That's why, your never gunna see me cry 'cause I'm no longer in that shit, bitch I am the shit That's why I live for the mother fucking moment.
Early Life.
Tulisa Contostavlos was born 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)and Steve (Plato) Contostavlos (also part of Mungo Jerry). Contostavlos is 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. Tulisa Contostavlos said she was brought up 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. However, her father said she had a pampered upbringing in a spacious £500,000 apartment in Belsize Park and had regular vacations to Greece with her wealthy relatives who had a nine-bedroom villa. She started her secondary education at La Sainte Union Catholic Secondary School for girls, but at thirteen she was withdrawn and “on the edge of suicide”. 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.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 complain?”
NDubz
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 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.”
X Factor
On 30 May 2011, Contostavlos was officially confirmed as a judge for the eighth series of The X Factor, alongside Louis Walsh, Kelly Rowland and Gary Barlow.The first public auditions began on 1 June 2011, with the new judging panel being sighted together for the first time. Fazer of N-Dubz later confirmed that he and Dappy would join Tulisa at the judge’s houses. Fazer then went onto say that N-Dubz would be releasing a new song in November and that they would perform it on The X Factor.
Personal Life
In 2009, Contostavlos turned down a £250,000 offer to pose naked for playboy magazine on moral grounds.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.
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.She gave evidence in Bailey’s trial and in December 2009 Bailey was cleared of involvement in the attack.
In 2010, Contostavlos was on a BBC programme called Tulisa: My Mum And Me describing her life before N-Dubz looking after her mother.
In July 2010, after her relationship with Bailey had ended, Tulisa told popdash.com:
“”I’ve decided I’m turning gay. I prefer feminine girls and I want a petite brunette.” owever, she later admitted on Twitter that, “Eerm that story doesn’t bother me at all I wish I was gay and I did say that, I’ve been sayin that for years!”
