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Leona Lewis was born in Islington, London, in 1985 to Joe, an Afro-Caribbean and Marie Lewis, of Anglo-Welsh descent. She is the middle child of three, with two brothers, Kyle, who is younger, and Bradley, who is older. They grew up in Highbury and went to school at Ambler Primary School in Finsbury Park. Lewis wrote her first song at the age of 12, and at the age of 13 she won the Lady D under-18 talent show at the Hackney Empire. She attended the Sylvia Young Stage School, Ravenscourt Theatre School and the BRIT School. Although her big passion is singing, she is also a keen dancer and actor. Before auditioning for The X Factor, Lewis recorded a demo album of her own songs called Twilight, but the album was never released.
Lewis now lives in Hackney. She has been with her boyfriend Lou Al-Chamaa since she was seventeen. Prior to winning The X Factor, she worked as a receptionist for Head & Short Chiropodists in Stoke Newington High Street. She had also worked in Pizza Hut as a waitress.
In 2006, she auditioned for the third series of The X Factor, singing "Over the Rainbow". She made it through to the final stages and was announced the winner on 16 December 2006, winning a £1million recording contract. She was mentored by Simon Cowell.
During the show, her vocal talents were consistently highly praised by all three judges (Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne), and on occasions was compared with divas such as Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. All three judges also commented on how the British music industry needed a singer like her, and that her performances were world class. Walsh remarked that her performance of "I Will Always Love You" was as good as Whitney Houston's version. In week 3 (Big Band week), Lewis sang "Summertime". Following her performance, Cowell said, "You are, absolutely, the best contestant I have ever had across any of these shows, and that was an amazing performance."
As Lewis progressed through the live stages of The X Factor, a news article was published on the internet referring to her past. When Lewis was fifteen years old she recorded a version of Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You" with music producer Marley J. Wills. Marley goes on to say in the news article that "She was young and innocent but very much able. Even then she had a very good voice. We started putting tracks together straight away."..."Leona could hit the notes and I think she did it better than the original."
The only criticism Lewis received, both by the judges and in the press, was related to her confidence. On the 9 December show, Cowell remarked that her performance of "Over the Rainbow" was the best he had ever witnessed. Cowell also commented throughout the show that Lewis's lack of awareness as to how good she is, is what makes her special. On the final night of the show, Take That joined Lewis on stage for a duet of their song "A Million Love Songs". After the performance, singer Gary Barlow told Cowell, "This girl is probably fifty times better than any other contestant you have ever had, so you have a big responsibility to make the right record with her."Lewis went on to win the competition, receiving approximately 4,800,000 (60%) of the 8,000,000+ votes cast
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