Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a
British singer, songwriter and animal welfare campaigner. She was born and raised in the
London Borough of Islington,
London,
England where she attended the
BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology. Lewis achieved national recognition when she won the
third series of
The X Factor in 2006, winning a
£1 million recording contract with
Simon Cowell's record label,
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 it broke a world record for having 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.