The residency is billed as a ‘Christmas spectacular’ and will be a return of sorts for Lewis, who has not released a studio album in a decade.
Many stars of the UK’s TV talent shows quickly fade away after their initial success, unable to sustain a career after being thrust into the high pressure world of the music industry.
But this certainly does not apply to Leona Lewis, who almost 20 years after winning the third series of The X Factor in 2006, is now preparing for her “life’s work”, her own Las Vegas residency, following in the footsteps of the likes of Elvis Presley, Celine Dion and Sir Elton John.
Named A Starry Night, the residency is billed as a “Christmas spectacular”, and will be a return of sorts for Lewis, who has not released a studio album in a decade.
The busy period since her last full-length release included the Covid pandemic, the birth of her daughter Carmel in 2022, and recently saw her made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for her services to music and charity.
Speaking about the upcoming residency, she tells the PA news agency: “I’m really excited about it, during Covid, a lot of us musicians, we couldn’t tour, we couldn’t perform, so that felt really heavy.
“And then coming out of that, I had a baby, the year after, so it had been a while since I performed, and I felt like I just needed to get out there.
“I needed to feel connected to people again, I needed to feel just like myself again, like connected to my music again, and so I was able to put a tour together a couple of Christmases ago, and just felt overwhelmed by the response and the love from people, and I just wanted to do more.
“And I really put that show on because I felt like I wanted to just have a lot of light and love in what I was doing, and to create a space where people could come and feel connected, and where I could come and feel connected again.
“I guess the Vegas residency came at such a great time, because I was able to then take this show and then kind of continue it and grow it.”
Lewis says that when she saw the room she will perform in her first thought was “this is so special” describing the venue as “such a beautiful space and a special space”.
The London-born star’s 33-date residency, which she says she is “super excited” for will begin at Voltaire At The Venetian Resort in November, and run until January 2026.
The 40-year-old went on to say Las Vegas was “magic” to her, after she saw the “iconic and beautiful” Dion perform there in her 20s.
Lewis continues: “She was just pure magic, it was a culmination of all of her life’s work on that stage, and when you went and saw it, you felt the depth of that, and so I remember seeing that and just being blown away.
“So, yeah, I guess here I am, almost 20 years later, to get to have a stage there is wild for me, it’s also something that I feel very passionate about.
“I just want a beautiful show, this is my life’s work, it’s going to be my life’s work on the stage, and so that is very meaningful to me.
“So it’s, I think it’s going to be very special for people who come and see it. It’s also Christmas time, so it’s, you know, that warmth and that wonder.
“This world is feeling a bit crazy disconnected, there’s a lot going on, I just want to create a space that is very special, that is full of love, that is light, that people feel that we are all connected, like we’re not against each other.”
The career milestone comes after Lewis went through the “really proud moment” of being appointed an OBE, dedicating it to her grandparents.
She says: “I know how proud it would make her (Lewis’s grandmother), but also it’s like, kind of honouring my grandparents’ legacy.
“So my grandmother is an amazing Guyanese woman, and she came over during the Windrush when she was quite young with her husband, and they faced a lot here, they faced a lot of struggle, they faced a lot of hardship, racism, they went through a lot.
“But they still managed to raise their family, and give us a lot of love and a lot of care, and I just feel like this country turning around and honouring their granddaughter is such an honour to their legacy and to them really, because I’m a product of them and their resilience, and their strength.”
She adds that the OBE is “very deeply meaningful to me”, and adds of the ceremony: “It was a really special day, my parents came with me and my husband, and it just felt like such an achievement.
“I just felt my grandmother with me throughout the whole thing, like she was there with me, it was really beautiful.”
Lewis is best known for her second single Bleeding Love, which went to number one on the UK singles chart after her debut single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson’s A Moment Like This, also reached the summit, and her Christmas song One More Sleep is one of the most played festive numbers of the 21st century.
She now has plans for her sixth album, which is inspired by her experiences as a mother.
The singer says: “It’s just taken over my whole life, honestly, becoming a mum is wild in all the ways, like you literally say goodbye to the person you were, and a new person is birthed.
“Obviously you’re still who you were, but there’s a whole new element of things, there’s a whole depth of love that I have never experienced before having a child, that I’m tapping into.
“So I have a lot to pull from writing wise, and I have (turned) 40 this year, so there’s just a lot that I have to say, and it’s been a minute since I’ve been in the studio for my own personal project, so it’s felt really good to get back in and just start writing again, and kind of seeing where I want to go.
Lewis adds her new record is “not a new chapter, it’s literally a new book”.
Tickets for Lewis’s A Starry Night residency are on sale now from the Voltaire’s website.
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