Tulisa is a British singer/songwriter who gained prominence as a member of Camden Town, London based trio hip hop group N-Dubz alongside her cousin Costadinos Contostavlos who goes by the stage name Dappy and his friend Richard Rawson (‘Fazer’). The group received wide critical acclaim and earned eight Top 40 hits in the singles charts before taking a hiatus in 2011 to focus on their individual solo careers and never regrouped.
What happened to Talisa after N-Dubz break-up and how has she fared in her solo career are some of the questions people have been asking about the British musician. Here is all you need to know about the singing sensation.
Brief Bio
Tulisa was born in Camden Town, London on the 18th of July 1988 to a mother who was a member of the 1980s band – Jeep alongside three of her sisters. When Talisa was just five years old, her mother was sectioned under the Mental Health Act because she suffered from both bipolar and schizoaffective disorders. She was then under the care of her uncle – Byron Contostavlos. At the age of fourteen, he enrolled her at Quintin Kynaston School in St John’s Wood, she, however, sat for her GCSE examinations at Haverstock Secondary School, Haverstock, London.
Cousin – Dappy and Ndubz Split
Tulisa joined N-Dubz in 2000. The group was formed by her cousin Dappy and Fazer who were already rapping together as a group before they decided they wanted a female voice in the group, thus they got Tulisa involved. The group went by the name Lickle Rinsers Crew at the time before changing to N-Dubz and they began performing in their hometown of Camden; soon their fame spread even beyond the town.
“You Better Not Waste My Time” was their first single to be released and was made available for download until they dropped their self-released single “I Swear” in 2006. The single earned them their first mainstream notice. In 2007, N Dubz dropped another single “Feva Las Vegas” which appeared on the UK charts, peaking at No. 57.
In May 2008, they dropped their fourth single “Ouch” accompanied by a music video which attracted over 4 million views on YouTube in just a month after its release. By November of the same year, the group dropped its first album Uncle B under the All Around the World records. The album was dedicated to Dappy’s father Byron Contostavlos, who was the group’s manager but died just before the group signed on to their new record label – All Around the World records. The album made it to the UK Albums Chart peaking at number eleven.
Their second album Against All Odds was released in November 2009 and also made it to the UK Albums Chart at number 6. In 2010, they signed to US Record label Def Jam and dropped their third studio album Love.Live.Life under the label. The album became their third platinum-selling album.
In 2011, the group left the record label Def Jam and went on a hiatus to focus on their individual solo careers and never regrouped. Tulisa took up a role as a judge on the eighth edition of The X Factor while her cousin Dappy released his solo single “No Regrets.”
As a part of the group, Tulisa earned five MOBO Awards, a BRIT Award nomination, two Urban Music Awards nominations two platinum-certified albums, one gold-certified album, three silver certified singles, etc.
After the group went their separate ways, Talisa moved on with her life and career. As mentioned above, she was among the judges on the eighth and ninth series of The X Factor. She led the Groups category and her winning act Little Mix become the most successful girl group in the history of the X Factor. The following year, she dropped her first single “Young” which became number one on the UK Singles Chart.
She later dropped two other singles “Live It Up” and “Sight Of You” which both made it to the top twenty list in the UK. In November of the same year, she dropped her debut solo album “The Female Boss” which made it to the UK Albums Chart at number thirty-five. Tulisa has also tried her hands on acting; in 2011 she starred in two British movies; a horror film Demons Never Die and a comedy Big Fat Gypsy Gangster.
Net Worth
The English singer/songwriter currently has an estimated net worth of $4 million; which are earnings from her hard work as a singer, actress, and TV personality.
Other Facts About Tulisa
In 2012, a six minutes sex tape showing the singer and her former lover Justin Edwards hit the internet. Tulisa was however granted a legal injunction which blocked the tape from further circulation. She took legal actions against Edwards for releasing the tape; his manager Chris Herbert was suspended as a consultant on X-Factor.
Tulisa is a practicing Roman Catholic despite being baptized in her father’s Greek Orthodox faith.
In 2013, she was arrested on suspicion of supplying class A drugs, she denied the allegation and the case was later dismissed as the judge had reasons to believe that the prosecution witness Mazher Mahmood had lied to the court.
