Leona Lewis is an English singer, songwriter, actress, model, and activist. She rose to prominence after winning the third series of the British reality music show, ‘The X Factor’ in 2006. Leona released her debut album, ‘Spirit’ in November 2007. It was a huge success and reached number one on both the Irish Albums Chart, the US Billboard 200, and the UK Albums Chart and also stood at the first position in charts of many countries including Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
Besides her professional singing and acting career, Leona Lewis is a philanthropist and an animal welfare campaigner for World Animal Protection and is a supporter of other animal rights charities and organizations. She is also vegan.
In May 2020, during the Coronavirus pandemic, Leona Lewis joined several performers during the One Humanity Live broadcast on social media, helping to raise funds for Covid-19 initiatives.
She is quite active in social media sites with around 678k followers on Instagram @leonalewis and around 1.1m followers on Twitter @leonalewis.
What is Leona Lewis famous for?
- Famous as the winner of the third series of the British reality music show ‘The X Factor’.
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Where was Leona Lewis born?
Leona Lewis was born on April 3, 1985, in Islington, London, England. Her birth name is Leona Louise Lewis. She was born to father, Aural Josiah “Joe” Lewis who is a Youth offending officer and DJ, and mother, Maria Lewis who is a social worker. She has a younger brother, Kyle Lewis, and an older half-brother, Bradley Lewis.
She holds an English nationality and belongs to a Multiracial (African, Guinean, Welsh, Irish, and Italian) ethnicity. She is of Afro-Guyanese descent from her father’s side, while she has Irish, Italian, and Welsh ancestry from her mother’s side. Her zodiac sign is Aries. However, her religious belief is not known.
Regarding her education, she attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Later, she also studied at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts and the Ravenscourt Theatre School. She attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology as well.
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Leona Lewis Career Highlights
- Leona Lewis decided to leave BRIT school to pursue a career in music at the age of 17. She then worked as a receptionist at a solicitor’s office and as a Pizza Hut waitress to fund her studio sessions.
- She secured a lead role in The Lion King theatre show in Paris at age of 18. However, she withdrew from there, after injuring her back while she was ice-skating.
- She soon recorded a demo album, Twilight. However, it failed to secure her a deal with any of the record companies, and even the album was never released commercially though she performed some of the tracks live on radio.
- Her other demo album was recorded under license from UEG Entertainment, ‘Best Kept Secret’ but it was also failed to secure her success. Though, a track from the album, “Private Party”, became a hit on the underground urban music scene in London in 2005.
- After so much struggle, Leona auditioned for the third series of the British reality music show, ‘The X Factor’ in 2006. She wins the competition on 16 December 2006, receiving 60% of over eight million votes cast in the final. She signed a £1 million recording contract with Cowell’s record label, Syco Music as a prize.
- Her winning single was a cover of Kelly Clarkson’s song ‘A Moment Like This’, which was released on 17 December 2006 and it made a world record for receiving more than 50000 downloads in less than 30 minutes. It also topped the UK singles chart and stood there for more than four weeks.
- In February 2007, she signed a £5 million five-album contract in the United States with Clive Davis’s record label, J Records.
- Leona released her debut album, ‘Spirit’ in November 2007. It was a huge success. It reached number one on both the Irish Albums Chart, the US Billboard 200, and the UK Albums Chart and also stood at the first position in charts of many countries including Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and Switzerland. The album sold over 6 million copies worldwide and became the UK’s fourth best-selling album of the 2000s.
- In August 2008, Leona 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.
- She released her second album ‘Echo’ in November 2009 which was also a success and received mixed reviews from critics. It reached number one in the UK Albums Chart and the top ten of Austria, Ireland, and Switzerland. The song ‘My Hands’ from the album, was used as the theme song for the video game ‘Final Fantasy XIII’.
- Her first tour titled ‘The Labyrinth’ started in May 2010. After completing her The Labyrinth tour, she has started working on her third album, ‘Glassheart’.
- Leona released an EP on 9 December 2011, ‘Hurt: The EP’, containing three covers.
- In October 2012, her third album ‘Glassheart’ was released and it also received mixed reviews from critics. It peaked at the third position in the UK Albums Chart, and also entered the charts of various other countries. However, it didn’t perform as well as her previous albums.
- On December 2, 2013, Leona released her fourth studio album, ‘Christmas, with Love’. It was a commercial success and received positive reviews.
- Leona featured on Michael Bolton’s cover of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” for his album of the same name, which was released in May 2014.
- Leona’s fifth studio album, ‘I Am’ was released on 11 September 2015. It peaked at the 12th position on the UK Albums Chart and on the 38th position on the US Billboard 200.
- In 2018, Leona collaborated with Calum Scott on a new version of his song “You Are the Reason” recorded as a duet, with Pitbull on “Amore”, the lead single for the 2018 film Gotti, and with Hellberg on the song “Headlights”.
- Besides singing, Leona made her acting debut as Elena in the British musical film ‘Walking on Sunshine’ in 2014. She made her Broadway debut as Grizabella in the revival of the musical ‘Cats’ by Andrew Lloyd Webber in July 2016.
- In 2018, she was cast in the recurring role of Amber Hall in the Sony Crackle’s TV series, ‘The Oath’, which premiered in February 2019.
- She became a permanent judge on the special edition of British reality talent competition, ‘The X Factor: The Band’ in December 2019.
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Leona Lewis Awards and nominations
- Leona Lewis won a Bambi award as Shooting Star in 2008. The same year, she won a Billboard Year-End Award under the category of Best New Artist.
- In 2009, she won a BEFFTA award under the category of Best Female Act.
- In 2009, she has received three Grammy nominations including Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Bleeding Love” and Best Pop Vocal Album for “Spirit” and became the first X Factor contestant to be nominated for a Grammy award.
- She has also won two MOBO awards under the category of Best Album for “Spirit” and under the category of Best Video for “Bleeding Love” in 2008.
- She received an MTV Video Music Awards nomination under the category of Best UK Video for “Bleeding Love” in 2008.
- She won an MTV Asia Awards under the category of Breakthrough artist in 2008.
- She achieved a nomination for NAACP Image Awards under the category of Outstanding New Artist in 2009.
- In 2015, Lewis won a Music Pioneer Award on Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, at the United Nations.
- In 2017, she won an MTV Europe Music Awards under the category of Power of Music Award.
Source: @popsugar
Who is Leona Lewis married to?
Leona Lewis is a married woman. She is married to a dancer and choreographer, Dennis Jauch. The couple started dating in 2010 and finally got married on July 27, 2019. The couple hasn’t any children yet.
Previously, Leona Lewis was in a romantic relationship with her childhood friend, Lou Al-Chamaa. They started dating in 2002. The duo dated together for 8 years and split in June 2010.
How tall is Leona Lewis?
Leona Lewis is a gorgeous lady with a slim body build. She stands at a height of 1.7m (5 feet and 7 inches) tall and her body weighs around 59kg (130 lbs.). Her body measurements are 34-27-35 inches. She wears a bra size of 32B and a dress size of 8(US). Her shoe size is 7.5(US). Her hair color is Dark Brown and her eye color is Blue. Her sexual orientation is Straight.
What is the net worth of Leona Lewis?
Leona Lewis has quite good earnings from her professional career as a singer and songwriter. Her major source of income comes from her singing career. She also earns by appearing in several films and TV series. As of 2020, her net worth is estimated to be $30 million. However, her salary and other assets are not disclosed yet.
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