Nicole Scherzinger is to duet with James Arthur.

Nicole Scherzinger and James Arthur during The X Factor in 2012

Nicole Scherzinger and James Arthur during The X Factor in 2012

The former Pussycat Dolls star - who mentored the 28-year-old singer to victory on 'The X Factor' in 2012 - has agreed to provide vocals on a reworked version of her pal's track 'Let Me Love The Lonely'.

The song appears on James' album 'Back from the Edge' and he originally recorded the track with Marina Luczenko - whose wedding to soccer player Wojciech Szczesny he performed at earlier this year - and had it distributed in Poland, where he has a huge fan base.

James told The Sun newspaper: "We had a session booked but she was unwell so we haven't done it yet.

"We originally got a girl in Poland to sing it. It went really well so we thought we should give Nicole a shout."

James is as yet undecided whether to release the duet with Nicole as a single or simply putting it out as a bonus track online

The 'Say You Won't Let Go' singer recently revealed he had asked former lover Rita Ora and 'Starry Eyed' hitmaker Ellie Goulding to appear on his album, but heard "nothing" from them in response.

He shared: "It was tough to get people involved in this one because I don't think anyone expected me to come back.

"I was calling Ellie Goulding and Rita Ora, all these guys saying, 'Do you want to sing this line?' I got nothing."

But the singer admitted his successful comeback has brought familiar faces out of the woodwork, who insist they never doubted him, although he hadn't heard from them when he was on a break.

He added: "They have all come crawling back saying, 'Well done, we always believed in you', I'm like so when I was calling trying to get a feature ...

"At least people are humble and have come back and said congratulations.

"I used to speak to Ellie a bit when I first came on the scene. She expressed she was a fan. I didn't hear from her for a while, so to have her come back and say that is amazing. She is super unique and that's inspiring to me."