Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is an English singer and winner of the third series of The X Factor. She is the third UK female artist to reach #1 in the US with a debut single, following Petula Clark in 1965 and Sheena Easton in 1981.[1][2]
Her U.K debut single, "A Moment like This", was released in December 2006, breaking a world record after it was downloaded 50,000 times within 30 minutes.[3] Her second single, "Bleeding Love," was the biggest-selling single of 2007 in the United Kingdom and in March 2008 the single, her first release in the US, became the first by a British female vocalist to top the Billboard Hot 100 since Kim Wilde in 1987.[4] She is also only the sixth UK solo female artist to ever top the US Hot 100, following Petula Clark, Lulu, Sheena Easton, Bonnie Tyler, and Kim Wilde. Her debut album, Spirit, was released in November 2007, and became the fastest-selling debut album ever in both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.[5][6] It is claimed Lewis is the first winner of a major television talent show in either the UK or US to be given a major global launch with the release of their debut album.
Early life
Leona Lewis was born in the London district of Islington to parents Aural Josiah, a Guyanese Afro-Caribbean youth worker, and Maria Lewis, a social worker of Anglo-Welsh descent.[8][9] At the age of five, she attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School,[9] and later the Italia Conti Academy[10] and the BRIT School.[11]
Lewis wrote her first song at the age of twelve,[12] and won a number of talent competitions.[13][14] After leaving school, Lewis took a number of jobs to pay to get into a recording studio, including waitressing and several receptionist jobs.[9][10][15]
She recorded a number of songs including a demo album of her own songs called Twilight, but the album was never released.[16] When she was fifteen years old, she recorded a version of Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You" with music producer Marley J. Wills, after which Lewis and Wills were invited to the U.S. by Sony.[17] Wills commented that "Leona could hit the notes and I think she did it better than the original."[18]
When her music career seemed to be going nowhere, she decided to finally give up, until her boyfriend persuaded her to enter The X Factor.[13]
[edit] The X Factor
See also: The X Factor (UK series 3)
In 2006, Lewis auditioned for the third series of The X Factor, singing "Over the Rainbow". She made it through to the final stages and was announced the winner on 16 December 2006, winning a £1 million recording contract.[19] She was mentored by Simon Cowell.
Lewis' voice was consistently highly praised by all three judges — Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne. On occasions, she was compared with divas such as Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Celine Dion.[9] However, Lewis was also criticised, by both the judges and in the press, in relation to her confidence. Vocal coach Mark Hudson also criticised her lack of star quality.[20] On the final night of the show, Take That joined Lewis on stage for a duet of their song "A Million Love Songs". After the performance, singer Gary Barlow told Cowell, "This girl is probably fifty times better than any other contestant you have ever had, so you have a big responsibility to make the right record with her."[21]
On the Oprah Winfrey Show on 17 March 2008, Simon Cowell said that it was during Lewis' barefoot performance of "Summertime" in the third live round of the X Factor (broadcast 28 October 2006) that he "could see her transform from a great singer into a superstar".
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