As X Factor winner Leona Lewis gets set to take Las Vegas by storm, she chats about becoming a mum, music and making a difference – and being snubbed for another megastar
13:00, 23 Aug 2025Updated 13:19, 23 Aug 2025
Singer Leona Lewis is about to make her dream come true with her huge new role(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for evi)
Catapulted to stardom almost 20 years ago on The X Factor , Leona Lewis’s life changed in an instant. A sweet and shy 21-year-old from Hackney, London, she blew the judges away with her rendition of Over The Rainbow and the rest is history. She went on to become a Grammy-nominated singing sensation, selling over 40 million records worldwide with hits like Bleeding Love and Run .
Now, hot off the back of being honoured with an OBE, mum-of-one Leona, 40, is getting ready for her first-ever Las Vegas residency and working on exciting new music, which she is producing for the first time. “I’m very excited and scared,” she giggles, talking about the months ahead. “But more excited.”
She’ll headline Voltaire at The Venetian – where Kylie Minogue had her own debut residency. Leona says it’s been a long-held dream and she was inspired by one of her own musical heroes.
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Leona is preparing to take to the stage for her Las Vegas residency(Image: Supplied)
“Fifteen years ago I saw Celine Dion in Vegas,” she remembers. “Just watching her bring the culmination of her life’s music and work on the stage was pretty mind-blowing. It’s definitely been a dream and a goal. I didn’t know if I would get there. It’s very surreal.”
The show, called A Starry Night , is billed as a Christmas spectacular and will run for 33 dates from November. “I think we’ve created a really special show,” Leona beams.
And there will be one very special guest in the audience watching on – Leona’s three-year-old daughter Carmel. The singer lights up at the mention of her little girl, who has yet to see her mummy perform a full show. But Leona admits Carmel would rather see another music legend on stage.
“I actually just took her to see Beyoncé and now she keeps saying, ‘Can we go and see Beyoncé again?’” Leona laughs. “I’m like, ‘No, we can’t go see Beyoncé like every week. You don’t want me?’ She said, ‘No, Beyoncé.’”
Leona is devoted to three-old-Carmel, even if she does prefer Beyoncé (Image: leonalewis/Instagram)
Carmel has been front-row at many a home concert, with Leona pulling out all the notes from her impressive vocal range to soothe her. “When she would cry a lot, I’d sit her on the bed and I’m singing full concerts for her,” recalls Leona. “She’s the hardest audience, definitely.”
The apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree and Leona says Carmel has already found her own voice, mastering the song which put her mum on the path to success.
“I taught her to sing Over The Rainbow ,” Leona says proudly. “I just sang it to her every single night, and now she sings it back to me and I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’”
Motherhood has changed Leona, she says. Welcoming Carmel with her professional dancer husband Dennis Jauch in July 2022, Leona says becoming a parent has shifted her priorities and made her more selective with what she does.
Leona won over the nation with her X Factor performances(Image: ITV)
“I feel like it definitely unlocks a different part of your brain,” explains Leona. “You do start seeing things differently. It distills everything in such a way that you are just kind of picking out what’s really right for you.
“What I truthfully really want to do. I feel like it cuts out a lot of the noise because you literally just don’t have the time to do everything, so you just pick out the golden nuggets. I was definitely a big people pleaser – make people happy, be there for everyone. But sometimes the power is in the ‘no’.
“It changes you as a person. I keep saying, like, it’s not even a new chapter, it’s a new book for me. This is a whole new life and I’m relearning myself.”
The love for her daughter is also inspiring new music, with Leona challenging herself like never before in the studio, by producing for the first time.
“It’s a very new territory for me,” she tells Capital FM DJ and This Morning host Sian Welby at a talk at 180 House in London. “I’m doing it all – writing, singing and producing. I taught myself how to play the bass and the drums. I don’t want to do the same thing I did before. How can I push myself? What can I achieve? It means that it’s very unfiltered, it’s very raw. With the birth of my daughter, I did not know the depth of love until she was born and I’m writing a lot about that.”
Leona now lives in LA, but she will never forget how it all started on The X Factor . “It definitely has been a crazy ride,” she says. “But the platform that it gave me has been incredible. It’s given me so many opportunities. It’s opened up so many doors for me. I can only be grateful for everything it’s done for me.”
Leona says she’ll never forget where it all started for her(Image: ITV)
Signed by Simon Cowell ’s Syco label after winning the show, Leona hasn’t ruled out working with the music mogul again. “There have been a few things that he’s wanted to do,” she teases. “It hasn’t materialised yet. He’s shown me a lot of love and backed me from day one. I could always call him up and ask for support, so if he asks me to do something, I’d be like, ‘Yeah, sure.’”
She credits the show with giving her a voice and a platform which has allowed her to campaign for causes she feels strongly about, including animal welfare and children.
Involved in international lawmaking for animal rights, she’s also a trustee at Hopefield Animal Sanctuary in Brentwood, Essex. Her work was recognised when she was awarded an OBE by King Charles last month at Windsor Castle. Watched by her whole family, Leona says it was a “proud moment”.
Leona was made an OBE earlier this summer for services to music and to charity(Image: Getty Images)
But she says her strong stance on issues has lost her work. “In my career, it’s been interesting because a lot of brands don’t really go near me because I’m always like, ‘What are your animal welfare guidelines?’
“And they’re like, ‘OK, not you.’ It has hurt me, I guess, in that way, but morally, it hasn’t, so I feel very good about that. A lot of work that I’ve been doing in recent years has been with children’s charities, like Save the Children. Especially now, they need our support more than ever with what’s going on in Gaza, with the starvation of children there.
“I’ve just been someone that’s always spoken up about things like that, so if brands don’t want to touch me, fine, I don’t care. I’ve always thought if you have a platform, you do have a responsibility to give back. If you have a voice, we need to use it for something bigger than ourselves.”
* Leona takes to the stage in Christmas spectacular A Starry Night at the Voltaire in The Venetian Resort, Las Vegas, from 1 November – 3 January
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