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" Where did you grow up? East London. Were you a good student? I liked school. I got to go to a performing arts school, which was funded by the British Recording Industry, so I can really use what I learned there now. Did you have an after-school job? I worked at the Gap, I was a waitress at Pizza Hut, and I also worked as a receptionist. What was the worst popular trend when you were going to school? People used to wear these rubber bands in neon colors all the time. It was kind of weird! Do you have a quote in your high school yearbook? I guess it would have been &amp;quot;Always have fun, live each moment as if it&amp;#039;s your last, and do what you love.&amp;quot; What is the craziest thing you ever did to get a guy to notice you? I was quite shy \u2014 I still am \u2014 so I would have never done anything real crazy. I would have liked him from afar, I guess, and gotten one of my friends to tell him or something. Find out how Leona&amp;#039;s life has changed from then to now on the --&amp;amp;gt;.  What was your style when you were 17? What is it like now? I went through a phase where I was a bit grungy. I&amp;#039;d wear baggy trousers and stuff. Now it&amp;#039;s a bit more feminine and girly. What kind of clique were you in back then? Now? I used to hang around with all of the musicians. Our group was kind of always together. What were your hobbies back then? Now? I love horseback riding. I still do it. I&amp;#039;ve kind of stuck to the same things: swimming and riding horses. What rumors were people spreading about you then? Now? I don&amp;#039;t remember any rumors! Although there are some now. I heard today that Simon Cowell bought me a house! I wish! What nicknames did you have back then? Now? Back then it was Lulu, now it&amp;#039;s Lele. I don&amp;#039;t know why. Who was your best friend? Are they still your best friend now? I&amp;#039;ve got the same friends. My really close friends are people I knew back in the day. What did you do for fun? Now? Back then, I hung out around my friends&amp;#039; houses, and now I kind of go out more, to a club or something. But I still go around to my friends&amp;#039; houses, and we&amp;#039;ll go out to the cinema or something. What advice did your parents give you when you were 17? Now? My parents have always done what they&amp;#039;ve loved, and they&amp;#039;ve had many different careers. They always said to me, &amp;quot;Don&amp;#039;t limit yourself to one thing. Whatever you love, just go for it.&amp;quot; And I did just love singing. They tell me the same thing now. What did you worry about back then? Now? I left school when I was 18 to pursue a career in music. Because I left school, I worried if singing would actually work out, but now I&amp;#039;m glad I did that. It was the right choice for me. Now I don&amp;#039;t really worry about stuff; if it&amp;#039;s going to happen, it&amp;#039;s going to happen. What was your high school boyfriend like? What is your boyfriend like now? He&amp;#039;s been the same! I&amp;#039;ve known my boyfriend since I was 10. We grew up together and were good friends. We started dating when we were like 17.  Who was your idol back then? Now? That&amp;#039;s when I was discovering Eve Cassidy. I still love her.  Who were your celebrity crushes? Now? Definitely someone from a boy band! Or an actor or something, I guess. Now I like Ryan Philippe, he&amp;#039;s cute and a great actor. Leona Lewis is 21 years old. Her debut album,  Spirit, is out now! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/interviews/a1982/leona-lewis-wiw17-050508/>