Leona Lewis was born in the London Borough of Islington, to Aural Josiah "Joe" Lewis, a youth worker from Guyana of Black African descent and Maria Lewis, a British social worker of Welsh, Italian and Irish descent. Her parents enrolled her at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, and from there she attended the Italia Conti Academy and the BRIT School. It was here that she learned to play instruments such as the guitar and piano and began to write her own songs in the hope of becoming a singer-songwriter. She initially trained in opera, but changed direction, singing jazz and blues, eventually leading to popular music, citing Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Eva Cassidy as her main influences.