Leona

Leona Louise Lewis, born 3rd April 1985, is an actor musician, activist, and singer of British origin. She was born and raised in the London Borough of Islington and was a student at the Croydon's BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology. Lewis received national recognition when she was chosen to be the third series on The X Factor 2006 and received a contract worth PS1,000,000 with Syco music. The winning single that was a cover of Kelly Clarkson's song "A Moment like This," had 50,000 downloads within thirty minutes and peaked at the top spot for about four weeks. In February 2007 Lewis agreed to sign a five-album deal with the United States with Clive Davis's record label, J Records. Lewis has continued to be successful with Spirit the first studio album. It sold 10x platinum recognized in the UK. Spirit became one of the top four albums sold in 2000, and it was also among the most-sold UK albums. According to the Official Charts Company, Spirit is the top-selling debut album by female artists during the 21st century. The first single, "Bleeding Love", spent seven weeks at number one in the UK and was the most-sold single of the year 2007. The song was among the best-selling during 2008, and Lewis earned her Billboard Award for the Best New Artist. Echo was her sophomore studio album. She also wrote the hit song "I Love You" for Avatar. In the year 2011, Lewis released the single "Collide", a collaboration together with Swedish DJ Avicii along with her first extended work, Hurt: The EP. Glassheart (2012) was the third album she recorded. The album was inspired by electronic and dubstep music. During her Glassheart Tour in 2013, she began recording material for her first Christmas album. The album Christmas, With Love came out in the latter half of 2013. The lead track One More Sleep reached the top spot on the charts in the UK. By releasing this chart entry Lewis become the first British female artist to make it into the top five with eight singles, surpassing Olivia Newton-John's record of seven.