Leona Lewis Interview

 A feature from the January 2016 issue of Suffolk Norfolk Life magazine
Suffolk Norfolk Life January 2016Click to view this issue »
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Stephanie Mackentyre meets multi-award-winning British singer, songwriter and animal welfare campaigner Leona Lewis…

I was delighted to speak to Leona Lewis for our first issue of 2016, especially since she’s been out of the limelight for the past three years. Her fans will be pleased to note she’s back. Leona goes out on the road again from the 21st of next month, stopping off in Ipswich at the Regent Theatre in March. The tour will see Leona performing tracks taken from her brand new album as well as some her biggest hits including: ‘Bleeding Love’, ‘Run’, ‘Better In Time’ and ‘Happy’. Her tour follows the release of her new studio album ‘I Am’, the first since signing with new record label Island Records. Leona had previously been with Simon Cowell’s own record label Syco Music. She signed a deal with them after winning the X Factor nine years ago.

The break up from them was achingly difficult for Leona, so much so that at 2.32pm. on the 5th September 2014, she wrote them a message straight from the heart. Hand written on her lined A4 page note pad. Once written, she tore it off, photographed the pages, lying on a brick floor and then posted the picture onto her Twitter and Facebook pages. The words clearly showed it wasn’t an easy decision to come to. But it was a result of feeling unheard by the label. She had previously been asked by them to make a covers album rather than writing and singing her own material. However, Leona was keen to assure me she’s still on good terms with Simon. So much so she performed in the X Factor final of 2015, appearing on the show last month, nine years after winning it herself in Series Three.

“There was never really a problem with Simon; I wanted to do something different and change the way I was approaching making my records. Syco and Simon have been instrumental to my career. I just felt it was time to move on and do something different and have a change of direction. Even when I decided to leave his record label, Simon wished me the best. I saw him a few weeks ago and performed at an event where he was receiving an award.”

Read the full interview in the January 2016 issue of Suffolk Norfolk Life Magazine
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