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| Birth Name(s) : Leona Louise Lewis |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Singer-songwriter |
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Full Leona Lewis Biography
Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and winner of the third series of the popular television talent show The X Factor.
Lewis wrote her first song at the age of twelve, and at the age of thirteen she won the Lady D under-eighteen talent show at the Hackney Empire. In 2004 she won the Yates's Wannabe Talent Contest, singing Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby".
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, Hackney. She was also a receptionist for Head & Short Chiropodists in Stoke Newington High Street.
She recorded a number of songs including a demo album of her own songs called Twilight, but the album was never released. 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. 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."
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. She was mentored by Simon Cowell.
Lewis's voice was consistently highly praised by all three judges — Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne. Her abilities demonstrated a wide vocal range, with parts of certain performances reaching the whistle register. On occasions she was compared with divas such as Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, 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."
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, 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, having sold 571,253 copies, 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". 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 1,000,000 copies.Lewis performing at the exclusive showcase at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, California.
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, however, the single did not chart.
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. 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, singing "Somewhere", from West Side Story, with Il Divo.
Lewis appeared in the October 2007 issue Harper's Bazaar UK, modelling dresses from Roberto Cavalli, Dolce & Gabbana, Emanuel Ungaro and Vivienne Westwood. The photo shoot was done in Los Angeles and it was reported that severe disruption was caused when a crowd of fans blocked the streets trying to see Lewis.
On 24 September 2007, Lewis performed a special album launch party at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge, London, where she performed four tracks from the album.
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.
Lewis has been a vegetarian since she was 12, saying that she became ill when she stopped eating meat because she didn't know what else to eat. She says in the future she would like to promote a line of non-leather bags and shoes that are affordable. |
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