She’s a British singer, songwriter, actress, model and animal welfare campaigner! First female and first mixed-race winner of The X Factor (2004) who believes she could have had a career in music industry even without ‘X Factor. She’s been on hiatus since her last album since 3 year but been in the news lately. Her music is known for its heartfelt lyrics. Call her triple ‘L’ Leona Louise Lewis
Of course, we obviously cannot feature Leona Lewis without mentioning X-Factor show. X-factor has produced some big winners though: Leona, Little Mix, and Louis Tomlinson among others. The new season of X-Factor kicked off 1st of this month and there’s a brand new judging panel featuring One Direction star Louis Tomlinson, (Robbie Williams and wife Ayda Field) as well as Simon Cowell- the founder himself. X- Factor 2018 is up Saturday and Sunday night up until just before Christmas. I wish I was in UK right now!
speaking of X-factor producing big winners since inception, reports also have it that not everyone who took the crown in the long-running singing show went on to such great things. Some experience even a rocky road and LLL is not an exception.
It’s not been an easy ride for some of the X Factor graduates: from feuding with the shows founder Simon Cowell, to drug addiction, homophobic scandals and high-profile splits. I remember Lewis quit Simon Cowell’s label in 2014 for being taken advantage of in her words but both have remained friends and were spotted having a catch-up at a charity event in London in 2016 or thereabouts.
Absolutely! Leona Louise Lewis was born on 3rd April 1985 (now 33) in Islington, London. Raised in Borough England, her parents enrolled her at a few Theatre schools including BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology the same year as Adele and Jessie J, among other world renowned celebrities who were also students at the time. At 17, Leona decided to leave BRIT School to pursue a career in music.
Leona Lewis recorded a couple of demo albums: ‘Twilight’ and ‘Best Kept Secret’, but both were unsuccessful and decided to audition for The X Factor as a fresh new talent after which she released a cover of Kelly Clarkson’s A Moment Like This. The cover song peaked at #1 for four weeks on the UK Singles Chart and it broke a world record for having 50,000 digital downloads within 30 minutes and subsequently signed a five-album contract in the United States with Clive Davis’s record label, J Records and released her debut album titled Spirit the same year. The album was a 10× platinum in the UK and the fourth bestselling album of the 2000s. Lead single Bleeding Love off the album had huge success. Both album and lead single were nominated 3 times at the Grammys.
I See You
(Off 2nd album – Echo) theme song for the 2009 science fiction film Avatar, nominated for Best Original Song at the 67th Golden Globe Award. It was also nominated for the MTV Video Music Awards Japan Best Video from a Film
After the success of Leona’s debut album: gaining international recognition (in over 30 countries) as well as becoming Billboard ‘Top New Artist’ in 2008; still under the guidance of Cowell and Davis, Leona released her 2nd UK number-one album Echo released in November 2009. The albumis more guitar-driven” compared to Spirit. Echo reached number one in the UK Albums Chart and the top ten of Austria, Ireland and Switzerland.
The first single titled “Happy” was released on 15 September 2009 peaking at #2 in the UK while reaching the top ten in 6 other countries. That year Lewis also had two EPs, “Private Party” and “Dip Down”/”Joy” in September 2009 (a month before she was attacked and assaulted by a fan -29-year-old man named Peter Kopwalczyk- at a book signing in central London) as well as the theme song “I See You” on #4 spot and embarked on her first UK arena tour, The Labyrinth, in 2010.
She released her third album, Glassheart in October 2012. 4th album, Christmas with Love in December 2013 and parted ways with her record label of seven years, Syco Music in 2014 In 2015, Leona dropped her 5th album #IAm. It’s Leona’s last album before she took a musical break.
One More Sleep:
NOMINATED FOR World’s Best Song and World’s Best Video at the World Music Awards 2014. Another hit off Leona’s 4th album debuting at #3 on the UK singles chart in 2013.
Leona performed the lead single, “One More Sleep” which was released a month before the album on the semi-final of the tenth series of The X Factor on 8 December 2013. It first debuted at #13 the same day on the UK Singles Chart as the album Christmas with Love debuted 31 on the album chart. Later both single and album assumed #3 & #25 on the UK Album and singles Charts respectively.
Collide ft Avicii
A collaboration under both artists’ names. Avicii had claimed Collide’s sample – a piano dance beat – had been used without his permission.Lewis’s label Syco, run by Simon Cowell, had denied this.
Better In Time 2009 (reggae version of “Better in Time”) British Single nominated for The BRIT Awards Lona recently spotted playing the piano and singing this song with the caption: ‘Excited for new music this year! Reflecting on my classics for inspiration’
Remember she parted ways with her record label of seven years, Syco Music in 2014- announced by her label boss and mentor Simon Cowell himself in a tweet saying “Congratulations Leona. We had 7 great years together and now wish you all the best for the future. You put X Factor on the map.”So her 5th album “I Am” in 2015 is about the feelings and emotions experienced by Lewis following her departure from her former record label.
Lewis confirmed that she had signed a new contract in the United Kingdom with rival record company Island Records, a division of the Universal Music Group. She revealed that her departure from Syco had come after “several years” of consideration stating that when she expressed her desire to part with the label she was threatened that the public would be told she had been dropped by the label
Summary of Albums
Spirit (2007), Echo (2009), Glassheart (2012), Christmas, with Love (2013), I Am (2015)
Leona is one of the most successful acts that X Factor has produced following a string of successful hits both in the UK and across the globe even though she’s got a few hits and misses with her tracks these past years.
She was in the news earlier this year
with the promise of new music in 2018. Last month, she and Dennis Jauch celebrated their eight-year anniversary on Aug. 1 and was finally engaged to him. They also went vacationing in Puerto Rico, where Lewis just finished filming the series “The Oath.” She’s branching out and doing collabs these recent times also. She’s featured in “You Are the Reason” by Calum Scott. She’s worked with Alesso and Kygo. She’s reportedly teamed up with David Guetta, Dallas Austin and Ryan Tedder for the album, which is expected this year 2018.
Bleeding Love
lead single off Spirit –Leona debut album also her first post-X Factor single peaked at #1 for 7 weeks. Peaked at top 10 in more 30 countries.
Lewis received three nominations for the 51st Grammy Awards in December 2008. “Bleeding Love” was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Spirit was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album. She was nominated for four BRIT Awards: or British Female Solo Artist, British Breakthrough Act, British Album for Spirit, and British Single for “Bleeding Love but received none. She won most played Foreign Work Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) among other winnings and named ‘Top New Artist’ by Billboard in 2008.
Award & Nomination:
51ST ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS (2008): 3 nominations: Record of The Year: Bleeding Love. Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: Bleeding Love. Best Pop Vocal Album: Spirit
Leona Lewis is coming back and sure she will be heading back to the charts very soon. She gave hints that her new album will be different “I am working with some new producers, some up and coming people and it’s going to be a different sound- but still classic.’
