No more Leonly nights
X FACTOR STAR HEADS HOME AFTER 6 MONTHS IN L.A. RECORDING STUDIO
Leona Lewis has finally finished her album after six punishing months in the recording studio.
Looking every inch a diva, she spent time winding down at Hollywood's celeb hangout Venice Beach to mark completion of her all-important debut album, due out in November.
Though there was no sign of the infectious grin that won over British TV viewers, her mentor Simon Cowell believes she'll be smiling all the way to the bank when the album turns her into as big a singing star as Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.
Cowell turned round Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts's album in just two weeks, but with Leona he has insisted on absolute perfection.
Recording in L.A. stopped when she got tonsillitis, and there were delays while she waited for star producers Max Martin, Stargate and Damon Dash to become available. As a result she spent hours alone in her L.A. hotel, emailing pals and her boyfriend, trainee electrician Lou Al-Chamaa, back in Britain.
Proud dad Jo Lewis said: "It hasn't all be plain sailing for Leona but now she can relax. It's been a fantastic experience.
Leona Lewis
Leona's been getting tonsillitis so she's had to rest. We are worried it seems to have taken a long time and her fans might get bored. But she is very, very happy with the album."
At one point the former secretary, who has a £5million five-record deal at J. Records, was so exhausted she flew back home to Hackney, East London, to recuperate. Last week, wearing a multi-coloured silk dress she soaked up the sun on Venice Beach, stopping to get a henna tattoo on her left hand, then cooling off with an ice cream. This weekend she's back home, her album in the can.
Leona's second single, Bleeding Love, will be featured live on X-Factor next month. Cowell, said of her album: "In my opinion it's as good as early Mariah or Whitney Houston. I think we have found a bona fide star."
Sundaymirror
