Leona Louise Lewis was born in Islington, London in 1985 to parents Joe and Marie Lewis. Leona is the second child of three, and she has two brothers, Kyle and Bradley. Leona grew up in Highbury and attended the Ambler Primary School in Finsbury Park. Leona’s birthday is on April 3rd.Leona 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 and the Brit School. Although her big passion is singing, she is also a keen dancer and actor. Before auditioning for The X Factor, Leona recorded an album of her own songs called Twilight, but the album was never released.

Leona lives in Hackney. She has been with her boyfriend Lou Al-Chamaa for over 4 years. Prior to winning The X Factor, she worked as a receptionist for a chiropodist’s practice in Stoke Newington. She also worked in Pizza Hut as a waitress. Leona is the first female to win an X Factor show in the United Kingdom.

The X Factor
In 2006, Leona auditioned for the third series of The X Factor, singing at her audition the classic Judy Garland song “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 with Simon Cowell’s record label.

Post X Factor
Leona flew out to America with Simon Cowell to meet with Clive Davis, founder of Arista Records, to sign a £5 million record contract. Davis has been responsible for the success of Whitney Houston. Whitney Houston is reported to have said that Lewis will be an international star and has offered to mentor her. Leona will now go on tour with the X Factor all across the United Kingdom.