Leona Louise Lewis, born April 1985 in Stoke Newington, London, attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School at the age of 5, and later the Italia Conti Academy and the BRIT School, where she learned guitar and piano and also tried to write songs, penning her first at the age of 12. After leaving school, Lewis took waitressing and receptionist jobs to pay to get into a recording studio, eventually writing, recording and producing a demo album called “Twilight”. However, unable to secure a contract, Lewis considered placing her music career on hold to attend university, but her boyfriend persuaded her to enter UK television talent show “The X Factor”. In 2006, she auditioned for the show’s third series, singing "Over the Rainbow", progressed through to the the final stages and was announced as the winner of a £1 million recording contract. Her first single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This" was released in December 2006, and was available as a digital download from midnight on 17 December. It broke a world record after it was downloaded 50,000 times in 30 minutes. A week later the track was the 2006 UK Christmas number 1 single, having sold 571,253 copies and was also the most downloaded song in 2006 (beating Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy"). The single occupied the number 1 position for 4 weeks in the UK, and for 6 weeks in Ireland, going on to sell around a million copies. At the same time, a 4 track download EP, "It's All for You", that Lewis had recorded before entering “The X Factor”, was released digitally through The Schizofreniks record label. In May 2007, "A Moment Like This" was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for Best Selling British Single.

Second single "Bleeding Love" (written by Jesse McCartney and One Republic's Ryan Tedder, with Tedder fulfilling production duties) sold 66,000 copies on its first day of release in October 2007, and went on to sell 218,805 copies in its first week, entering the UK Singles chart at number 1, where it stayed for 7 weeks. It also debuted at number 1 in the Irish Singles Chart, remaining there for 8 weeks. Elsewhere, it reached number 1 in the singles charts of New Zealand, Australia, France, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Canada, and also won won the Record of the Year 2007 award. Debut album "Spirit" was released in November 2007, and it entered the Irish Album chart at number 1, becoming Ireland's fastest selling debut album of all time, and entered the UK Album chart at number 1, becoming the UK's fastest selling debut album, and also the fourth fastest selling album of all time. "Spirit" was released in other regions of the world in early 2008, achieving the number 1 position in New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Germany, South Africa and Switzerland, and it also entered the US Billboard 200 at number 1. The US release contained 2 additional tracks, both recorded in early 2008, "Forgive Me", produced by Akon and "Misses Glass", produced by Madd Scientist.
In February 2008, the single "Bleeding Love" charted at number 85 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and peaked at number 1, becoming the first track by a UK female to hit number 1 since Kim Wilde in 1987. Lewis was also the third British female to go to number 1 with a debut single (the other 2 being Petula Clark with "Downtown" in 1965 and Sheena Easton with "Morning Train (Nine to Five)" in 1981), and only the sixth British female to ever top the US singles chart (following Clark, Easton, Wilde, Lulu and Bonnie Tyler). "Bleeding Love" is also only the second single to ever fall from and then return to the number 1 position on the Hot 100 twice (the first was “Le Freak” by Chic in 1978 and 1979).
Lewis' third single, a double A-side featuring "Better in Time" and "Footprints in the Sand", released in the UK in March 2008 in aid of Sport Relief, reached number 2 in the UK singles chart selling over 40,000 copies in its first week of physical release (the song was kept off the number 1 position by Duffy who only sold 302 more copies of her single "Mercy"). “Better In Time” was released her second US single in July 2008, reaching number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.