18 December 2006
EXCLUSIVE: LEONA I'M GOING TO MARRY MY CHILDHOOD LOVE
SINGING sensation Leona Lewis yesterday woke up as X Factor champion and vowed to marry her childhood sweetheart Lou Al-Chamaa.
The 21-year-old beauty was still in shock after winning the £1million recording contract with SonyBMG - and had the sound of Simon Cowell declaring she could be a global superstar still ringing in her ears.
This time next week Leona is certain to be Christmas No1 with a cover of Kelly Clarkson's ballad A Moment Like This and offers are already flooding in from America.
But despite beating 18-year-old Scouser Ray Quinn in Saturday night's final and being called the best contestant the show has ever seen, the former Pizza Hut waitress from Stoke Newington, North London, insisted her head won't be turned by fame.
And Leona truly believes electrician Lou, 23, is the only man she can trust as she begins her new life of wealth and glittering stardom.
"This is all thanks to him. He's just been so supportive," Leona gushed yesterday.
"I've known him since I was a little girl, we grew up on the same street together.
"We first met when we were nine years old and we've known each other since then. We used to play out together as kids.
"He's always known I wanted to be a singer and is just so happy my dream has come true. Because I've known him such a long time it's amazing to share this experience with him.
"He's a part of my family. Nothing has changed after this experience and I trust him 100 per cent. Our relationship just gets stronger and stronger.
"I want to marry him in the future, definitely. I've been with him a long time and he's a wonderful guy.""
A peak of 12.6 million people tuned in to watch Leona crowned the first female X Factor winner - up 1.2 million on last year's final.
She beat a staggering 100,000 hopefuls who auditioned for the hit show.
Yesterday her mentor and show judge Simon Cowell insisted it wouldn't be long before Leona would be an international star.
Simon has already been approached by US music mogul Clive Davis - the man behind Alicia Keys and Whitney Houston - who wants to launch Leona in the States.
And he believes she can replicate the success of those top female artists.
Simon said: "Leona has the opportunity to be a major, major world wide star.
"We are not going to make an album quickly, we are going to make the best possible album and try and make everybody proud who voted for her." We have found a British girl who is up there with the Mariahs and the Whitneys. So I take this very, very seriously.
"I don't think this country has produced anybody like this in years. It is just incredible, it is like being given a jewel and you have to protect that jewel. She has been an absolute sweetheart, trusting, kind to everyone and always has time for the fans and will never be a prima donna. That is rare."
But lovely Leona has barely slept since Saturday night when she got 60 per cent of the eight million votes cast to beat former Brookside actor Ray.
She said: "I just feel like the dream I've been dreaming since I was a little girl has come true.
"There hasn't really been time to let things sink in. It's just a fairy tale ending." Leona will spend the next week promoting her single which is in the shops on Wednesday.
A record 50,000 people downloaded the single in 30 minutes after it was released on the web at midnight on Saturday.
Then after Christmas she will finally have time off to thank her family for their lifetime of support.
Her dad Joe, 46, a youth offending officer, and mum Marie, 42, a social worker, sent their daughter to stage school despite being strapped for cash.
At the age of five Marie insisted Leona went to the Sylvia Young Theatre School, North London. Fees were £2,500-a-term. It caused conflict in the household as Joe felt it would cripple them financially but Marie won the row and Joe worked longer hours to pay for it.
Leona said: "My mum and dad have supported me since day one. They sent me to stage school and struggled to pay the fees. It's not cheap and we weren't rich.
"I saw them in the audience and they looked just as scared as me. They've been there every step of the way and it's like they were on stage with me.
"I really feel like I can finally give them something back. I'll spend Christmas in London with my family then I'll take them all away somewhere hot, maybe the Caribbean or Mexico."
Just a few months ago Leona was working as a receptionist. And despite her amazing voice there were times she stopped believing she could make it.
"I left school and wanted to pursue a career in music," she said. "I got a job in Pizza Hut so I could pay to go to the studio. There were so many times I was feeling really low and didn't think it was going to happen. "There were so many knock-backs and I got very down - but my boyfriend and my parents pushed me on." Marie beamed: "I'm the proudest mum in the world."
Delighted dad Joe added: "It's a dream come true."
Runner-up Ray joked: "I'll be back next year."
SIMON'S VERDICT
IT'S been my favourite X Factor by an absolute mile.
I was thinking halfway through the show last night, how are we going to do this better next year? It will just have to be on a bigger scale.
I thought Ray was going to win going into Saturday's final. Then, when Leona hit the note at the end of All By Myself, I thought, that note has won it for you.
What we saw this year was someone turning world class live on TV. I believe potentially she is up there with the Mariahs and the Whitneys.
I genuinely think she is the best R&B singer this country has produced in decades.
I can't think of anyone else who comes close. She's better than American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson - and I thought she was the best we'd find.
Not all the acts were so good. The first group kicked out, The Unconventionals, were pretty miserable. In fact, all Louis' category were. He just didn't get it right this year.
You have to look at this a slightly different way now. The fact Leona won will change the people who enter.
Mirror
