If 'Bleeding Love' hasn't been stuck in your head more than once, then your radio must be on the fritz! The hit song by UK singing sensation, Leona Lewis, is just one of her career successes to date…
Getting to know Leona
- She was born April 3, 1985
- She has a boyfriend, Lou, who she's known since she was nine
- She can not only sing, but dance and play the piano and guitar
- She always wanted to get into music and, at age of five, she attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Later, she went on to the Italia Conti Academy and then BRIT School*
- During performing arts school, she landed a small role in TV shows and commercials*
- She wrote her first song at the age of 12 and knew that the best way to get her name out there was to enter as many talent competitions as possible. She won her first contest at 13 and went on to win a number of others*
- She worked as a receptionist and a waitress after leaving school, with the sole ambition of getting into a recording studio
- She recorded an album in her teens that, at the time wasn't released, causing her to eventually give up on the idea of a music career until her boyfriend convinced her to audition for the UK's The X Factor — her motto nowadays is "never give up"
- She sung 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' for her audition, impressing the judges, and went on to win the show
- Leona was the first winner of a major television talent show in either the UK or U.S. to be given a major global launch with the release of their debut album
- She recorded 'A Moment Like This' as her winning single, which broke a download record: 50,000 times in 30 minutes!
- She released her debut album, Spirit, in late 2007, which debuted in the Irish Albums chart at number one. It was released in Australia in January, 2008
- She appeared in a photo shoot for UK Harper's Bazaar modelling designer dresses, and it was reported that crazed fans disrupted the shoot, trying to get a glimpse of their idol!
- She sold 66,000 copies of 'Bleeding Love' on its first day of release, and over 200,000 copies in its first week of sale. It won record of the year for 2007!
- She's appeared alongside Celine Dion and Jennifer Lopez, and has been called the lovechild of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey!
- She was named one of the '8 To Watch in '08' by mega-in-the-know entertainment mag, Entertainment Weekly and was nominated for BRIT awards
*Hot tips