Leona Lewis Biography

Leona Lewis was born in 1985 in London, England. She attended the BRIT School as a child, where she studied a variety of instruments and even penned her first song when she was only twelve. Her studies in opera eventually led her to jazz, blues, and then pop, and shortly after graduating, Leona recorded her own demo album. But her music career appeared to have stalled, at least temporarily, until she decided to enter the X Factor competition.

On the strength of her versions of songs such as “Over the Rainbow,” Leona Lewis went on to win the X Factor in 2006, launching her career as a recording artist. Her debut single, a cover of the song “A Moment Like This,” broke records for digital downloads, and paved the way for a five-album contract with J Records. Lewis’s debut album, Spirit, hit the number one spot upon its release, and went on to become one of the fastest-selling albums of all time, worldwide. The singles “Forgive Me,” “Bleeding Love,” “Better in Time,” “I Will Be,” “Footprints in the Sand,” and “Misses Glass” also charted well, and eventually the album reached a staggering nine times platinum status in the UK. Although her career is just getting started, Leona Lewis’s follow up albums, Echo (2009) and Glassheart (2012), were both equally successful, spawning the singles “Happy,” “I Got You,” “Collide,” “Trouble,” and “Lovebird.”

In addition to her own albums and singles, Leona Lewis has also provided music for other projects as well. She sang on the cover of “Everybody Hurts,” in support of the project to raise funds for the Haitian earthquake victims of 2010, and she also recorded “I See You (Theme from Avatar)” for the film Avatar, garnering a nomination for Best Original Song at the Golden Globe Awards. Other awards and recognitions for Leona Lewis include: three Grammy nominations in 2008, for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Record of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance; four BRIT Award nominations, for British Single (“Bleeding Love”), British Breakthrough Act, British Female Solo Artist, and British Album (Spirit); and recognition as Top New Artist by Billboard Magazine.

Leona Lewis is currently back in the studio working on her next album, which will be released in the near future.