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While reality TV has taken the world by storm, the search for musical talent has become much simpler and quicker, and a talented singer’s road to stardom seems to be paved at lightning speed. Take for instance the stunning, young X-Factor 2006 talent show winner from Islington, England; Leona Louise Lewis, who was born on April 3, 1985.

Though she always knew that music was her passion prior to becoming a big star, she had to cut it in the real world working many ordinary jobs. At the time she entered as a contestant on the reality show, she was just 21 and working as a receptionist. Although she is now an international sensation, Lewis has had no shame revealing in interviews that she’s held down jobs in retail and once waited tables at Pizza Hut.

With a wave of her fairy godfather Simon Cowell’s magic wand, Lewis’s music dreams started turning into reality. The singer’s clear, polished voice, teamed with her exotic beauty, inner charm, and her love of performing, proved to be the perfect combination for success. Cowell recognized this diamond in the rough early on in the show.

While it all may seem like a Cinderella story, music has all the while been a central force in Lewis’s life. She was educated at the Sylvia Young Stage School and the Brit Academy, a top performing arts school in London. She even began writing songs at age 12 and learned to play piano and guitar.

After her big win, the modest singer released her first single, A Moment Like This, which is a rendition of the song made famous by Kelly Clarkson, the first American Idol winner. After Britain heard Lewis’s scintillating televised performance of the ballad on stage, the song broke a world record for being downloaded 50,000 times in 30 minutes upon release. But more was yet to come.

Lewis immediately got to work on material for her debut album Spirit, a project having the touch of legendary American producer, Clive Davis, and the backing of executive producer and brutally honest judge on American Idol and The X-Factor, Simon Cowell. The songstress wrote many of the songs on the album released in November 2007. However, she eagerly worked with other songwriters for tracks, including Bleeding Love, her album’s debut single, written in collaboration with Ryan Tedder of One Republic and rising young artist Jesse McCartney. The upbeat, yet soulful tune found its way to number one on Billboard’s Top 100 in 2008, reached number one status in seven countries, and became Canada’s most played radio song of the year. In March 2008, Lewis dropped the single Better In Time, which easily landed in the Top Ten of various music charts worldwide.

Since 2006, the star has been seen on numerous high-profile shows, including her performances on Oprah, Letterman, Ellen, the American Music Awards and American Idol, and a closing performance for the Summer Olympics in Beijing with Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant. The first British artist to debut at number one on the American charts has an autobiography due out in October 2009, which is right before her second album is expected to be released. She then plans to kick off her first ever international tour in 2010.