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Leona Lewis

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Leona Lewis

Leona Louise Lewis (born April 1985 in Islington, London, England) is an English (ab intra British) singer and songwriter, who was the winner of the third season of the The X Factor. She is the first female winner of the show.

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. The single is believed to have broken a world record, by being downloaded 50,000 times within 30 minutes of being available online.[1]

Biography

Leona Lewis was born in Islington, London, in 1985 to Jamaican-English father Joe and half-Welsh mother Marie.[2] She is the middle child of three, with two brothers, Kyle and Bradley. They grew up in Highbury and went to school at Ambler Primary School in Finsbury Park.[3] Lewis wrote her first song at the age of 12, and at the age of 13, she won the Lady D under-18 talent show at the Hackney Empire. She attended the Sylvia Young Stage School and the Brit academy. Although her big passion is singing, she is also a keen dancer and actor. Before auditioning for The X Factor, Lewis recorded an album of her own songs called Twilight, but the album was never released.

Lewis lives in Hackney. She has been with her boyfriend Lou Al-Chamaa for over 4 years. Prior to winning The X Factor, she worked as a receptionist for a chiropodist's practice in Stoke Newington. She also worked in Pizza Hut as a waitress.

The X Factor

In 2006, she 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 £1million recording contract.[4] She was mentored by Simon Cowell.

During the show, her vocal talents were consistently highly praised by all three judges (Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne), and on occasions was compared with divas such as Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. All three judges also commented on how the British music industry needed a singer like her, and that her performances were World class. Louis Walsh remarked that her performance of "I Will Always Love You" was as good as the Whitney Houston version. The only criticism she received, both by the judges and in the press, was related to her confidence. On the 9 December show, Cowell remarked that of all the past Pop Idol, American Idol and The X Factor performances, her performance of "Over the Rainbow" was the best he had ever witnessed. Cowell has also commented throughout the show that Lewis's lack of awareness as to how good she is, is what makes her special. On the night of the Grand Final, Lewis won 60% of the 8,000,000+ votes cast.[4]

List of songs performed on The X Factor

See The X Factor UK and Ireland series 3

Post-X Factor

One million copies of the winner's single were pre-ordered by stores, making it an almost certain number one before it was released, although at the time, the winner of the show had not been announced and it was unknown who would be releasing the single, a source of controversy for those who suggest it is the show which sold the single, and not Leona. On 24 December, "A Moment like This" was crowned the 2006 UK Christmas number-one single, having sold approximately 571,000 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".[5] The single became the biggest downloaded song in 2006, beating Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy". Leona has also reached the top spot in the Irish Singles Chart.

It has been reported that Lewis will fly to America to meet with Clive Davis, founder of Arista Records, to try to land a £5 million record contract.[6] Davis has been responsible for successes of Alicia Keys and Whitney Houston. Houston is reported to have said that Lewis will be an international star and has offered to mentor her.[7]

A four-track EP of songs recorded by Lewis before entering The X Factor went on sale as a download only single, the same week as "A Moment like This" was released.[8]

Discography

Singles

Year Single Album Chart positions
UK IE
2006 "A Moment like This" TBA 1 1
2006 "It's All for You" - - -

Internet controversy

The X Factor has been criticised for not protecting the online identity of its contestants that reached the latter stage of the show. Domain names like leonalewis.net have been bought up and are now being sold for hundreds of pounds on Internet auction site eBay. Despite original problems with the listings of these domains on eBay there now seems to be no issues with the domains being sold for huge profits compared to the tiny fee that had to be paid for them. The owner(s) of these domains have been accused of cybersquatting by many, including the national press, but the owner(s) have responded by stating that they ran fan sites and simply don't have time for the site anymore, hence the reason for selling them. This, however, seems quite unlikely as it is not usual for a fan site to register multiple domains for one single site.

References

  1. ^ Blackburn, Jen (17 December 2006). "Leona breaks world record". The Sun. Retrieved 2006-12-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Leona's family factor". The Daily Mirror. 20 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "X-tra special family Christmas for Leona". Islington Gazette. 20 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b "Leona crowned winner of X Factor". BBC News. 16 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Leona's single is 'selling fast'". CBBC Newsround. 20 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Leona lines up £5 million deal". Digital Spy. 19 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Whitney tips Leona for stardom". ITV News. 19 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "Twinkle twinkle little stars". The Daily Record. 16 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-20. A four-track download EP - It's All For You - she recorded before going on The X Factor goes on sale online this week. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

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