Personnel: Leona Lewis (background vocals); Josh Alexander (guitar, keyboards, programming); Luke Potashnick, Espen Lind, Joe Friedman, John Parricelli, Tony Reyes (guitar); Amy Chang, William Pu, Olga Shpitko (violin); Karen Freer, Daniel Laufer (cello); Vincent Henry (flute, clarinet, saxophone); Bruce Purse (trumpet, bass trumpet, flugelhorn); Dave Arch (piano, organ); Salaam Remi (piano, drums); Fridrik Karlsson, Max Martin , Steve Robson (piano); Steve Mac (keyboards, synthesizer); Alonzo "Novel" Stevenson, Louis Biancaniello, Ryan Tedder, Wayne Wilkins, Walter Afanasieff (keyboards, programming); Karl Brazil, Steven Wolf (drums, percussion); Phillip Lowman, Ian Thomas , Neil Wilkinson , Chris Laws (drums); Tyler Gordon, Pascal Guyon (programming); Carmen Reece, Chris Ballin, Ravaughn Brown, Marvin Cotterell, Lauraine Bristol, Lincoln Jean-Marie, Ladonna Harley Peters, Vula Malinga, Alani Gibbon, Joy Malcolm, Monet, Tavia Ivey (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Chris Lord-Alge; Sam Watters; Manny Marroquin; Dave Pensado; Jordan Omley; Louis Biancaniello; Mick Guzauski; Mike Mani; Phil Tan; Ren Swan; Runaways UK; Serban Ghenea; Jeremy Wheatley; Wayne Wilkins; Carlton Lynn.
Audio Remixer: Jason Nevins .
Recording information: Air Studios, London, England; Angel Studios, Islington, London, England; Atlantis Studios, Stockholm, Sweden; Battery Studios, New York, NY; Chalice Recording Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Conway Recording Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Cryptic Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Darp Studios, Atlanta, GA; Doppler Studios, Atlanta, GA; Dr. Luke's, New York, NY; EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England; Encore, Burbank, CA; Henson Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA; Homesite 13 Studio, Novato, CA; Instrumental Zoo, Miami, FL; Mansfield Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Oceanway, Hollywood, CA; Opra Music, Hollywood, CA; Quad Recording Studios, New York, NY; Record Plant, Hollywood, CA; Rokstone Studios, London, England; Sarm West, London, England; Sphere Studios, London, England; Studio-Atlantis, Hollywood, CA; The Carrington House, Atlanta, GA; The Jam Studios, Burbank, CA; The Village Recorders, Los Angeles, CA; WallyWorld Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Westlake Audio, Hollywood, CA.
Editor: Chris Laws.
Arrangers: J.R. Rotem ; Ryan Tedder; Steve Mac ; Walter Afanasieff.
The U.S. deluxe reissue of Leona Lewis' debut, Spirit (there are also U.K. and European deluxe editions offering essentially the same thing), is a two-disc set containing a CD and DVD. The CD expands the U.S. edition of Spirit by four songs: the nicely laid-back acoustic soul of "Myself," a duet with Novel that is less produced and less mannered than much of Spirit and not to mention more enjoyable; a cover of Snow Patrol's "Run" that shows the distance between adult contemporary and adult alternative to be not all that great; "Forgiveness," a Kara DioGuardi co-written piece of showboating retro-soul that again is more distinctive than some of the songs on the proper album; and, finally, a tacky Jason Nevins remix of "Bleeding Love." With the exception of the remix, all of these songs are less fussy than Spirit itself and wind up improving the album, even if it didn't need to be any longer. The second disc is a DVD that rounds up all the music videos from the album, which may or may not be enough of an enticement for hardcore fans to pick this up. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine