Leona Lewis

Leona Lewis is a popular British singer and the winner of the 2006 series of The X Factor. She has broken records with her music - her debut single, 'A Moment Like This' was downloaded 50,000 times within 30 minutes and the follow-up, 'Bleeding Love' was the best-selling single of 2007.

Early Life

Leona was born on 3 April 1985 in Stoke Newington, London to parents Aural Josiah Lewis and Maria Lewis. At an early age, Leona attended a number of stage schools including the Sylvia Young Theatre School, the Italia Conti Academy and the BRIT School.

Despite showing early signs of promise, Leona funded her recording efforts by working a number of waitressing and receptionist jobs. She produced a demo album named 'Twilight', but eventually considered shelving her musical career in order to attend university.

The X Factor

Persuaded by her boyfriend to audition for The X Factor, Leona made it through each stage of the competition. She was mentored by Simon Cowell and was voted the winner on 16 December 2006 against second-place contestant Ray Quinn. During the final, she performed live on stage with Take That while Quinn performed with Westlife.

The winning single (a cover of Kelly Clarkson's A Moment Like This) was released immediately after the show finished, and broke a world record when it was downloaded over 50,000 times in a 30 minute period. It became officially the 2006 Christmas number one single and was the biggest selling song of 2006, despite being released at the end of the year.

Debut Album: Spirit

Leona's debut album, Spirit, was released in the UK and broke records by becoming the UKs fastest selling debut album and the fourth fastest selling album of all time. It was released on 12 November 2007 to co-incide with the 2007 series of X Factor.

The lead single from the album, Bleeding Love, was released on 22 October 2007. Written by Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic and Jesse McCartney, the single entered the UK singles chart at number one and stayed in that position for seven weeks.

Her third single was a double A side with the songs 'Better In Time' and 'Footprints In The Sand'. It was released in March 2008 in aid of Sport Relief and reached number two in the UK singles chart.

Leona made an appearance with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on 24 August 2008, singing the Led Zeppelin song, Whole Lotta Love. The performance was thought to have been watched by 3 billion people worldwide.

Her fourth single has been confirmed to be Forgive Me, and it will be released on 3 November 2008.