LEONA LEWIS - LEWIS BREAKS RECORDS WITH U.S. NUMBER ONE

Singer LEONA LEWIS has shot to the top of the U.S. singles chart with BLEEDING LOVE - making her the first British female solo star to achieve the feat in over 20 years. The song has climbed up seven places on the Billboard Hot 100 to knock Usher's Love In This Club off the number one spot. Sales of the single shot up after Lewis appeared on chatshow queen Oprah Winfrey's U.S. show and praised her, saying, "You're the real deal girl! Talk about a star is born!" Other female stars to reach number one in the U.S. charts include Petula Clark with 1965's Downtown and Sheena Easton's Morning Train - released in the U.K. as 9 To 5 - in 1981. Lewis joins a select minority of female solo singers who have reached the prestigious chart position; the last was Kim Wilde with her 1987 cover version of the Supremes' hit You Keep Me Hangin' On.