LEONA LEWIS

'Leona Louise Lewis' (born April 3 1985 in Islington, London) is an English singer and songwriter who was the winner of the third series of the popular television talent show ''The X Factor''.
Her debut single, "A Moment like This" was released on 20 December 2006. The single was also available as a digital download from midnight on 17 December and broke a world record after it was downloaded fifty thousand times in thirty minutes.^[1] Her debut album is due for release on 5 November 2007. It is claimed Lewis will be the first winner of a major television talent show in both the UK and USA to be given a major global launch with the release of the album.

Contents

Biography

Early life

The X Factor

Post-X Factor career

Forthcoming debut album

Personal life

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

See also

External links

Biography

Early life

Leona Louise Lewis was born born on 3 April 1985 in Islington, London, to parents Joe, an Afro-Caribbean youth offending officer, and Marie Lewis, a social worker of Anglo-Welsh descent.^[2] She is the middle child of three, with two brothers, Kyle, who is younger, and Bradley, who is older. They grew up in Highbury and went to school at Ambler Primary School in Finsbury Park.^[3] Lewis always wanted to get into music and at the age of five her parents sent her to the Sylvia Young Theatre School, despite fearing it would cripple them financially. She also attended performing arts academy Italia Conti in Goswell Road, Islington and the BRIT School.^[4]
Lewis wrote her first song at the age of twelve,^[5] and at the age of thirteen she won the Lady D under-eighteen talent show at the Hackney Empire.^[6] In 2004 she won the Yates's Wannabe Talent Contest, singing Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby".^[7]
After leaving school, Lewis took a number of jobs to pay to get into a recording studio. She worked in Pizza Hut as a waitress and as a receptionist for Metropolitan Mortgages in Median Road, Lower Clapton. She was also a receptionist for Head & Short Chiropodists in Stoke Newington High Street.^[8]
She recorded a number of songs including a demo album of her own songs called ''Twilight'', but the album was never released.^[9] 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 US by Sony.^[10] Wills went on to say that "She was young and innocent but very much able. Even then she had a very good voice. We started putting tracks together straight away." … "Leona could hit the notes and I think she did it better than the original."^[11]
When her music career seemed to be going nowhere, she decided to give up, until her boyfriend Lou Al-Chamaa persuaded her to enter ''The X Factor''.

The X Factor

:''See also: The X Factor (UK series 3)''

Lewis singing in ''The X Factor'' final

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.^[12] She was mentored by Simon Cowell.
Lewis's coloratura soprano voice was consistently highly praised by all three judges — Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne. Her abilities demonstrated a vocal range of four octaves, with parts of certain performances reaching the whistle register. On occasions she was compared with divas such as Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera and Celine Dion. All three judges also commented on how the British music industry needed a singer like her, and that her performances were world class. Walsh remarked that her performance of "I Will Always Love You" was as good as Whitney Houston's version. On the 28 October show (Big Band week), Lewis sang "Summertime". Following her performance, Cowell said, "You are, absolutely, the best contestant I have ever had across any of these shows, and that was an amazing performance."
The only criticism Lewis received, both by the judges and in the press, was related to her confidence. On the 9 December show, Cowell remarked that her rendition of Eva Cassidy's "Over the Rainbow" (originally sung by Judy Garland) was the best he had ever witnessed. Cowell also commented throughout the show that Lewis's lack of awareness as to how good she is, is what makes her special. 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."^[13] Before the final, on 11 December, Lewis performed at Hackney Empire for her friends, family and people from the local area. She went on to win the competition, receiving 60% of the 8,000,000+ votes cast. Cowell claims that he believed runner up Ray Quinn would win, until Lewis sung Eric Carmen's "All by Myself" and hit the final note, saying, "I think that final note may have just won you ''The X Factor''".^[14][15][16]

Post-X Factor career

One million copies of the winner's single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson's first single "A Moment like This", were pre-ordered by stores,^[17] although at the time, the winner of the show had not been announced and it was unknown who would be releasing the single. On 24 December, "A Moment like This" was crowned the 2006 UK Christmas number-one single,^[18] having sold 571,253 copies,^[19] beating Take That's single "Patience", and outselling the rest of the Top 40's sales combined. It has been reported that one chain was "shifting more than 100 of her CDs a minute".^[20] The single became the biggest downloaded song in 2006, beating Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy". The single stayed at number one for four weeks, and also stayed at the top spot in the Irish Singles Chart for six weeks. It went on to sell in the region of 700,000 copies.
In February 2007, Lewis signed a £5 million ($9.7 million) contract in the United States with Clive Davis, founder of Arista Records.^[21] Davis has been responsible for the success of Whitney Houston. Houston is reported to have said that Lewis will be an international star and has offered to mentor her^[22] and Lewis is now hoping they will record a duet.^[23] Lewis will now release five albums worldwide through Davis's label, J Records. She celebrated her record deal by showcasing for several American music executives at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California,^[24] where she sang "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", "Summertime" and "Over the Rainbow". One executive described her as "the lovechild of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey".
A four-track download EP, "It's All for You", that she recorded before entering ''The X Factor'' went on sale online on 18 December 2006,^[25] however, the single did not chart.
Lewis was scheduled to make a performance on the current series of ''American Idol'' to help her launch her career in the US.^[26] She would have appeared in the semi-finals of the hit show,^[27] but was sent back to the UK due to suffering from tonsilitis. Sick Leona flies home from Los Angeles
On 16 January 2007, Lewis's single "A Moment like This" was shortlisted for the British Single award at the 2007 BRIT Awards. It made it to the second round but was eliminated and did not make it to the final selection. In May it was awarded the prestigious Ivor Novello Award for Best Selling British Single.
On 15 March 2007, Lewis performed in front of Charles, Prince of Wales at the UK finals of The Prince's Trust RBS Celebrate Success awards at the Barbican Centre in London, which were hosted by June Sarpong.^[28] She presented the award for "Young Achiever of the Year" and also performed "Over the Rainbow".
On 2 June 2007, Lewis performed at a special ''This Is Your Life'' for Simon Cowell,^[29] singing "Somewhere" with Il Divo.
Gary Barlow is now reported to be writing a song for Lewis, following his praise for the singer during the final of ''The X Factor''. Danny Jones of McFly has also stated that he would like to write her a song.^[30]

Forthcoming debut album

On 25 April 2007, a press release was sent out revealing that Simon Cowell and Clive Davis would work together in a first-of-its-kind partnership on both the song and producer selection for Lewis's debut album.^[31] The album was said to have a September 2007 deadline, however the album will be released on 5 November 2007 in the United Kingdom, and early 2008 in the United States.^[32] Lewis has been writing and recording in London, Miami,^[33] Los Angeles^[34] and Atlanta, Georgia. She has worked with American songwriter and record producer Dallas Austin,^[35] Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Leona Lewis befriends Kanye West Max Martin, Stargate, Damon Dash,^[36] Walter Afanasieff,^[37] Danish producers Soulshock & Karlin, Salaam Remi, up-and-coming producer Fernando, Danja, Kara DioGuardi and Novel.^[38] She has recorded a track called "I'm You" with Ne-Yo^[39][40] and has befriended Kanye West during the recording of the album.
Lewis's second single, "Bleeding Love", written and produced by Ryan Tedder, will be released on 29 October 2007. Lewis will perform the song on the first live show of the fourth series of ''The X Factor''.^[41] The single has been confirmed by Leona's official website along with the release date for her album.^[42]

Personal life

Lewis now lives in Hackney and has been with her boyfriend Lou Al-Chamaa, an electrician, since she was seventeen. Lewis and Al-Chamaa have known each other since Lewis was nine years old and they grew up on the same street.^[43][44] They are reported to have exchanged commitment rings and rented a £120,000 flat together flat in North London.^[45] Lewis has stated that she wants to marry Al-Chamaa in the future.
Although her big passion is singing, Lewis is also a keen dancer and actress, and can play the piano and guitar. She also has a pet Rottweiler named Rome.

Discography

Albums

'''Twilight'''

★ Unreleased

★ Tracklisting:
# "Paradise"
# "Twilight"
# "Wings"
# "Words"
# "Fascinated"
# "Baby Girl"
# "Could You Be the One"
# "How Many Times"
# "I Can't Help It"
# "Learn to Love You"
# "So Deep"
'Debut album (untitled)'

★ Due for release on 5 November 2007

★ Singles:
#"A Moment like This"
#"Bleeding Love"

Singles

Year	Single	Album	'Chart positions'
			UK	IE	UWC
2006	"A Moment like This"[46]	Debut album	1	1	9
	"It's All for You"	-	-	-	-
2007	"Bleeding Love"	Debut album	TBR	TBR	TBR

References

1. Leona breaks world record Jen Blackburn
2. Leona's family factor
3. X-tra special family Christmas for Leona
4. Fame Academy: The Brit School
5. I Want To Be Around For A While
6. Did Leona Lewis ever imagine a moment like this?
7. Leona is best, bar none
8. Past Receptionists
9. Leona's track record puts X-Factor bosses in a spin
10. Leona To Say 'I Do' To Lou
11. Happy times recording track with X Factor finalist Leona
12. Leona crowned winner of X Factor
13. Gary Barlow to pen track for Leona
14. 2006 December
15. X Factor Final, Leona Lewis: All By Myself
16.
17. Leona wins X Factor
18. X Factor's Leona Lewis Christmas Number One
19. The Razz: Bigger than Britney
20. Leona's single is 'selling fast'
21. Leona Lewis secures £5 million US record deal
22. Whitney tips Leona for stardom
23. Leona to duet with Whitney?
24. Leona Lewis creating waves Stateside
25. Twinkle twinkle little stars
26. Leona Lewis to perform on 'American Idol'
27. Neil Sean's Scoop 5/3
28. Winner of the 'X Factor' Leona Lewis will sing for Britain's Prince Charles tonight (15.03.07).
29. Simon, this is your life
30. McFly: Why I hate reality tv
31. Clive Davis and Simon Cowell work on X Factor's Leona Lewis release (25.04.07).
32. Leona Lewis: Basically a press release presented as "news"
33. Leona Is Back!
34. Leona writes off this year
35. Leona's hard at work in the US
36. No more Leonly nights
37. Cowell Defends Leona Lewis Chart Absence
38. Photo of Leona and Novel
39. Greetings from Atlanta
40. I'm back!
41. Leona Lewis: Leona to perform on The X Factor
42. Leona Lewis: Leona's Second Single Confirmed
43. Report: Leona to marry long-term partner
44. Exclusive: Leona I'm Going To Marry My Childhood Love
45. Winner Leona proud to be Hackney girl
46. Leona Lewis - A Moment Like This

See also

★ List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart

★ List of artists who reached number one in Ireland

★ List of Arista Records artists

★ Pulse Rated

External links

★ Official website

★ Official MySpace