[Arneldo]

X FACTOR winner Leona Lewis has been promised worldwide superstardom by the music mogul behind Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys' careers.

After Saturday’s live final, Take That’s Gary Barlow called on Simon Cowell to “break the X Factor mould,” insisting Leona’s talent deserved more than “an album of ballad covers”.

Speaking at a press conference immediately after the show, Simon hit back, insisting industry bigwig Clive Davis has been enlisted to develop Leona’s career.

He said: “A lot’s been happening over the last few weeks. I’ve had a phone call from Clive Davis, who looks after Alicia Keys and Whitney Houston, and is one of our affiliates in America. He called me on Thursday and said, ‘Simon we’ve been watching Leona Lewis and win or lose, we’re in.’

“I take Gary’s words very seriously. I think we have a major, major worldwide star. We’re not going to make an album quickly, we’re going to make the best possible album. Obviously with Leona’s input to make the album she’s comfortable with.”

And Simon vowed to start work on Leona’s career immediately.

He added: “The work starts tomorrow morning on this young lady. We’ve got to do the job now.

“We’re going to try and make everyone who voted for her proud that we’ve found found a British girl who’s up there with the Mariah’s and the Whitney’s. We take this very, very seriously.”

The Sun

[MarkWaldorf]

I'm so proud of her.

[Chrizzle]

She deserves everything!

[Lil-Lindz]

She deserves it so much, I hope she becomes really successful

[GlitterEyes]

I just hope they do not push her too much to soon. She seems breakable and with a voice like hers it needs to be protected and not over used.