Leona Lewis Biography

Synopsis

Leona Louise Lewis is a British songwriter, singer and animal welfare campaigner. Well known for her hit songs and lyrics, Leona Lewis came to the spotlight after her debut album titled Spirit in 2007.

Lewis also received national recognition when he won the third series of X Factor in 2006, along with a $1 million recording contract with Syco Music.

Early age and education

Leona Lewis was born on April 3, 1985 in Islington, London, England. Born to her Guyanese father Aural Josiah Lewis and a Welsh mother Maria Lewis , she was raised in the London Borough of Islington. She is of mixed ethnicity and has British nationality.

Lewis’s siblings include a younger brother Kyle and an older half-brother Bradley . With her immense passion for music and singing, her parents sent her to the Sylvia Young Theater School.

Lewis later joined the Italia Conti Academy of Theater Arts, the Ravenscourt Theater School, and eventually the BRIT School of Performing Arts and Technology.

Lewis wrote his first song at the age of twelve. He was originally trained by him in opera before moving on to blues and jazz and eventually contemporary popular music.

Race

• 2001-2005: struggles and setbacks
• At the young age of 17, Leona Lewis decided to leave BRIT school to pursue her music career. By then, Lewis had already begun recording and writing her songs. She worked as a receptionist in the attorney’s office as a waitress at Pizza Hut to pay for her study sessions.
• At the age of 18, Lewis was given a lead role in The Lion King stage show in Paris. However, she was removed from the role due to her back injury.
• Lewis recorded his test album titled Twilight , collaborating with Spiral Music, a music production company based in Fulham. The album failed to reach an agreement with the music companies.
• Although the album was not officially released, Lewis performed some of the songs live on BBC Radio 1 music station in 2004.
• Lewis’s other test album was recorded under license from UEG Entertainment, titled Kep’s Best Secret. The album is reported to have spent $70,000 trying to release the least successful Leona Lewis album.
• A single from his album called Private Party became a viral song in London’s underground urban music video. Speaking of her hard work to land a record deal, she said:
• “I tried to get a record deal by doing things my way. I worked very hard but never managed to get a contract. That’s why I decided to audition for The X Factor. It’s shows like these that offer the best venue to showcase new talent.
• during an interview. Later, she decided to audition for the British reality show, The X Factor.
• 2006: The X Factor and debut single
• Leona Lewis went to audition on the third series of The X Factor in 2006. She performed the track called Over the Rainbow for the judges, Sharon Osbourne , Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, and guest judge Paula Abdul | .
• Lewis was in the 16-24 category, and Simon Cowell was his mentor. Throughout the show, Leona Lewis was compared to the likes of Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, and Whitney Houston, singing songs by all three artists.
• Lewis was victorious over Ray Quinn in the competition on December 16, 2006. He received 60% of the 8 million televotes cast in the Grand Final. After winning the competition, Lewis signed a recording contract with Cowell’s record label, Syco Music, for $1 million. Lewis on winning said:
• ” I’m surprised. Is incredible. I feel like my dream has come true, the dream that I have been dreaming of since I was a child has come true. There were points that I thought. ‘Did you know? I don’t know if this is going to happen.’ But with the help of my friends and family, they were all telling me to believe in myself and to keep doing it and I did and now I’m ‘here and thank you very much’.
• The X Factor (UK series 3) winner released a cover of Kelly Clarkson’s titled A Moment Like This on 17 December 2006. In the UK, the cover of the song broke a world record after it was downloaded digitally over fifty thousand times in 30 minutes.
• The song was also listed as the UK Christmas number one single of 2006, selling over 571,000 copies in the first week of its release. The song also charted at number one in Ireland for six weeks.
• As of December 2014, Leona Lewis’s cover of the song has sold over 900,000 copies in the US.
• 2007-2008 Spirit and international advancement
• In February 2007, the winner of The X Factor signed a five-album US deal with Clive Davis ‘ record label J Records. She signed a 5 million record deal and was shown before many American music executives.
• One press explained how Davis and Cowell would collaborate in a ‘first-of-its-kind’ partnership on both songs and the producer’s pick for their first album. Spirit . She recorded the album track in London, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Miami.
• There he worked with various record producers and songwriters including Walter Afansieff , Steve Mac , Dallas Austin , Ne Yo , and Stargate .
• The album was released in November 2007 and peaked at number 1 on both the UK Albums Chart and the Irish Albums Chart. The album also became the fastest selling debut album in both countries.
• In January 2008, two more songs were recorded for the album; Miss Glass , produced by Madd Scientist and Forgive Me , produced by Akon . It was released in 2008 in the United States and peaked at number 1 on Billboard, making her the first British artist to reach the peak number with a debut album.
• In August 2008, Leona Lewis performed Led Zepplin ‘s all-time single , Lots of Love along with the band’s guitarist Jimmy Page at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
• Lewis also won two awards at the 2008 MOBO Awards: Best Album for her debut album Spirit and Best Video Award for the song. bleeding love
• 2009-2010 Echo and the Labyrinth
• Leona Lewis’s second album Echo was released worldwide in November 2009. Production lasted throughout 2009, including her collaboration with Max Martin , Ryan Tedder , Kevin Rudolf , Justin Timberlake, Arnthor Birgissom , and John Shanks . The album was recorded in Los Angeles.
• Lewis’s first single from the Echo album is Happy . The song was written by her, collaborating with Evan Bogart and Tedder . The song was released on September 15, 2009, and peaked at number 2 in the UK and in the top 10 in Belgium, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland and Japan.
• Lewis also recorded the theme song for Avatar , a science fiction film directed by James Cameron .
• In February 2010, the second song from Lewis’s I’ve Got You from the album Echo was released. The following month, she appeared in a duet titled Unexpected with Italian singer Biagio Antonacci .
• Lewis also signed a book deal in January 2009. He published an illustrated autobiography in October 2009. The book titled Dreams contains images mostly taken by celebrity photographer Dean Freeman . On October 14, 2009, Lewis was assaulted by a 29-year-old man from South London, at a book signing for Dreams.
• The man who raped her was detained at the scene, while she suffered bruises. The assailant was sectioned under the 2009 Mental Health Act. He was charged with common assault when he admitted to the assault and was hospitalized for some time.
• In May 2010, Leona Lewis started her first tour, The Labyrinth , to support her two albums Spirit and Echo , along with a theme song based on the movie Labyrinth . From July to August 2010, she was scheduled to tour North America to help Cristina Aguilera Tour, however, Aguilera canceled the tour.
• 2011-2013: Hurt, Glassheart and Christmas, with love
• Shortly after completing the Labyrinth tour, Lewis began work on his third album. Crystal heart . The album was released in October 2012 in the UK. Lewis described her album as having a darker tone than her previous albums.
• Lewis also listed Kate Bush , Tracy Chapman , and Tears of Fear as major influences on the album.
• Lewis collaborated with various producers and writers, including Chuck Harmony , Ammo , Claude Kelly , Jonas Quantum , Al Shux , Ryan Tedder , Dallas Austin , Fraser T Smith , Ne Yo and Rich Love .
• In August 2012, Leona Lewis announced her lead single for the album. Glass Heart would be Trouble , released on 7 October 2012. It peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart.
• On December 2, 2013, Leona Lewis released her fourth album Christmas, With Love . The album’s title track, ‘ One More Dream ‘, was released on November 5, 2013.
• The following year, Lewis set a new record for British solo artist with most top five tracks in UK chart history and eight top five singles.
• 2014-2015: Walking on the sun, I am
• On September 23, 2013, it was announced that Leona Lewis would be making an appearance on Vacation! , a musical film. The following year, the film was renamed Walking in the Sun and was released on June 27, 2014.
• On June 3, Leona Lewis parted ways with her record label of seven years, Syco Music, and label boss Simon Cowell. Later, she revealed that her split with the record label came after many years of consideration.
• Leona also said that when she mentioned her desire to part with the label, she was threatened by the public who told her that she had withdrawn from the contract rather than parting with her own decision.
• Of his departure, Lewis said:
• “They asked me to make a record that would not have been true to myself. Of course, as an artist in this climate, I was grateful to have the opportunity to make another record. But I can’t make music that doesn’t speak to my soul, and as scary as that sounded, I couldn’t commit anymore and decided to walk away.
• On December 27, 2013, Lewis signed a contract with Digital Spy and would begin his recording session in January 2014, after completing the promotion for Christmas, with love .
• On 11 September 2015, following the album’s release, Lewis announced his third live tour, with an initial leg of fourteen dates in the UK. During the tour, Lewis visited cities including Glasglow, Cardiff, Birmingham and London.
• 2016–present: Broadway debut
• On March 18, 2016, Lewis headlined Cirque du Soleil’s One Night for One Drop performance in Las Vegas. On May 26, 2016, it was announced that Lewis would make her Broadway debut, as Grizabella.

Personal life

• Lewis lives in Hackney, East London. She has learned classical music and has a mezzo-soprano vocal range that spans four octaves. She has stated that she also practices operatic scales every week.
• Leona Lewis was in a relationship with her boyfriend, Lou Al-Chamaa, who worked as an A&R talent scout for Sony Music Entertainment. The couple separated in June 2010. They have lived together and known each other since she was ten years old.
• Lewis has been a vegetarian for 20 years and a vegan since September 2012. She has also become a winner of PETA’s Sexiest Vegetarian, along with Anthony Kiedis , frontman for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers in 2008. She won Europe’s Sexiest Vegetarian category along with Actor Scott Maslen in 2009.
• In September 2014, in an open letter to her fans, she revealed that she was feeling depressed at the time of her split from Syco. She also credited Simon Cowell and her meditation training with helping her ‘calm the madness’.
• Lewis was in a relationship with Dennis Jauch since 2014. They have had an up and down relationship in the past. The couple was seen kissing at the Sapporo restaurant in Liverpool in June 2015.
• Since then, the couple have kept a low profile and there is no recent news about their relationship.

social works

• Lewis opened a Harrods sale by turning down a seven-figure sum from Mohamed Al Fayed. She was announced as The Body Shop’s new brand activist in March 2013.
• Lewis has also shown active support for Little Kids Rock. Little Kids Rock is a nonprofit organization working to restore and revitalize music education in disadvantaged public schools across the United States by donating items for an auction that raises money for the organization.
• In 2017, Lewis attended and supported the annual HEART organization, a violence intervention program.

Net worth

• Leona Lewis earns a large amount of money from her career as a singer-songwriter. With over several albums and numerous hit singles, Lewis’ total net worth is estimated at $24 million, according to celebritynetworth.
• The British singer has a height of 1.7 meters (5 feet 7 inches). Her net worth according to her muzul is 22 million. Her net worth was 12 million ($19 million approx.) in 2012, according to the richest source.
• In 2006, Lewis received his first record deal worth $1,600,000 with his mentor Simon Cowell, after winning The X Factor. The same year she signed a Five-Album deal with Cowell’s record label worth $7,940,000.
• The following year, Lewis earned $9,700,000 by receiving a Five-Album deal with Clive Davis’s record label known as J Records. Later, she earned $7,500,00 from her debut album. Spirit selling 7 million copies.
• Lewis generated $165,000 from his second album Echo in 2009. He made $5,600,000 from his first tour, The Labyrinth in 2010.
• In 2011, he sold his home in the Hollywood Hills for $2,500,000. She earned $550,000 from her fourth album. Crystal Heart in 2012.
• Lewis won a $1 million contract with Syco Music, winning the reality show, The X Factor .
• After winning The X Factor , Lewis sold his Hackney flat for $120,000 and bought a Hollywood home for $1.5 million. He later sold the house for $2,500,000.