Leona Wins X Factor

LEONA LEWIS, pretty, humble, adorable and multi talented, has been crowned the first female winner of Simon Cowels TV talent show the X Factor, winning a £1m recording contract. The 21-yearold Londoner sang in the Grand Final to win against 18 year old Ray Quinn. When Leona burst on the scene about six months ago with such talent and grace, it was just obvious that she was going to win the competition. The weekend leading to the final event saw as usual weird stories planted in the media in order to sway votes away from this symbolism of today’s multi racial Britain. Yet the obvious happened and there is no doubt in any bodies mind that Britain has found in Leona a talent in the league of the Maria Carey’s, Beyonce Knowels, Whitney Houston etc. Leona grew up with her parents, Joe and Marie, 42, and brothers Kyle, 19, and Bradley, 25, in a terraced house in Stoke Newington, North London, on a street populated largely by Orthodox Jews who were often bemused by the sound of Leona singing pop songs up in her bedroom.

Realising she really had the talent to excel, her parents sacrificed all they had to send her to the famous £2,500 a term Sylvia Young Theatre School in North London.

It started when she was a toddler. "She was always talented," says her father Joe, 45. "Before she started talking she'd sing along from her baby seat in my old Ford Capri when I put on my Diana Ross and Motown classics.

"Even then she had great pitch. She was always singing and dancing. Whenever people came round to the house she would jump on the kitchen table and put on a show. She just sparkled. Her father Joe worked long hours as a carpet cleaner, clothes salesman and train driver to fund Leona's stage school fees. "It's been a long, expensive road. We had to sacrifice everything." Leona thanked fans and voters for "making her dream come true" breaking down in tears as the result was given.

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