Subscribe
The Daily Grind Video
CLOSE
WE Day UK 2020

Source: Mike Marsland / Getty

The early 2000’s was an amazing time for artists to break, drop monster hits and cement their names in the music history books. Leona Lewis is one of the musicians whose voice and epic ballads totally defined an era.

After winning the UK’s X-Factor in 2006, Lewis became the first UK solo artist to debut at number one with a debut album, with Spirit. The lead single, “Bleeding Love”, spent seven weeks at number one in the UK where it became the best-selling single of 2007. As the 2000s went on, Leona’s career just got bigger and broader. In 2009 she wrote the theme song for the film Avatar and her debut album, Spirit was certified 10× platinum in the United Kingdom and became the fourth best-selling album of the 2000s.

The international star has been deemed the most successful artist in X- Factor history, selling more albums and breaking more records than her other ‘Factor’ winners like One Direction. By the mid 2010s, Leona split from her label Island Records and had taken her talents to the acting world, making her Broadway debut as Grizabella in the July 2016 revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats. She also stars as Amber Hall in the Sony Crackle’s TV series The Oath.

We haven’t heard much new music from songstress in recent years, but judging by her stunningly gorgeous Instagram photos, she’s still bleeding love — and defintiely got better in time. Check ’em out below. Happy Birthday Queen!