Tulisa - The Biography

by Newkey-Burden, Chas

  One of the album’s other major message-based songs is ‘No One Knows’, which they wrote with Take That’s Gary Barlow. It proved to be very timely, covering as it does the financial difficulties which were just beginning in the world and which have – to date – plagued it ever since. It preaches a message of unity in the face of the crisis. It also tells the young that everything they need is closer to them than it seems. Again, the band that has been widely vilified was preaching useful and positive messages to their impressionable and often generally disillusioned fan base. As Fazer commented, it was about fighting through the problems as a team.

  The next song in the track listing is ‘Number One’. It features Tinchy Stryder, and made history when released as a single – it was the first song called ‘Number One’ to reach that position in the UK singles chart. The song is about the fact that love is sometimes unfathomable. It is surprisingly touching for an N-Dubz effort. The BBC website commented that the song had ‘Nice lyrics about feelings taking you over when you least expect them to. We’ve all been there, right?’ So emotional is the song it could almost spark a tear from the listener. Is that the sound of N-Dubz going all sweet and sensitive on us? It sure is, and the sweetness is not over. In fact the next track is another sensitive affair – and features Tulisa alone on the vocals. In ‘Comfortable’, she wonders whether what she is feeling is love, or whether she is just comfortable. She worries that if they split she will lose her best friend in the world. It is a song of emotional intensity and one that showcases Tulisa’s abilities well. In taking the vocals alone she opened a path for herself to consider a solo career.

  For the remainder of the album sensitivity is in short supply, as we return to the sorts of themes more generally more associated with the band. ‘Let Me Be’ features Greek vocals, in a nod to the roots of two of the band members. Then Dappy concludes that the reason some women like him is that they have seen him on TV and assume he is richer than he is. Tulisa surfaces briefly to sing about needing space, in this somewhat low-key and muddled song. However, the song did reflect the band’s mixed feelings about fame. They at once enjoy it and also wish that, from time to time, people could let them be. The album then ends with an outro of ‘Against All Odds’, which is essentially the same as the intro that opens the album. There had been plans to name their debut album Against All Odds, but this was changed after the death of Uncle B.

  Could the band’s underdog-titled album take them beyond such status to a more mainstream position? The sales were encouraging from the start. Against All Odds sold 300,000 in its first four weeks on sales. It had taken Uncle B five months to reach the same benchmark. They could also measure their progress in the media attention the album received. Where their debut had been ignored by the majority of the mainstream media’s critics – and damned by many of those who did pen reviews of it – Against All Odds received far wider and more positive coverage. Well, it certainly divided the critics. A spectacularly negative review on the Irish show business website Entertainment.ie moaned: ‘The problem is that their brand of music is such lowest-common-denominator stuff that it manages to offend even those that it’s aimed at through its sheer awfulness.’ The reviewer, Lauren Murphy, soon turned to Tulisa’s song. ‘Even the one Tulisa-led song – “Comfortable” – makes the mistake of using “dual carriageway”, a phrase that not even Maria Callas herself could have made sound beautiful.’

  Will Dean, in the Guardian, was more positive: ‘While it’s hardly exploding with originality, and the various references to Facebook and how many records they’ve sold do grate, this is a record brimming with vitality and chutzpah.’ He gave the album three out of five stars.

  The BBC website described Against All Odds as: ‘An honest, authentic audio document of contemporary teenage Britain.’ The reviewer Mike Diver showed he had captured a dimension of their music that had eluded some other critics when he concluded: ‘All should be thankful it’s almost exclusively positive of message – if you can dream it, you could well achieve it.’ David Balls of Digital Spy also sang the album’s praises, while dividing those who would or would not appreciate the new collection of songs. He wrote: ‘Snottier listeners won’t be convinced … but many, many others will enjoy Against All Odds, a strong, cohesive collection that places N-Dubz at the forefront of British pop. A position, you suspect, they’ll be taking up with relish.’ Balls also singled out Tulisa’s own song. He felt, like many listeners, that it made for a welcome break from the brassiness of the remainder of the band’s second album. ‘At times, Against All Odds can come off a little too cocksure, but Tulisa goes some way to redressing the balance on solo showcase “Comfortable”, a heartfelt love song that provides a welcome break from all the bravado.’ Like Balls, the website AllMusic’s Jon O’Brien cast the band’s doubters as out of touch with the younger generation. He concluded his own review of the album: ‘Even though it’s likely to alienate anyone who was born before the Phil Collins song of the same name, it’s still a vibrant and hook-laden follow-up which is destined to be this year’s back-of-the-school-bus soundtrack.’

  As well as reviews, there had been a flurry of general news and gossip stories surrounding the release. It had been said that the band was going to record a song for the album with none other than Kylie Minogue. She was said to have approached them with the idea after hearing their debut album. ‘Kylie really wants to surprise people. She is a big fan of what N-Dubz have been doing,’ a source told the Sun. When an ITN journalist asked the band whether the rumour was true, Dappy almost walked away from the interview. ‘We’re getting asked this all the time,’ he complained. However, it was a successful enough album without the queen of pop’s involvement. Within a year they would add a third album to the shelves. In the meantime, they embarked on another tour. Although it was ostensibly to promote the album, they actually themed the tour more around Christmas. They visited 10 cities during the tour, which they budgeted themselves. They spent £100,000 on it and made back three times that. Smart business – they should try entering The Celebrity Apprentice. Dappy had, touchingly, spent much of the free time on the tour borrowing phones from people so he could call home and check on the wellbeing of his baby.

  Tulisa’s dedicated, workaholic tendencies had come to the fore again as they made the album and toured. She was determined to give it her all. Working night and day, resting fitfully at strange hours – the process quickly took a toll on her young body. She was not always eating perfectly and was not even taking vitamins or other health supplements to give her system a boost. With a 23-date live tour in front of thousands of fans, she became even more rundown and vulnerable. Soon, she became so exhausted that she decided to fly to Athens for a much needed rest. During the flight, she fainted. She received immediate medical attention and as soon as the plane landed in Greece she was taken to hospital amid fears that she had come down with swine flu, which was then spreading around the world. As she was examined by doctors in Pendeli, Jonathan Shalit told the Press Association Tulisa’s band mates were ‘all very worried about her’. He said that he had ‘no idea how she got ill’ but ‘the nature of being a singer is that you meet and shake hands with a huge amount of people’.

  The media had already become obsessed with the swine flu epidemic. With the opportunity to attempt a connection between the bug and the world of entertainment, little restraint was shown. IS THIS THE FIRST CELEBRITY SWINE FLU VICTIM? ran the headline in the Daily Mail. ‘Chart-topping N-Dubz singer Tulisa in isolation ward with suspected case.’ Within days she was given the all-clear on swine flu, and went to stay with her aunt in Greece. Despite not having swine flu, she was still very ill and weak. ‘Hopefully she’ll get better and be able to fly back towards the end of the week, but we don’t know if she will be well enough,’ her spokesman said. After she had recovered and flown home, she tried to laugh the entire episode off. ‘At the end of the day it was just flu,’ she wrote in Against All Odds. ‘It wasn’t swine flu! Thank you very m
uch!’ The scare story had guaranteed extra coverage for Tulisa and the band but she was uncomfortable with the hype that it generated.

  Ironically, the following year X Factor judge Cheryl Cole – who Tulisa would in due course effectively replace on the talent show – would have a health scare of her own, which would be played out in front of television viewers on primetime Saturday evening television. She was filmed collapsing backstage during X Factor auditions and then disappeared from the public eye amid reports she was suffering from malaria.

  There was yet more controversy in Tulisa’s midst when her house was broken into by a serial crook in the summer. She was reportedly fuming with both her manager Shalit and Channel 4 after her £550,000 Watford property was featured on-screen during Being N-Dubz, despite her request that its location be concealed. Within days of the relevant episode being broadcast the break-in occurred. A Channel 4 spokesman defended the documentary makers, saying: ‘It was a brief shot of the exterior, approved by N-Dubz management.’ According to one report in the Sun, Tulisa had been left wondering whether she would now need to move house. Anthony Smith, 22, admitted breaking into her pad after a boozing and pill-popping session. Following his arrest, she responded in celebratory mood on her Twitter page. ‘Ha ha they got the b*****d that did it! Calma is a bitch! All good I’m excited about buying my new apartment now! Life works in funny ways.’ A series of blunders by Smith had made it simple for the police to catch him. He cut himself while entering Tulisa’s home and left both blood and fingerprints everywhere. Her 60-inch plasma screen TV, for instance, was riddled with evidence. Although she was delighted to have learned that police had caught the burglar, she remained angry and shaken at the intrusion into her personal space.

  What a different mood she had been in as she had celebrated her birthday just weeks before the break-in. As she turned 23 she sank plenty of champagne and then danced into the night at Ibiza’s Pacha nightclub. One report claimed she was still partying at 7am – with her thong tied in her hair. Such wild behaviour earned her the approval of the Sun’s Gordon Smart, who announced he was considering her for his much discussed Caner Of The Year award for 2010. Her wild ways continued throughout the summer, with reports in the British tabloids that she was enjoying a rock’n’roll lifestyle as the band travelled America. Also while out in the United States, she had another tattoo done – this time she had the word Dappy inked on to her neck.

  Meanwhile, there had been further singles released by N-Dubz. Their performance in the charts showed that Tulisa’s band was gaining more and more fans. ‘I Need You’ reached No 5 in the UK charts, and ‘Playing With Fire’ got to No 14 (and UK No 3 in the R&B charts). The two singles they had released prior to those tracks had reached No 24 and No 64 – so the band was clearly on the up. Indeed, ‘Playing With Fire’ had reached No 15 on the strength of downloads alone, ahead of the physical release. The fabled kids at the back of the bus were busy downloading N-Dubz material. A further tour was embarked upon in the spring of 2010. They played 17 sell-out shows.

  An insight into life on the road for the band was provided in their book Against All Odds. As ‘the only chick’ Tulisa admitted that life on the road was often far from fun for her. For that reason, she took to travelling separately from the boys. They took up residence in the tour bus for both travelling and – often – sleeping. However, she would follow in a car and would book hotels to sleep in. She had tried life on the tour bus but found it claustrophobic and motion sickness inducing. She described it as ‘a smelly box’ and in fairness one can only imagine the multitude of horrors produced by Dappy and co during long, boring times on motorways. She kept the boys at arm’s length on the occasions that they did book a hotel. ‘I make sure they’re put on a different floor from me because I need to be away from them or I won’t be getting any sleep.’ The male members accept – and even understand – her wish to avoid the tour bus. They know their behaviour would frustrate her. In turn, they get frustrated by how long it takes her to get ready. Dappy has complained how she would even arrive late for recording sessions ‘because she’s doing her hair or something pointless’.

  There are arguments within the band. All bands have them and with such feisty characters in N-Dubz, heated disagreements are inevitable. The rows they have are often about something Dappy or Fazer have done. ‘It’s very simple,’ wrote Tulisa. She went on to explain that she just considers herself to be more mature than them, which is hard to argue with, particularly in her comparison to Dappy. She criticised him for behaviour she feels is inappropriate, such as clearly phasing out during an important interview. She said that angry words will often be exchanged during such fallings-out, with Fazer occasionally taking her side. He often has to step in as the effective middleman between the two fiery cousins.

  Mostly, though, she has found it is her against both of them. ‘Our biggest issue and clash point is about the way we conduct ourselves,’ she wrote. ‘I like to be very professional whereas the boys don’t really give a damn what people think.’ She said she saw such an attitude as ‘bad manners’ and added that she did feel like ‘a stressed mum trying to control them’. Behind this was a concern for herself. She felt that their misconduct ‘rubs off’ on her and how she is perceived. Fazer has said that the two cousins were always rowing during the band’s active years due to her wish to be known as a ‘grown-up mature woman’ and Dappy’s equally strong desire to remind her where she came from. For each time that Tulisa tried to play the part of a sophisticated young lady, Dappy was there to try and bring her – as he saw it – down to earth. She would clash with Fazer, too. Indeed, he remembers times that she would physically threaten him, saying: ‘I’ll knock you out right now!’

  Tulisa’s band faced controversy galore when Dappy texted a death threat to a Radio One listener. While they were being interviewed in the studio on the Chris Moyles Show, listeners began to send text messages to the studio. One, sent by 22-year-old Chloe Moody, declared that the band were ‘losers’ and singled out Dappy as ‘vile’ and ‘a little boy with a silly hat’. Dappy noted down her number and tried to call her the following day. After she twice failed to pick up, he instead sent a fuming text message. It read: ‘Your gonna die, U sent a very bad msg towards N Dubz on The Chris Moyels show yesterday Morning and for that reason u will never be left alone!! If u say sorry I will leave u alone u ****.’ When the puzzled Moody texted back to ask who was sending the message, he replied: ‘Pick up the phone then u f****** Chicken’. A further text he sent read: ‘u dum f****** ****head u can call me names over the radio but when I call u direct u chicken out u punk!nana f****** niiiii, Dappy.’

  Moody was outraged, and told the Sun: ‘It’s terrifying when anybody sends you a death threat, whether it’s real or not. Somebody of a fragile mind and nervous would be worrying what they were going to do. His behaviour is unprofessional. I’m considering going to the police.’ She added: ‘When you put yourself in the public eye you need to be able to handle criticism. I also feel let down by Radio One.’ Her case against Radio One was tight – the station should not have allowed Dappy to see her number. Dappy apologised to both Moody and Radio One.

  This controversy played out just months after Dappy had again embarrassed Tulisa’s band when it first emerged that he had a conviction for assault after spitting in a girl’s face. After a night drinking with a female fan he returned with her to her home in Chelmsford, Essex. There, he got into a row with two women, who called the police and Dappy was eventually to plead guilty to two counts of assault and received four weeks in jail, suspended for 12 months, and 100 hours’ community service, to run concurrently, plus £50 compensation and £300 costs. At first the conviction was kept quiet. It was an embarrassing day for Tulisa when news of the incident reached the media. His subsequent behaviour following the Chris Moyles Show incident only made the discomfort more profound.

  ****

  In June 2010, Tulisa was brought to the attention of a host of new people when
she was featured on the Channel 4 series Being… N-Dubz. It was knowingly and huskily narrated by Loose Women favourite Lynda Bellingham. In the opening episode she introduced the band as ‘a dynamite trio’. Tulisa and her band-mates wore ‘head cams’, which meant that the viewers could see life through their eyes. Dappy explained that while it took him and Fazer just five minutes to get ready in the morning, Tulisa took over two hours to handle ‘the feminine side of things’. Meanwhile, the lady herself was shown being pampered at a flash hairdressing salon. She reflected that the ‘stuff’ she had to ‘put up with’ from her male band-mates is ‘un-believable’. The show portrayed a deliberate contrast between her and the men of N-Dubz: while they take the tube to the studio, she is shown rolling-up in a flash, convertible car. ‘Oh you donut – you diva,’ shouts a mock-disgusted Dappy. She turned up two hours late to the Soccer Six celebrity football charity tournament, underscoring the ‘diva’ image the show was keen to promote.

  When a pitch scrap broke out between Dappy, Fazer and rival rapper Lethal Bizzle, a breathless Tulisa was quick to weigh in. Addressing Lethal Bizzle’s allegation that N-Dubz had stolen a song of his, she said: ‘Let me pay a grand out of my pocket for a lie-detector test, bruv,’ she said. ‘But he don’t wanna do it, why? Because he knows I’m telling the truth. Big-up N-Dubz!’ Back in the football action she was the hero for her side when she scored the penalty that won her team the tournament. She celebrated with glee, parading the trophy, while an onlooking Dappy observed: ‘Tulisa didn’t do that bad after all!’ While the insights into the band’s day-to-day life were entertaining, in truth it was Dappy who stole the show throughout the series. He has a way with random wisecracks that play well in this format, though he – and the band and show in general – were not to everyone’s taste. TV reviewer Keith Watson wrote in Metro: ‘If you’d dropped in unannounced on Being… N-Dubz, you’d have sworn it was some kind of lame, MTV-style spoof … Being… N-Dubz was way funnier than any spoof because it was real. Well, as real as any show could hope to be that features cartoon characters called Dappy, Tulisa and Fazer.’