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Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April
1985) is an English pop and R&B singer–songwriter. Lewis rose to fame in
2006 as the winner of the third series of the British television series
The X Factor.
Lewis has become a multi-platinum selling artist and three time Grammy
Award nominee. She was proclaimed 'Top New Artist' by Billboard magazine
in 2008. Lewis has released two albums to date, Spirit and Echo, in 2007
and 2009 respectively. Spirit became the fastest-selling debut album and
the biggest seller of 2007 in both the United Kingdom and Ireland, and
made Lewis the first British solo artist to top the Billboard 200 with a
debut album. It has sold over 6.5 million copies worldwide.
Lewis's debut single "A Moment Like This" became the fastest selling UK
single after being downloaded over 50,000 times within thirty minutes of
its release. Her second single, "Bleeding Love", reached number one
positions in over thirty singles charts around the world. In November 2008
she set a record in the UK for the fastest selling download-only release
with her cover version of the Snow Patrol song "Run" which sold 69,244
copies in two days. In November 2009, the first set of dates for her 2010
debut world tour were announced.
Lewis was born in the London Borough of Islington, to Aural Josiah "Joe"
Lewis of Afro-Guyanese descent and Maria Lewis of Welsh descent. Her
parents enrolled her at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, and from there
she attended the Italia Conti Academy and the BRIT School, where she
learned to play instruments such as the guitar and piano, and began to
write her own songs in the hope of becoming a singer-songwriter, writing
her first full-length song at the age of 12. She initially trained in
opera, but went on to singing jazz and blues, eventually leading to
popular music, citing Minnie Riperton, Eva Cassidy and Stevie Wonder as
her main influences. After leaving the BRIT School at 17, she took a
number of jobs to fund studio time, recording a demo album called
Twilight. The album, comprised almost exclusively of her own compositions,
was recorded under Spiral Music, a production company based in Fulham. "I
tried to secure a record deal by doing things my own way. I worked very
hard but I never managed to land a contract", said Lewis. Other demos were
recorded under licence from UEG Entertainment, later included on an album
called Best Kept Secret. However, none of Lewis's demos were released and
she considered taking a hiatus from her music career to attend university
until her boyfriend persuaded her to enter The X Factor which subsequently
severed her connections with UEG.
Lewis auditioned for the third series of The X Factor in 2006, singing
"Over the Rainbow". She was mentored by Simon Cowell and was announced the
winner on 16 December 2006, winning a £1 million recording contract.
Her debut single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This", was
released on CD on 20 December 2006, and was available as a digital
download from midnight on 17 December. It broke a world record after it
was downloaded 50,000 times in thirty minutes. On 24 December, "A Moment
Like This" was crowned the 2006 UK Christmas number-one single, having
sold 571,253 copies, outselling the rest of the Top 40's sales combined.
The single became the most downloaded song in 2006; it stayed at number
one for four weeks and stayed at the top spot in the Irish Singles Chart
for six weeks. It went on to sell in the region of 830,000 copies.
In February 2007, Lewis signed a £5 million ($9.7 million) five-album
contract in the United States with Clive Davis's record label, J Records,
and showcased for several American music executives. A press release was
sent out revealing that Cowell and Davis would work together in a
first-of-its-kind partnership on both the song and producer selection for
Lewis's debut album, entitled Spirit. Lewis recorded tracks for the album
in London, Miami, Los Angeles, New York City, and Atlanta, where she
worked with several songwriters and record producers including Dallas
Austin, Walter Afanasieff, Salaam Remi, Steve Mac, Stargate and Ne-Yo. It
was released in November 2007 and entered both the Irish Albums Chart and
the UK Albums Chart at number one, becoming the fastest-selling debut
album in both countries, and the United Kingdom's fourth fastest selling
album of all time. It was released in several other nations in January
2008, and went to number one in New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Germany,
South Africa and Switzerland. Two further tracks were recorded in 2008 for
the US release of the album: "Forgive Me", produced by Akon, and "Misses
Glass", produced by Madd Scientist. It was released in the United States
in April 2008 and entered the Billboard 200 at number one, making Lewis
the first British artist to reach number one with a debut album. A special
edition of Spirit was re-released in November 2008 in Europe, including
the songs "Forgive Me", "Misses Glass" and a cover of the Snow Patrol song
"Run". The album again went to number one in the UK Albums Chart. To date
the album has sold over 6.5 million copies worldwide and has a 9× platinum
certification in the UK.
Lewis's second single, "Bleeding Love", produced by Ryan Tedder and
written by Tedder and Jesse McCartney, was released in October 2007 in the
UK, where it sold 218,805 copies in its first week, giving it the biggest
first-week sales of 2007 to date. It entered the UK Singles Chart at
number one, where it stayed for seven weeks, and in the Irish Singles
Chart it remained at number one for eight weeks. It reached number one in
the singles charts of New Zealand, Australia, France, Germany, Norway,
Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Austria, Canada and the United
States. "Bleeding Love" won The Record of the Year in December 2007. In
February 2008, "Bleeding Love" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 85
and then went on to peak at number one for four non-consecutive weeks. The
song became the first track by a UK female to reach number one since Kim
Wilde's "You Keep Me Hangin' On" in 1987. Lewis's third single, a double
A-side featuring "Better in Time" and "Footprints in the Sand", was
released in the United Kingdom in March 2008, in aid of Sport Relief, and
she visited South Africa for the charity. The single reached a peak of
number two in the UK singles chart selling over 40,000 copies in its first
week of physical release. "Better in Time" was released as Lewis's second
single in the US, where it peaked at number 11 in the Billboard Hot 100.
"Forgive Me" was released as Lewis's fifth single in November 2008; it
reached number five in the UK. "Run" was released as a download-only
single in the UK, reaching number one, and becoming the UK's
fastest-selling download-only single with 69,244 copies sold in two days.
Lewis's last single from Spirit, "I Will Be", was released in January
2009, only in North America; it peaked at number 66 on the Billboard Hot
100 and number 33 on the Pop 100.
In August 2008, she performed "Whole Lotta Love" with guitarist Jimmy Page
of Led Zeppelin at the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in Beijing,
representing the handover to London as the host of the 2012 Summer
Olympics. In September 2008, she joined several female singers to perform
a single for the anti-cancer campaign Stand Up to Cancer. The single,
titled "Just Stand Up!", was performed live during the one-hour telethon
that aired on all major US television networks. 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, in the categories British Female Solo Artist, British
Breakthrough Act, British Album for Spirit, and British Single for
"Bleeding Love", but despite being the favourite to win the most awards,
she received none. She won two awards at the 2008 MOBO Awards: Best Album
for Spirit and Best Video for "Bleeding Love". In December 2008 Lewis was
named 'Top New Artist' by Billboard magazine.
Lewis's second album, Echo, was given a worldwide release in November
2009. Production took place throughout 2009, including work with Ryan
Tedder, Justin Timberlake, Max Martin, Arnthor Birgisson, Kevin Rudolf,
and John Shanks. It was recorded in Los Angeles and took nine months to
produce. Lewis described the album as "more guitar-driven" compared to
Spirit. One of the albums's songs, "My Hands", appears as the theme song
to Final Fantasy XIII's North American and European release. Lewis
performed her first full UK show at the Hackney Empire in London on 2
November 2009, performing songs from Spirit and Echo. Echo reached number
one in the UK Albums Chart and the top ten of Austria, Ireland and
Switzerland.
Despite previous attempts from Lewis's lawyers to ban the release of Best
Kept Secret by UEG Music, claiming that the singer had not given her
consent, the album was released in January 2009 when the label insisted it
owned the rights to the music and Lewis would receive a 50% share of the
album's profits. However, a television advert for the album was banned by
the Advertising Standards Authority, who said in a statement: "We
considered that the claim 'Leona Lewis's new album' misleadingly implied
it was the singer's latest recording rather than a new CD of tracks
recorded some years ago." The album was released to iTunes in standard and
deluxe editions, and two EPs, "Private Party" and "Dip Down"/"Joy", were
released in September 2009.
The first single released from Echo was "Happy", which was written by
Lewis, Tedder and Evan Bogart and produced by Tedder. The single was
released on 15 September 2009, peaking at number two in the UK, and
reaching the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Japan and
Switzerland. Lewis also recorded the theme song for the 2009 science
fiction film Avatar, directed by James Cameron. The song, "I See You
(Theme from Avatar)", was written by James Horner and Simon Franglen. It
was nominated for Best Original Song at the 67th Golden Globe Awards. In
January 2010, Lewis provided vocals on a cover of "Everybody Hurts",
released to help raise money for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The
second single from Echo, "I Got You", will be released in February 2010.
Lewis plans to start her first world tour supporting Spirit and Echo in
May 2010, which is reported to be lasting 14 months. It is said that Lewis
has hired choreographer Travis Payne for the tour, which is reported to
have a Labyrinth theme. Her label have apparently said that money is no
object.
In October 2008, The Times reported that Lewis had turned down a $1
million deal with Mohamed Al Fayed to open a Harrods sale. Lewis commented
in the press that she turned down the deal on the grounds that Harrods is
the only UK department store which continues to stock clothing made from
animal fur. She told The Big Issue, "I got a lot of flak for that. There
were people who said I should have done it and given the money to charity,
but that would have been such a contradiction." She announced in October
2008 that she was in the "bargaining period" of launching her own ethical
line of accessories through Topshop, and that she is in the late stages of
releasing her own perfume for Europe.
Lewis signed a book deal in January 2009 to release an illustrated
autobiography in October 2009. The book, entitled Dreams, contains mostly
pictures taken by photographer Dean Freeman.
Lewis lives in Hackney with her boyfriend Lou Al-Chamaa, an electrician,
whom she has known since she was approximately ten years old. She has a
tattoo of Hebrew letters on her left wrist, symbolising her relationship
with Al-Chamaa. A vegetarian since she was 12, Lewis won PETA's Sexiest
Vegetarian along with Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis in
2008, and again in 2009 with actor Scott Maslen. She also was named PETA's
Person Of The Year for 2008. Lewis is a supporter of the World Society for
the Protection of Animals.
At a book signing for Dreams on 14 October 2009 at the Piccadilly branch
of Waterstone's book store in central London, Lewis received a punch to
the head from Peter Kowalczyk, a 29-year-old man from south London.
Eyewitnesses say Lewis ran out with her hand covering her face, whilst
security wrestled the attacker, who was reportedly laughing, to the floor.
The police were called immediately to the scene and Kowalczyk was
arrested. Lewis suffered bruising and was taken to a private doctor as a
precaution. She cancelled a scheduled appearance on the BBC's The One Show
and a two-day promotional trip to Germany. She later released a statement,
saying "Thank you so much for your support, it is truly overwhelming.
Yesterday was a horrible shock and left me extremely hurt and upset. I'm
very sorry to those I wasn't able to meet at the signing. Thank you again
for all of the lovely messages. Love you all." Kowalczyk was subsequently
sectioned under the Mental Health Act. He was charged with common assault,
for which he was due to appear before City of Westminster magistrates on
26 October 2009. The case was adjourned as Kowalczyk was "not fit to
attend court". It was reported that he had a history of mental health
problems and may have attacked Lewis due to jealousy, as he had attempted
to enter The X Factor but was rejected by producers. On 14 December 2009,
Kowalczyk admitted common assault and was ordered to remain in hospital
for an indeterminate period. |
