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A striking young woman with a strong vocal resemblance to the young Whitney Houston and pop music's largest mop of blonde corkscrew curls since Twisted Sister's Dee Snider circa "We're Not Gonna Take It," Leona Lewis won the third series of the British reality talent show The X Factor in a landslide. (For non-Brits: The X Factor is the revamped follow-up to the original U.K. talent search, Pop Idol, of which American Idol is the massively successful U.S. version; AI's Simon Cowell is the show's lead judge and executive producer.) Born and raised in the Islington section of north London, Lewis won a talent show at the age of 13 and devoted herself to music thereafter, eventually graduating from the prestigious BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology. While working as a receptionist and pizza waitress and writing and demoing her own material, Lewis auditioned for The X Factor in the summer of 2006 and won the third series competition in December of that year. Lewis' debut single, a soulful cover of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This" (Clarkson's own debut American Idol showcase single), was the number one single in the U.K. at the turn of the year, including the coveted "Christmas Number One." Along with her TV-driven U.K. success, Leona Lewis signed an American recording deal with Clive Davis' J Records in February 2007, with plans to make her U.S. television debut on the 2007 season of American Idol. Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
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