Being influenced by the careers of Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Joni Mitchell, Eva Cassidy, Toni Braxton and Mary J Blige has certainly paid off for England’s latest music sensation. Having been a winner of the third season of The X-Factor has brought this extraordinary voice right to the public’s attention. Leona Lewis was born on April 3rd 1985 in Islington, London England to Afro Caribbean father Joe and Welsh mother Maria as the middle child of three children having a younger sister, Kylie and an older brother Bradley.
Leona grew up in Highbury, London and attended the Finsbury Park Ambler Primary School. Even at this young age Leona showed a great interest in music and although her parents had to give up some of their own luxuries in life, they paid for Leona to go to the Sylvia Young Theatre School which is also known for having spawned talents such as Emma Bunton of The Spice Girls and Amy Winehouse. She also went on to enroll in the performing arts academy Italia Conti in Islington and then on to the BRIT School which also saw the training of Winehouse.
By just twelve years of age Leona was writing her own songs and was winning talent shows with her skill including the Lady D under eighteen talent show. Her musical skills didn’t earn her a good living so she took up employment in Pizza Hut as a waitress and as a receptionist for a mortgage company and a chiropodist. One of Leona’s first recordings was a cover of Minnie Riperton’s ‘Lovin’ You and that resulted in Sony inviting her to the US at the age of fifteen but her career didn’t take off at that point.
In 2006 Leona was persuaded by her boyfriend to enter the popular television show The X-Factor and during the process of being auditioned she sang Somewhere Over The Rainbow and soon found herself being mentored by Simon Cowell. During her time on the show she was constantly praised for her range of five octaves and her ability to reach the whistle register in some instances. Sharon Osbourne likened her talents to those of Celine Dion and Christina Aguilera. All the judges commented on how the British music industry needed a singer like her, and that her performances were world class and every bit as good as Whitney Houston when she sang I Will Always Love You.
After winning the show in 2006, February 2007 saw Lewis signing a £5 million contract in the United States with Clive Davis of Arista Records. Along with her singing ability Leona is also a keen dancer, actress and pianist but her big passion is singing.It is claimed Lewis will be the first winner of a major television talent show in both the UK and U.S. to be given a major global launch with the release of the album, Spirit in November 2007. Her debut single, A Moment like This, was released on 20 December 2006 a song that was originally performed by US American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson.
As of October 2007 Leona is set to have the year's fastest-selling single with her new release, Bleeding Love and will be joining the talents of, Take That, Sugababes, Britney Spears and McFly in the midweek chart's top five.Leona now lives in Hackney, London with her longtime boyfriend Lou Al-Chamaa, an electrician, whom she has been dating since she was seventeen. Lewis and Al-Chamaa have known each other since Lewis was nine years old and they grew up on the same street. They are reported to have exchanged commitment rings and rented a £120,000 flat together in North London. Lewis has stated that she wants to marry Al-Chamaa in the future.