Leona Lewis" Spirit by Claudia Sonea

In 2006 the third series of The X Factor was won by Leona Lewis who obtained a 1 million pounds recording contract. She is an English singer-songwriter born in the London district of Islington to parents Aural Josiah, an Afro-Caribbean youth worker, and Marie Lewis, a social worker of Anglo-Welsh descent. The first song she wrote was at the age of 12 and at thirteen she won the Lady D under-eighteen talent show at the Hackney Empire. However, her struggle as singer seemed to go nowhere, but thanks to her boyfriend who convinced her to enter The X Factor she is now widely recognized. On Sunday her debut album Spirit went into chart at number one and reached a record for the fastest-selling debut album in Britain. Only in the first week since its release, more than 375,872 copies were sold; therefore the record of 363,735 copies in the first week in January 2006 established by British rock group Arctic Monkeys was broke. Lewis spokesman said that the number of album's copies sold surpassed the rest of the top 10 put together. Also he added that the figures show an average of an amazing 200 albums per minute. It is not surprising in the context that her first single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson's hit "A Moment Like This" was sold in 571,253 copies, beating Take That's single "Patience" and was crowned the 2006 UK Christmas number-one single, outselling the rest of the Top 40's sales combined. The single "Bleeding Love" the competition winner's song is atop the singles chart for the fourth week. Nevertheless, Lewis' album had to face strong competition from the Spice Girls' "Greatest Hits" album, debuting on number 2 in the album chart. In the single chart Take That remained in second place with "Rule The World" and on number 3 it's Timbaland with "Apologize". Kyle Minogue occupies the fourth place with "2 Hearts". Leona is a promising singer, compared by Simon Cowell with divas such as Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera and Celine Dion. So, don't waste anymore time and either download it or just buy the album. Enjoy.

related story: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20071118/ten-entertainment-britain-music-charts-a56114e_1.html

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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