The truest test of
Simon Cowell's power within the music industry circa 2008 was not whether American Idol could produce a star in its seventh season or if its U.K. cousin, The X Factor, would have another success in its fifth season -- it was whether he could turn
Leona Lewis into the international superstar he so clearly believed she is.
Lewis was the third winner of The X Factor -- the
Cowell-driven replacement to Pop Idol in Britain, a replacement that came to be because he wanted to own a significant piece of the show -- and one of the key differences between Factor and Idol is that the judges can mentor the contestants and therefore have a stake in the outcome of the show, more than they do on Idol, where the judges merely comment. Rightly impressed by
Lewis' multi-octave voice -- reminiscent of a warmer, earthbound
Mariah Carey --
Cowell continued his mentorship after the conclusion of the show, making her the first contestant in the whole Idol/Factor enterprise that he personally shepherded through the major-label process. He struck a deal with
Clive Davis -- the executive producer behind all the American Idol projects, the producer who publicly bristled when
Kelly Clarkson tried to take control of her career through her original compositions -- and the two launched a grand plan to break
Lewis in her native U.K. first, then slowly roll her out in the U.S. a few months later, via an appearance on Oprah and a slightly re-sequenced and remixed version of her debut,
Spirit.