Headline, May21, 2013

'''THE STUNNINGLY GIFTED :

 LEONA LEWIS'''

''I don't really know what -diva- means,'' says Leona Lewis. ''People think I must be a diva because of the  kind of songs I sing and the persona I have on stage, but that's not what I am like offstage!''

Talking to this power ballad sensation, that rings completely true. She's as  sweet-natured and down-to-earth as you please.

There are no obvious signs that she's even aware she's being talked about as one of the hottest young talents to have come out of the UK in years. No signs that she knows that she's one of the fastest selling female artists of all time, or that some years ago she set a world record for downloads when her first single, ''A Moment Like This'', sold 50,000 copies in just half an hour.

After winning reality TV programme  The X Factor in 2006, Leona promptly landed £1 million record deal with Sony, and even bigger US deal followed earlier that year, Simon Cowell, the infamous X Factor bully-boy supremo, was instrumental in all this, saying that Leona was one of the finest singers he'd ever heard and was destined to be a huge star.

Leona is quick to  give credit to her parents for her success, and for shaping her interest when she was young. ''My mum taught ballet, which got me into classical music and my father used to be a DJ, which got me into the big 80s singers. So they were both into the performing arts, but nobody in my family was a singer.''

''I started having one-to-one singing lessons when I was nine. I went to theatre school, and did drama and dance as well, but singing was definitely the most important thing, the thing that I was passionate about.''

Leona Lewis is simply and plainly one of the kind. She's unlike anyone you've ever heard. She's got a voice that combines Whitney, Celine. Mariah, and Ella. Just hear her debut album, ''Spirit''.

With respectful dedication to The Idiot Box. Funny thing is, how much the world loves it!

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless