Pop's Rising Star Dazzles In Whistle-stop Visit
The Age
Friday May 2, 2008
AT the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney this week, there were oodles of B-grade celebrities, plenty of booze and, almost as an aside, a performance from arguably the hottest pop star in the world.
So far, Leona Lewis' debut album Spirit has shifted almost 4 million albums around the world. In Britain, she boasts the record for the fastest selling debut of all time, a mantle she stole from rockers the Arctic Monkeys. In the US, her album debuted at number one, and she is the first British female performer to simultaneously hold a US number one album and single. In Bleeding Love she has a genuine worldwide hit single. Heady stuff indeed.The 23-year-old ticks all the boxes for today's typical pop star. She was apparently taking opera lessons at the tender age of nine. She left school early and worked various menial jobs - including as a receptionist and at Pizza Hut. She is dating Lou Al-Chamaa, a boy from her London neighbourhood she met when she was 10 and began going out with at 17. He is an electrician by trade. She had already tried and failed to break into the music industry before her opportunity came. She is a vegan and eschews alcohol. In her album's liner notes, she thanks her parents for "instilling good morals in me". Post-Britney it seems that what was once considered bland is now deemed "real".Lewis has two of the biggest names in the pop world in her corner. Simon Cowell, the irrepressible reality TV judge who created the UK program X Factor in which she was discovered; and Clive Davis, the indomitable 76-year-old record executive who discovered, among many others, Lewis' idol Whitney Houston.Cowell, who is ludicrously popular in the United States as the acidic judge on American Idol, also helped her score a slot on Oprah Winfrey's couch, a key to reaching middle America.On Tuesday night, Sony BMG Australia's chairman and chief executive, Denis Handlin, made a bold declaration. He said Spirit would be the biggest-selling international album of the year on the ARIA charts.Handlin first saw Lewis perform last year at a conference in Las Vegas. Those in attendance say that he immediately took a shine to her and insisted that Australia become a priority market for her.Plans were put in place and culminated in this week's show at the museum. The show was a big-budget, high-gloss affair aiming to highlight her booming vocals. And it worked. For most of the show, Lewis stood by herself on stage, accompanied for just one song by a guitarist.Cowell and Davis have been patient in developing Lewis' sound and image. Her album features credits from some of pop's biggest writers: Ryan Tedder, Avril Lavigne, Jonathan Rotem, Max Martin. Even Cowell has a minor writing credit.Meanwhile, post-show at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Lewis politely met fans and the press. Outside the backstage area those in attendance gushed affectionately about her brief performance. Mission accomplished.
© 2008 The Age