Leona Lewis

Birth name: Leona Louise Lewis
Born: 3 April 1985(1985-04-03), Islington, London, England, UK
Genre(s): Pop, R&B
Occupation(s): Singer
Voice type(s): Soprano
Years active: 2006–present
Label(s): Sony, Syco, J Records
Website: www.leonalewismusic.co.uk
Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985 in London) is an English pop/R&B singer and songwriter. She was discovered on the reality television show The X Factor and went on to win the third series in 2006, where she was the first female to win the show. The prize she received was a £1 million contract to Simon Cowell's record label, Syco Music. Her debut single in the United Kingdom, "A Moment Like This", broke a world record after it was downloaded over 50,000 times within thirty minutes of its release.
Her second single, "Bleeding Love", was the biggest-selling single of 2007 in her home country, topped over thirty international singles charts including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Mexico, the Republic of Ireland, France, Italy, Germany and Russia, and has since become the biggest selling single of the twenty-first century by a female, propelling Lewis to international fame.
Her debut album, Spirit, was released throughout Europe in 2007 and became the fastest-selling debut album ever in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. Released in North America in 2008, Spirit debuted at number one on the United States' Billboard 200 album chart, making Lewis the first British solo artist to top the chart with a debut album.
Her fifth UK single which is a cover of Snow Patrol song "Run", became the fastest selling digital-only release of all time, after it sold 69,244 in just two days. By the end of the first week, download sales had reached 131,593, some eight thousand below the first week sales of "A Moment Like This".Lewis reached number one in both Ireland and the UK purely from downloads of the song.
Early life
Leona Louise Lewis was born in the London Borough of Islington, to parents Aural Josiah "Joe" Lewis, a youth worker from Guyana of Black African descent, and Maria Lewis, a British social worker of Welsh, Italian and Irish descent. At the age of five, she attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School, and later the Italia Conti Academy and the BRIT School. There she learned guitar and piano and also worked hard to write her own songs in order to be taken seriously as an accomplished musician.
She wrote her first song at the age of twelve, and won a number of talent competitions. She attended the John Loughborough SDA school. After leaving school, Lewis took a number of jobs to pay to get into a recording studio, including waitressing and several receptionist jobs. Lewis also has said her biggest idol as a singer growing up was the African-American soprano Leontyne Price.
She wrote, recorded and produced a number of songs including two demo albums, Twilight and Best Kept Secret. When she was fifteen years old, she recorded a version of Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You" with music producer Marley J. Wills, who commented that "Leona could hit the notes and I think she did it better than the original." Unable to secure a contract, Lewis considered placing her music career on hold to attend university, before her boyfriend persuaded her to enter The X Factor.
Personal life
Lewis lives in Hackney with her boyfriend Lou Al-Chamaa, an electrician, whom she has known since she was approximately eleven years old. Lewis also lives with her pet dog, a baby Rottweiler called Rome.
A vegetarian since she was 12, Lewis won PETA's Sexiest Vegetarian along with Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis in 2008. She also was named PETA's Person Of The Year for 2008.
On 9 October 2008, Lewis revealed in an interview that she turned down a $1 million deal with Mohamed Al Fayed to open the Harrods sale. Lewis commented in the press that she turned down the deal on the grounds that Harrods is the only UK department store which continues to stock clothing made from animal fur. Lewis also announced that she was in the "bargaining period" of launching her own ethical line of accessories. Leona lewis will perform on the 28th of jan.
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