Lawyers for Leona Lewis are fighting to prevent a London record company from releasing an album the singer made before she won The X Factor.

UEG Music plan to release ‘Best Kept Secret’ in the UK next January after it enjoyed a successful Japanese outing earlier this year.

The album contains songs Lewis recorded early in her career, including, ‘Private Party’, which won underground acclaim.

But lawyers representing the singer claim UEG do not own the rights or have Lewis’ consent to release the songs.

"We are in the process of taking the appropriate action in relation to this,” a statement said.

However, UEG’s Barry Bee told the BBC that they did have the rights, and claim they spent £70,000 on the recordings.

"We do have the rights. We had stuff out in 2004-2005,” he said.

"All we seek is acknowledgement and to let people hear what she did. It's good stuff."

Since winning the reality TV show in 2006 Lewis has enjoyed phenomenal success worldwide despite having not yet released an album.

(by Jason Gregory)