Leona Lewis has been telling a tale of woe...
About the life of guns and knife-crime that surrounded her.
She has had her own heartache.
But it's exactly this that's kept her out of trouble...
Leona told Cosmopolitan: "Most of my friends have been shot, stabbed or beaten up.
"Not so much the girls but the guys. There was 17-year-old boy shot dead before Christmas in my area.
"All my friends have been in trouble. It's part of being young in London."
Leona grew-up in Hackney in the East End.
She added: "I always had a goal, which kept me off the streets. I didn't get involved in trouble because I was so focused on singing.
"My parents had rules, like when it was dark they wanted me home."
The girl's done good.
Social bookmarking allows you to save and categorise a personal collection of bookmarks and share them with others. This is different to using your own browser bookmarks which are available within your web browser.
Use the links on the left to share this page on the social bookmarking site of your choice.
Read more about social bookmarking at: Wikipedia - Social Bookmarking