Leona Lewis

Leona Lewis is a British singer from Islington, London, working in pop, contemporary R&B, dance-pop, electropop and pop soul. Born in 1985, she rises to prominence in 2006 after winning the third series of The X Factor. Her full name is Leona Louise Lewis.

Career

Lewis trains in opera before moving into jazz and blues, then into popular music. She attends the Sylvia Young Theatre School, Italia Conti Academy and the BRIT School, where she learns guitar and piano and aims to become a singer-songwriter. She writes her first full-length song at 12. After leaving the BRIT School at 17, she takes a number of jobs to pay for studio time and records the demo album Twilight under Spiral Music. The album consists almost entirely of her own songs. She also records other demos under licence from UEG Entertainment, later gathered on Best Kept Secret, although none of these demos is released. At one point she considers a break from music to attend university, but enters The X Factor instead.

Recorded work and chart success

Lewis releases her debut single, “A Moment Like This”, which becomes the fastest-selling UK single after more than 50,000 downloads in thirty minutes. Her second single, “Bleeding Love”, reaches number one in over thirty singles charts worldwide. Her debut albums Spirit and Echo appear in 2007 and 2009, and together sell more than 10 million copies worldwide while topping charts in many countries. Her third album, Glassheart, is preceded by “Collide”, described as a more dance-pop direction than her earlier material. Glassheart also leads to the single “Trouble”. With Hurt: The EP and “Trouble”, she has nine UK top-ten hits. “Collide” becomes her seventh UK top-five hit. In November 2008 she sets a UK download-only release record with her version of Snow Patrol’s “Run”, which sells 69,244 copies in two days.

Recognition

Lewis is a multi-platinum selling artist and a three-time Grammy Award nominee. Billboard names her its “Top New Artist” in 2008. By December 2012, she has sold 28 million records worldwide.

Live work and influences

Her debut tour, The Labyrinth, takes place in 2010. Lewis cites Minnie Riperton, Eva Cassidy and Stevie Wonder among her main influences. She is signed to Syco Music and J Records.