Leona Lewis Succeeds In US Where So Many Other British Music Artists Have Failed To Impress
This week saw Leona Lewis hit number one on the US Billboard charts with Bleeding Love, becoming the first solo British female music artist to do so in 21 years, and only the fourth ever. Not bad for a winner of a reality television show!
Londoner Lewis won The X-Factor back in 2006, beating Ray Quinn in a final which was pretty much already decided before it even began. Where is Quinn now? I’m guessing on a cruise ship somewhere impressing old ladies with blue rinses with his generic brand of Rat Pack style swing music.
Leona meanwhile is on the cusp of a brilliant career, which with this success in the States will probably see her earn a huge pile of cash, although it’s not yet enough to buy a house in her home town of Hackney.
The Americans may be a bit slow on the uptake with how good Lewis is, as before hitting the top spot in the US, she’s already done it in many other countries around the world, including of course, the UK, where she spent 7 weeks at the top at the end of last year, and bagged the best selling single of 2007 in to the bargain.
Simon Cowell, the man behind The X-Factor, and also the man who has engineered her career since she won the series, says he is shocked by her success so far, telling Digital Spy:
“To say this has happened quickly is the understatement of the year. We were getting calls saying: ‘This record is on fire’, and: ‘It’s going to chart high’. Then we got one saying: ‘It’s gone in at No.1′. Nobody expected that.”
“The amazing thing is I would say that 98% of people in America still don’t know who Leona Lewis is!”
I think that percentage may now start to get lower and lower, as being at the top of the charts has got to bag Lewis some additional fans, particularly with a song so catchy, and annoyingly addictive as Bleeding Love.
It won’t be long until we know if this success is going to be a short term thing, or something that could possibly drag further in to the future, as Lewis’ album Spirit will be released State side on April 8th.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
congarts to her