Leona Lewis

  Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress, model and activist. Born and raised in the London Borough of Islington, she attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieved national recognition when she won the third series of The X Factor in 2006, winning a PS1 million recording contract with Syco Music. Her winner's single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This", peaked at number one for four weeks on the UK Singles Chart and broke a world record by reaching 50,000 digital downloads within 30 minutes. In February 2007, Lewis signed a five-album contract in the United States with Clive Davis's record label, J Records.Lewis's success continued with the release of her debut studio album, Spirit (2007), which was certified 10x platinum in the UK and became the fourth best-selling album of the 2000s and one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. According to the Official Charts Company, Spirit is the best-selling debut album by a female artist in the 21st century. The lead single, "Bleeding Love", spent seven weeks at number one in the UK and was the best-selling single of 2007. In the US, it was the best-selling single of 2008 and Lewis was proclaimed Best New Artist by Billboard the same year. In 2009, she released her second studio album, Echo, and recorded the theme song, "I See You", for the film Avatar.