Lionheart

Lionheart is the sophomore studio album by urban/soul singer and rapper L.E.X. It was released in the UK on September 24th, 2012, more than two years after the release of his debut album "The Perfect Storm", while America received the album on the 25th. The album's lead single, "Lzherusskie", was released on September 24th to coincide with the album. "Lionheart" received simultaneous release in the US, UK and Russia. The album was recorded in both English and Russian language versions. It debuted at #1 in the UK, the US and Russia, a massive leap forward from the international success of his debut album.

Background & Recording
Lionell took the time to recuperate and gather his thoughts following his plane crash and subsequent recovery in August 2011; he funneled his life experience into the material he wrote for the album, which he'd titled "Lionheart" early on in the development process. Lionell dug deep into his personal issues and demons while writing the album, ranging from his drug abuse in his teens, to his struggles with his Christian faith and his various industry relationships. Early sessions with The Feisty Brothers (whom Lionell had previous worked with on "The Boss" EP with Paulo Araujo) were scrapped after they proved unfruitful, and travels around the world failed to inspire Lionell's creativity as originally desired. With success and acclaim under his belt, Lionell found it much easier getting in touch with producers and making arrangements to work on the album. Lionell steered the album in a much more rap-oriented direction compared to his debut album, which was heavier on melodic vocals and Lionell's singing voice. This was the direction Lionell was originally going to take with "The Perfect Storm" back in 2010, and being more comfortable in his role as a hitmaker Lionell was ready to increase his profile as a rapper.

Lionell constantly travelled back and forth between the US, Russia and the UK working on tracks for the album, which he was recording in both English and Russian in order to release it simultaneously in English and Russian-language markets. Lionell's list of producers was long, meeting again with some producers he'd previously worked with on "The Perfect Storm", but for the most part Lionell was visiting with producers he had not previously worked with. Lionell even took the helm on production duties, handling the production for piano-based songs "Finding God", title track "Lionheart", and the deeply personal "Anatoly", which Lionell had written about his then-unborn son with his wife Svetlana Alexandrova. Lionell also brought in a number of other artists to make guest appearances on tracks for the album. When Lionell's previous record label Alias folded, the label's roster took part in a merger with Fusion Records. Lionell was previously only signed to a one-album deal with Alias, and upon completion of his contract chose not to re-sign with Fusion, instead signing with Blacklight Records for the release of his new material.

Collaborations
A number of high-profile urban guest stars were featured on tracks for Lionell's album. Opening track "Runnin' Dis" features singer/rapper Coral Harris, who trades vocals with Lionell on the song and has her own rapped verse on the song. It is heavily rumoured to be the follow-up single to "Lzherusskie". Moodring solo breakout L'mondrea Brown is featured on the hook of "God's Not Home", and also has a featured rap verse. The song is about two Christians giving into temptation and sleeping together; it is purely hypothetical, as Lionell has had sex out of wedlock previously, and L'mondrea is a virgin by choice. Lionell's friend, urban/soul singer Jackson Bradshaw features on the song "Queen Of Ice", which is a generalised dig at the collaborators' ex-girlfriends (Just Ginger for Lionell, Ruby Stephingham for Jackson). Aurora Reed is featured on the album version of the song "Ginger Snaps", which first appeared as a solo version on Lionell's mixtape in demo form. The album version features extensive vocal samples of Aurora's song "Ton Of Thunder", which can be found on her debut album "Thoughts To Word".

Controversially, Lionell's arch-enemy Kirby L. Avalon recorded a song with Lionell for the album, due to an underhanded scheme masterminded by Blacklight label boss Jean-Luc Bareilles. Lionell was asked to write a song for a fellow artist looking to make a comeback, but he was not told who the song was for. Lionell wrote the song "Black A Bitch Out" and recorded a demo which he turned in to Jean-Luc, who then brought in a session singer to re-record the vocals on Lionell's demo so that Kirby did not know who wrote the song when he received it. Kirby then worked on the song with Major Lazer, which Jean-Luc then took and secretly added Lionell's vocals to the mix, turning the song into a duet. Lionell was furious upon learning of the deceit, but was blackmailed by Jean-Luc into including it on the album. Following Kirby's death the song was not cancelled and was still included on the album.

Tracklisting
All songs written by Lionell Bennett, except for track 10 which was co-written with Aurora Reed. ==Chart Performance== "Lionheart" became Lionell's first UK chart-topping album upon release, with over 104k copies sold; nearly twice the sales of that week's #2. It held at #1 for two consecutive weeks on the UK chart. The album was also a #1 hit in Russia, his second foreign-language hit, and reached #1 in the United States as well. This makes "Lionheart" a much bigger international success for Lionell compared to 2010's "The Perfect Storm".

Chart Run
TOTAL: 211,041+
 * Week 1: #1 – 104,339
 * Week 2: #1 – 62,498
 * Week 3: #5 – 44,204