Leona Lewis

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.

Leona Lewis is a philanthropist and animal welfare activist for World Animal Protection, as well as a supporter of several animal rights charities and organisations, in addition to her professional singing and acting career. She’s also a vegetarian.

Leona Lewis joined many other performers at the One Humanity Live broadcast on social media in May 2020, during the Coronavirus pandemic, to help raise funds for Covid-19 initiatives.

She has about 678k Instagram followers @leonalewis and 1.1 million Twitter followers @leonalewis, showing that she is very active on social media.

What is Leona Lewis’s claim to fame?

She is best known for winning the third series of ‘The X Factor,’ a British reality music competition.

Leona Lewis was born in the United States.

Leona Lewis was born in Islington, London, England, on April 3, 1985. Leona Louise Lewis is her given name. Her father, Aural Josiah “Joe” Lewis, a youth offending officer and DJ, and mother, Maria Lewis, a social worker, are her parents. Kyle Lewis, her younger brother, and Bradley Lewis, her older half-brother, are her siblings.

She is of Multiracial (African, Guinean, Welsh, Irish, and Italian) ethnicity and holds an English nationality. She has Afro-Guyanese heritage on her father’s side and Irish, Italian, and Welsh ancestry on her mother’s side. Aries is her zodiac sign. Her religious views, however, are unclear.

She went to the Sylvia Young Theatre School for her studies. She went on to study at the Ravenscourt Theatre School and the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. She was also a student at the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology.

Highlights of Leona Lewis’s Career

At the age of 17, Leona Lewis chose to leave BRIT school to pursue a career in music. To pay for her studio sessions, she worked as a receptionist at a solicitor’s office and as a Pizza Hut waitress.

At the age of 18, she landed a lead role in the Paris production of The Lion King. She withdrew from there, however, after injuring her back while ice skating.

Twilight, her first demo album, was released soon after. However, it failed to land her a record deal, and the album was never commercially released, despite her performing some of the tracks live on the radio.

Her other demo album, ‘Best Kept Secret,’ was released under license from UEG Entertainment, but it also failed to secure her popularity. However, one of the album’s tracks, “Private Party,” became a hit in London’s underground urban music scene in 2005.

Leona auditioned for the third series of the British reality music show ‘The X Factor’ in 2006 after a long struggle. On the 16th of December 2006, she won the race, securing 60% of the over eight million votes cast in the final. As a prize, she signed a £1 million recording deal with Syco Music, Cowell’s record label.

Her winning single was a cover of Kelly Clarkson’s “A Moment Like This,” which was released on December 17, 2006, and set a world record by obtaining more than 50000 downloads in under 30 minutes. It also spent more than four weeks at the top of the UK singles chart.

In February 2007, she signed a £5 million five-album deal with Clive Davis’s record label, J Records, in the United States.

Leona’s debut album, ‘Spirit,’ was released in November 2007. It was a resounding success. It debuted at number one on the Irish Albums Chart, the US Billboard 200, and the UK Albums Chart, as well as in several other countries’ charts, including Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and Switzerland. The album went on to sell over 6 million copies worldwide, making it the fourth best-selling album of the 2000s in the United Kingdom.

Leona performed “Whole Lotta Love” with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page at the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in Beijing in August 2008, marking the handover of the 2012 Summer Olympics to London.

In November 2009, she released her second album, ‘Echo,’ which was also a success and received mixed reviews from critics. It charted at number one in the United Kingdom and in the top ten in Austria, Ireland, and Switzerland.

The album’s song ‘My Hands’ was made into the theme song for the video game ‘Final Fantasy XIII.’
In May 2010, she embarked on her first tour, called “The Labyrinth.” She has begun work on her third album, ‘Glassheart,’ after finishing her The Labyrinth tour.

On December 9, 2011, Leona released ‘Hurt: The EP,’ a three-cover EP.

Her third album, ‘Glassheart,’ was released in October 2012 and received mixed reviews from critics. It reached number three on the UK Albums Chart and also charted in a number of other countries. It did not, however, perform as well as her previous albums.

‘Christmas, with Love,’ Leona’s fourth studio album, was released on December 2, 2013. It was a commercial success with favorable reviews.

Leona was featured on Michael Bolton’s cover of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” which was released in May 2014 as part of his album of the same name.

‘I Am,’ Leona’s fifth studio album, was released on September 11, 2015. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart and number 38 on the Billboard 200 in the United States.

Leona worked on a duet version of Calum Scott’s song “You Are the Reason” in 2018, as well as with Pitbull on “Amore,” the lead single for the 2018 film Gotti, and with Hellberg on “Headlights.”

Leona made her acting debut in the British musical film ‘Walking on Sunshine’ in 2014, portraying Elena. In July 2016, she made her Broadway debut as Grizabella in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s revival of the musical “Cats.”

In 2018, she was cast as Amber Hall in the Sony Crackle TV series ‘The Oath,’ which premiered in February 2019.

In December 2019, she was named a permanent judge on a special edition of the British reality talent show ‘The X Factor: The Band.’

Nominations and awards for Leona Lewis

In 2008, Leona Lewis got a Bambi award for Shooting Star. She received a Billboard Year-End Award in the category of Best New Artist the following year.

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.

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.