She is slowly rising in the States . . . a young singer with a very big voice . . . she has been compared to Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston . . . She's Leona Lewis!
23 year-old Leona, a singer-songwriter, was unknown until 2006, when she won the third series of British talent competition "The X Factor", follow up to "Pop Idol". Now she is a slowly-rising global star.
Leona Louise Lewis was born in Islington, London, England. She went to the Sylvia Young Theatre School at the age of five. She also went to the Italia Conti Academy and the Brit School. She plays the guitar and piano, and at 12 she wrote her first song. Leona recorded and album of her own songs called Twilight before she entered "The X Factor", but her album was never released.
Leona's music fits into the category of R & B. She has been compared to various artists such as Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. When she won "The X Factor" she released her debut single "A Moment Like This", formerly sung by Kelly Clarkson. It broke a world record after being downloaded over 50,000 times in 30 minutes. Leona was mentored by British music mogul Simon Cowell. Her second single "Bleeding Love" became the biggest selling single in the UK in 2007 and reached number one in around seven countries.
Her debut album Spirit was released in Europe in November 2007 and reached number one in around seven countries. It became the UK's fastest selling debut album of all time and fourth selling fastest album of all time. In January 2008, Spirit went to number one in New Zealand, in Australia, Austria, Germany, South Africa and Switzerland. It was released in the US on the eighth of April, 2008 and entered the BillBoard 200 at number one.
Leona released a double single "Footprints in the Sand/Better in Time" in March 2008. It was the official Sport Relief UK single. It reached number two in the UK singles chart, selling over 40,000 in it's first week of release. "Footprints in the Sand" is personally my favorite song by her because it fits exactly into the category of songs that I like.
Further Leona news is that she is reportedly planning a world tour in 2010, and a new album is being released next year.
Leona Lewis has an incredible voice for someone of only 23 years-old and I love all of her songs. Most Whyvillians are American, therefore I have probably heard of Leona Lewis before you (I'm English), so I urge you to listen to her music on Youtube or buy one of her CDs. You will not regret it. Honestly. And with those sale figures, her music can't be bad . . .)
Author's Note: Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/Leona_Lewis
http://www.virginradio.co.uk/music/artists/leona_lewis/biography/
