Latest singing sensation finding buildup 'scary'
The buildup to Leona Lewis' stateside debut has been so great that you half expect her to be surrounded by heavenly angels when she appears.
Lewis
With her big voice, Leona Lewis has been compared to Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.
Backed by music mogul Clive Davis, the budding British diva has already drawn endless comparisons to Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston for her booming voice. No less than Oprah Winfrey fawned over her talents on a recent show. She even managed to win over Simon Cowell, who fell in love with her talent when she won "The X Factor," the British version of "American Idol." Cowell and Davis both executive-produced her debut album, "Spirit," which was released in the U.S. this week.
"It was blindingly obvious when this girl came on the show that this wasn't just someone who had the potential to be a good singer, this was someone who had a potential to be a star," Cowell told The Associated Press.
For a new artist, the attention can be daunting.
"It's quite scary," Lewis said in a phone interview and she was told -- probably for the millionth time -- about comparisons to Carey and Houston. "It's a massive compliment. Personally I've got a lot of hard work to do."
But early signs show that Lewis, 22, may be able to deliver on the lofty expectations. The album is already a top seller in Europe. Last month, she scored a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with her first single, "Bleeding Love" -- the first time a British woman has topped that chart in 21 years.
"Leona is the first vocalist that I have heard in well over a decade that between her voice and her appearance and just presence, she had the different elements that I thought were necessarily to be a world-class singer," said OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, who co-wrote "Bleeding Love."
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Lewis
With her big voice, Leona Lewis has been compared to Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.
Backed by music mogul Clive Davis, the budding British diva has already drawn endless comparisons to Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston for her booming voice. No less than Oprah Winfrey fawned over her talents on a recent show. She even managed to win over Simon Cowell, who fell in love with her talent when she won "The X Factor," the British version of "American Idol." Cowell and Davis both executive-produced her debut album, "Spirit," which was released in the U.S. this week.
"It was blindingly obvious when this girl came on the show that this wasn't just someone who had the potential to be a good singer, this was someone who had a potential to be a star," Cowell told The Associated Press.
For a new artist, the attention can be daunting.
"It's quite scary," Lewis said in a phone interview and she was told -- probably for the millionth time -- about comparisons to Carey and Houston. "It's a massive compliment. Personally I've got a lot of hard work to do."
But early signs show that Lewis, 22, may be able to deliver on the lofty expectations. The album is already a top seller in Europe. Last month, she scored a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with her first single, "Bleeding Love" -- the first time a British woman has topped that chart in 21 years.
"Leona is the first vocalist that I have heard in well over a decade that between her voice and her appearance and just presence, she had the different elements that I thought were necessarily to be a world-class singer," said OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, who co-wrote "Bleeding Love."
continue...
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