Leona Lewis Unleashes Her 'Spirit'

Leona Lewis Unleashes Her 'Spirit'

'X Factor's' Leona Lewis releases 'Spirit': Aidin Vaziri | In March, Lewis became the first British woman in 20 years to top the Billboard charts with her hit "Bleeding Love," more than two decades after Kim Wilde held the same position with a cover of the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On." In Britain, Lewis' song was the biggest-selling single last year, and "Spirit" became the nation's fastest-selling debut album ever, having since moved 2.5 million copies worldwide. She says she framed the page honoring her in the Guinness Book of World Records: "It's such a big achievement!" Things are happening fast for the green-eyed pop phenomenon, who says she stays in touch with the friends she made while working at Pizza Hut just a few years ago - but not too fast. Lewis walked away the winner of the 2006 season of "The X Factor," England's answer to "American Idol," using her enormous voice to draw comparisons to big-time yodelers such as Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and, mostly, Mariah Carey. After pronouncing her "the best contestant I have ever had across any of these shows," Simon Cowell, rather than knocking out a quick cash-in collection, dedicated himself to meticulously building Lewis into the perfect pop beast during the past two years. Somehow, she survived the ordeal. "He never said anything bad about me," she says. Continue reading.