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Tulisa

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Tulisa

Tula Paulinea 'Tulisa' Contostavlos (born July 13, 1988) is a British singer-songwriter and actress, better known by her stage name Tulisa. She is best known for being a member of the Camden-based R&B trio N-Dubz, with her cousin Dino "Dappy" Contostavlos and their friend Richard "Fazer" Rawson. Tulisa was born on 13 July 1988, in Camden Town, North London to Ann Byrne (who was formerly a member of 80's band Jeep, with her three sisters, before Tulisa was born)[1] and Steve (Platon) Contostavlos (also part of Mungo Jerry). Tulisa was an only child and lived with her parents near to the other N-Dubz members Dappy and Fazer. Her parents separated when she was nine years old. She became a carer for her mother who was diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder when Tulisa was a baby. She grew up caring for her mother.[2] Tulisa had an upbringing living in a typically bad council estate and experienced a lot as a teenager: violence, depression, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, Anorexia Nervosa, mental health issues, financial difficulties and bullying.[3] She started her secondary education at La Sainte Union Catholic Secondary School for girls, but at thirteen she was withdrawn[citation needed] and "on the edge of suicide".[4] She revealed that she twice tried to kill herself as a teenager and also used to self-harm to try and help her cope with everything she was going through.[3] With support from her uncle and N-Dubz's former manager Byron Contostavlos she then tried to put her life back on track and at fourteen years old enrolled in the same school as Dappy and Fazer, Haverstock Secondary School, which they had been attending since they were twelve, later going to Quintin Kynaston School in Westminster. She described her school experience on Twitter as, "really hard, but I'm not sad about my life. Everything happens for a reason and I wouldn't take back one bad thing, because it's made me who I am and look at me now, how could I complain?"[5]

She acknowledges the dangers teenagers face in relation to weapons, growing up on depressed council estates in Britain, saying: "I'm lucky, I never had a knife pulled on me. But now it gets more dangerous every day as kids are carrying weapons".[6]

On May 29th 2011, Tulisa was confirmed as a judge for the eighth series of The X Factor UK, joining Louis Walsh and Gary Barlow on the panel.[7]

N-Dubz

Main article: N-Dubz

Contostavlos first set out as a solo performer when she was a young girl, however Dappy and Fazer, who had already started rapping together, decided they wanted a female voice in the group, which was called the Lickle Rinsers Crew at the time, and so invited Tulisa to be part of the group. They started performing together as a group around Camden from as young as twelve years old. For N-Dubz's second album, she did a solo song called "Comfortable" which sparked rumours that she was to leave the group and go solo however when asked by girls magazine Sugar she said "One day we'll all definitely go solo. I'd like to bring out an album and so would the lads. But we'd always be involved in other people's stuff. I'd want Fazer to produce it and Dappy to co-write with me".

She states her favourite part of being in a group is performing live:

"I like festivals because I find them a challenge. You've got thousands of people there and they're not all there to see you. It's about winning the people over who are there to see a different act and making them walk away saying, 'I went there to see so and so, but you know what, I really loved the N-Dubz performance."

On 29 October 2009, Tulisa co-presented BBC Radio 1Xtra with bandmate Fazer to sit in for DJ Semtex, where they gave an exclusive snippet of the song "Na Na" off their new album, Against All Odds, and they also played the album intro. On 10 January 2010, Tulisa joined Nick Grimshaw as a presenter for BBC Switch on Radio 1.

Illness

During a performance, Tulisa fainted on stage. Multiple news sources have reported that it was due to suspected swine flu.[8][9][10] Jonathan Shalit, the band's manager, stated that Tulisa "was taken ill on the flight out to Greece on Thursday" and that "her bandmates are all very worried about her". The group were due to perform at Radio 1's Big Weekend on 10 May 2009, but their participation was placed in doubt while Tulisa was hospitalised.[11] It was later confirmed that Tulisa had tested negative for swine flu and it had just been a bad case of exhaustion and the group did perform.[12][13]

Acting career

Tulisa played the role of Laurissa (a cocaine addict who is in pop group The Fam and gets abused by her manager and boyfriend 'Prangers', played by Ricci Harnett) in the TV series Dubplate Drama. Her bandmates also appeared in the show as different characters. She'll be playing herself in the upcoming film, Bulla,[14] and is to make her big screen debut in a gritty new film drama about teen suicide called Suicide Kids.[15]

Filmography

  • 2007 - 2009: Dubplate Drama (Laurissa)
  • 2011: Bulla (Shanikwa or Herself)
  • 2011: Suicide Kids (Amber)

Personal life

In 2009, Contostavlos turned down a £250,000 offer to pose nude for playboy magazine on moral grounds.[16] She was also named at number 15 in FHM's '100 Sexiest Women in the World list' in the May 2010 issue, but has stated several times she will never strip for photos due to her moral beliefs.[17] . Contostavlos was in an on/off relationship with DJ Adam Bailey who she was reported to be engaged to in early 2009, but she finished with him when he was accused of GBH.[18] She gave evidence in Bailey's trial and in December 2009 Bailey was cleared of involvement in the attack.[19][20]

In 2010, Contostavlos was on a BBC programme called Tulisa: My Mum And Me describing her life before N-Dubz looking after her mother.[21]

In late 2010- after her relationship with Bailey had ended- Tulisa told Britain's News Of The World newspaper:

"I don't want a man, I HATE men. I actually want a girl. I wish I was gay. I'm thinking of seeing a hypnotist to see if they can get me to be attracted to women. Women treat people so much better in a relationship. They don't have a d*** to think for them. [22]"

A few days later, the video for the N-Dubz single Girls premiered and, just before the two minute mark, Tulisa is shown beginning to make out with a girl. She revealed that the kiss was not planned- instead it was "fun and spontaneous."

References

  1. ^ "Three Programmes - Tulisa: My Mum and Me". BBC. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  2. ^ Sloan, Jenna (2009-04-27). "The family tragedies behind brNDubz". The Sun. London.
  3. ^ a b Thursday, March 25, 2010, 10:45 GMT (2010-03-25). "Showbiz - News - N-Dubz's Tulisa: "I attempted suicide"". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2010-09-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Wootton, Dan (2009-11-22). "BULLIES DROVE ME TO THE EDGE OF SUICIDE | N-Dubz Tulisa was violently bullied for years". News Of The World. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  5. ^ "When you talk too much for Twitter". TwitLonger. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  6. ^ Sloan, Jenna (2009-04-28). "The family tragedies behind N-Dubz, Britain's No1 band | The Sun |Showbiz|Music". London: The Sun. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  7. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s103/the-x-factor/news/a322105/n-dubz-tulisa-confirmed-as-x-factor-judge.html
  8. ^ Rogers, Jess (2009-05-02). "N-Dubz star Tulisa Contostavlos ‘has swine flu’". London: The Sun. Retrieved 2010-09-23. {{cite news}}: C1 control character in |title= at position 33 (help)
  9. ^ "N-Dubz singer tested for swine flu". Nme.Com. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  10. ^ Is this the first celebrity swine flu victim? Chart-topping N-Dubz singer Tulisa in isolation ward with suspected case - Mail Online
  11. ^ "The Prodigy to headline Radio 1 Big Weekend | News". Nme.Com. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  12. ^ "retrieved 10-05-2009". Nme.com. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  13. ^ "N-Dubz star safe from swine flu". BBC News. 6 May 2009.
  14. ^ Bulla at Internet Movie Database
  15. ^ N-Dubz's Tulisa lands film debut in Suicide Kids metro.co.uk. Retrieved: 10 November 2010.
  16. ^ http://movies.indiainfo.com/2009/08/04/0908041206_n-dubz_front-girl.html
  17. ^ "N-Dubz star Tulisa refuses to pose in her pants but sizzles in tight black dress | The Sun |Showbiz|Bizarre". London: The Sun. 2010-05-01. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  18. ^ Dino, Nicole. "TULISA has confirmed her engagement is OFF". News Of The World. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  19. ^ Sullivan, Mike (2009-12-07). "N-Dubz star Tula Contostavlos feared being shot during confrontation with gang, court told | The Sun |News". London: The Sun. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  20. ^ "Bailey: singer's ex cleared of revenge attack". 2009-12-07. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  21. ^ August 10, 2010 (2010-08-10). "Tulisa – My Mum & Me Review: I Need You". Channelhopping.onthebox.com. Retrieved 2010-09-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/notw/nol_showbiz/nolcelebrity_xs/1176406/N-Dubz-singer-goes-gay.html

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