that I wrote lyrics, I could play more than one instrument and that I wanted to make a record that could have only been made by me', says Diana. And it's that strong creative input, something of a rarity for an X Factor alumni, that sees her album hold together so well for a debut.

The list of collaborators is as impressive as it is surprising, with Ellie Goulding, Lightspeed Champion, Nerina Pallot, Starsmith, Guy Sigsworth and Cathy Dennis all helping to give the record its mature shape. But it's Diana herself who keeps it box-fresh youthful. Her work with Hackney digi-folk troubadour Lightspeed Champion on 'Me and You' has produced probably the straightest pop song on the record, ironically with her most unusual collaboration. Ellie Goulding's co-write 'Remake Me and You' meanwhile, is the strangest cut on the record - a jittery stop-start electro boogie that lodges itself straight in the head.

The lead single is Cathy Dennis and Eg White's 'Once' (released April 19th), which from the original demo has been re-arranged to Diana's bespoke measurements and builds to a gob-stopping crescendo in the first minute.

It hasn't just been Diana's album that's been keeping her busy throughout 2009, as she's been winning rave reviews in the lead role in the West End revival of Little Voice.

Before the release of her album, Diana will kick off a nine date UK tour starting at the Liverpool O2 Academy on 8th May, ending on 20th May at Edinburgh's The Queen's Hall.