Tulisa - The Biography

by Newkey-Burden, Chas

  She had certainly endeared herself to Walsh. Their closeness was clear throughout the series and afterwards the Irishman spoke fondly of his fellow judge. His mixture of admiration and playful teasing suggested genuine warmth. ‘We 100 per cent have a genuine friendship,’ he said. He added that she is ‘rough around the edges’ and that was part of what he admired about her. ‘You go into her dressing room and they’re smoking and drinking.’ He also said that her unpredictable nature was what he loved. ‘She can be a bit of a loose cannon, but she cares,’ he said. ‘I love her honesty. What you see is what you get.’ He added that he felt that Tulisa was the person involved with The X Factor that he felt he knew and understood best. That said, he said that sometimes she could be a know-it-all. Amusingly, he claimed ignorance of her band and indeed her career prior to X Factor. ‘She talks about the N-Dubz like they’re The Beatles but I didn’t know who they were before the show,’ said Walsh. ‘I didn’t know who she was either! Not everyone loves the N-Dubz – they’re not the Black Eyed Peas. But I love her. And it’s not a put-on thing for the cameras. I just can’t do fake any more.’ Well, how brave of you, Louis.

  With Little Mix’s debut single, ‘Cannonball’, going straight to No 1 in the UK charts, it seemed that Tulisa’s first year as an X Factor judge was going to receive a fairytale ending. She said that for her, the chance to duet with Little Mix in the final had proved a vindicating climax to the experience. She had felt a suspicion from some over her qualification to judge a singing contest. However, she felt that her superb vocal performance in the duet with Little Mix, during which she outshone Barlow and Rowland’s equivalent duets, proved her worth. ‘Performing on the show was a big deal for me and I’m glad I nailed it,’ she said. ‘I felt like throughout the series I was continually having to prove myself as a judge. I had to justify why I was there in a way, even during the final. So actually being able to sing live with the girls in the final was a massive deal for me as well as them. People finally got to see that I wasn’t just some street rat girl from N-Dubz who didn’t have any talent. I got to show them what I was made of.’

  She reiterated her desire to return as a judge when she said: ‘I will be back if I’m asked but I haven’t heard anything either way yet. I’ve loved working with the panel. Gary very sweetly sent me a bunch of flowers as a congratulations message [after the final], which I thought was a very noble thing to do.’ The fact she had not been told whether she would be invited for the 2012 series was no surprise. Cowell and the X Factor producers like to keep their options open every year. They consider the fact that the judges are kept on tenterhooks keeps them fresh and keen. The uncertainty over the 2012 series went far beyond the question of Tulisa’s involvement. A number of options were being considered, including delaying the start of the new series until early 2013, to allow the show a time to rest and to permit the return of Simon Cowell, who would by then be free of X Factor USA commitments.

  However, Tulisa’s narratives rarely conclude smoothly and she was not entirely playing ball with the X Factor brand. She was seen as taking a swipe at Little Mix’s first single when she said: ‘If I’m being honest the debut single “Cannonball” is more of a formality for them. The real fun will begin when they get in the studio and find their identity.’ In fairness to Tulisa, the winners’ singles of X Factor champions are rarely indicative of their broader career. Leona Lewis sang the cheesy ballad ‘A Moment Like This’ in the immediate wake of her victory, only to return the following year with the more credible ‘Bleeding Love’. It was the latter single that set the tone for her career – ‘A Moment Like This’ was merely an immediate, if triumphantly sung, cash-in. Lewis would consider that the ‘real fun’ began for her with ‘Bleeding Love’.

  Some famous names have praised Little Mix – and not always the names one might expect. Despite his unease at the X Factor machine in general, Dappy said that for him the highlight of 2011 was when his cousin Tulisa’s act Little Mix won the show. Indeed, he has taken a shine to some of the members of the band. ‘I like Little Mix but I haven’t met them yet,’ he said in the wake of the show. ‘They are very pretty, so they don’t let me get too close to them.’ So they at least had his seal of approval. There have been discussions that both Tulisa and her friend – and judges’ houses sidekick – Jessie J would feature on the debut Little Mix album. ‘It is not yet known how they will feature but it’s likely they will appear on separate tracks,’ a mole told the Daily Star. ‘There was talk of forming a supergroup for one song but that got scrapped because Tulisa and Jessie are planning their own duet as well.’

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  While Tulisa has ratcheted up her celebrity in 2012, do not be surprised if she voluntarily steps away from show business within the next 10 years. She is certainly not inclined to become one of those celebrities who refuse to accept when their time is up and instead continue to chase fame with ever-decreasing reserves of dignity. Plus, she wants to focus on starting a family and cannot see that being easy to maintain alongside her career. ‘It’s too much,’ she said. ‘It’s not the real world. I want to be able to have enough money to set up a future for my family. I want a business, something for my children. I want to get to my peak, and when I get to my peak, I want to go out with a bang.’

  The mother hen of N-Dubz definitely wants to become a real-life mother in time. In fact, Fazer, speaking at the end of 2011, said that children could come sooner rather than later for the couple. ‘We’ll definitely have kids one day,’ he began. ‘I’ve always wanted children for as long as I can remember. You can just imagine them running around your feet like Mini-Me’s.’ They were even rehearsing for parenthood by sometimes looking after Milo and Gino, the kids of their band-mate Dappy. ‘It’s great because…we can just play with them then give them back when they get a bit annoying,’ he said, speaking words that uncles, aunts, godparents and childless friends of young parents can relate to with a smile. ‘It’s definitely something I want one day, though.’

  In the winter of 2011-12, Tulisa went on holiday. Inevitably, her figure was much commented on in the press, but fortunately she didn’t have to try too hard to maintain it. ‘I swear to God I don’t do any exercise,’ she said. ‘I don’t have a diet, I eat whatever I want. I love pizza and my nan’s cooking. Even though I’m skinny, because of my lack of exercise, if you were to prod me you’d know I’m pure jelly. There’s not an ounce of muscle on me. I like my legs – they’re not long, but they look long against my body. When I wear heels, it seems like I’ve got long legs, but I’m only 5 foot 6 inches.’

  It was also to be a trip during which she and Fazer finally began to show affection to one another in public. They stayed at the Coco Palm resort in the Maldives. She was seen wearing a printed string Lipsy bikini, while Fazer wore low-slung shorts over Calvin Klein underwear, a back-to-front baseball cap and some semi-bling jewellery as they strolled down the beach hand-in-hand. With her man in one hand and a cocktail in the other, Tulisa looked a million dollars and in paradise both physically and emotionally as she dipped her toes into the Indian Ocean. The couple were also seen frolicking in the sea. There could be no doubt they were an item – to borrow the tabloid cliché, they didn’t mind who saw them together – and it was great to see them so happy together in such amazing surroundings. They split shortly after the holiday.

  From an estimated £1,000-a-night holiday to the studio to work on the latest leg of her career – this sums up how life had turned out for our heroine. When Tulisa attempted suicide as a teenager this sort of life would have seemed unimaginable to her. Yet, through hard work and determination, she was now living the life of a top star. No more self-harming, bullying or poverty: thanks to her newfound riches and fame she had swapped vicious circles for exclusive ones. Even though Cowell refers to her as ‘trouble’, she now has a foot in his rich and exclusive world. So, what did she consider herself to be, socially, in 2012? Was she still the girl from the meaner streets of north London, or has she le
ft that behind and become a middle-class luvvie? As far as Tulisa is concerned she was still the same girl that she always ways. Fame and fortune could never change that. Asked by a fan, ‘Are you still a chav?’ she said: ‘Right, let’s define “chav”. Chav for me is a cockney. I’m a little bit cockney, a little bit urban, so…I really couldn’t care what you call me. I’d say I’m from an urban, common area… I don’t really give a shit what you want to call it. I’m the same person I was two years ago – if you want to call that a chav, good on ya.’

  It seemed as if there were no clouds on the horizon, yet in March 2012 Tulisa found herself in the eye of the most contentious and sensitive media storm of her life when a tape, allegedly of her performing a sex act on a man, was published on the internet. The effect of the storm on Tulisa was almost devastating. ‘I slept on the bathroom floor for seven days… I just wouldn’t go out of the house,’ she told the Guardian, in one of her first public utterances since the story broke. ‘Couldn’t sleep. Didn’t really want to eat anything.’ During that traumatic time she even, reportedly, considered leaving the country for good. Eventually, she ‘snapped out of it’. Looking back, she felt that a period of torment was necessary for her to process her feelings. Only then, she believes, could she fully bounce back. ‘I needed to have my tears and tantrums, my bad moods and get myself into a state to come back out of it,’ she said. ‘And I literally just woke up one morning, as happy as Larry, put on my best dress, make-up, full hair, “OK, I’m going out.”’

  With newspapers and magazines offering big bucks to Tulisa to comment, she uploaded a simply shot, five-minute statement onto YouTube. She said the fuss around the video had left her ‘devastated’ and ‘heartbroken’. She insisted that she felt sure she should not be the one to ‘take heat or stick’ over the episode. Although she remained essentially composed throughout the video, the anger and hurt she felt over the episode was laid bare in a statement she submitted to the high court to support an injunction relating to the video. Her father, meanwhile, told the Sunday Mirror that what had happened had ‘really brought the family down and destroyed us in some ways’.

  Tulisa began to console herself with the knowledge that significant people in her life were backing her. For instance, X Factor boss Simon Cowell declared, ‘Tulisa doesn’t have to apologise for anything.’ There had been concerns that Cowell, perhaps fearful over a dent to The X Factor’s family image, might drop Tulisa over the episode. It was great news that this was not to be the case. Weeks later Cowell reaffirmed his faith in her when he said that as she ‘won [The X Factor] last year, she is the reigning head judge.’ He also invited her to perform as a guest act on Britain’s Got Talent, an invitation she happily accepted.

  By the first week of May, life had brightened for Tulisa as she was the subject of two bits of sensationally good news. On the Wednesday it was announced that she had received the much-coveted crown of FHM’s ‘Sexiest Woman in the World’ for 2012. Accepting it, she said: ‘It’s a true honour and definitely a lovely confidence boost. I’m proud of me and I am who I am. I know that I’m Marmite and I wouldn’t wanna be anything less or anything more, I’m just myself.’ That same week, on Sunday, she got the news she had dreamed of when her debut solo single, ‘Young’, went straight to UK No 1. Not only that, sales figures showed that ‘Young’ was the fastest-selling debut single of the year to date and the second fastest overall behind ‘Hot Right Now’ by DJ Fresh. It is richly deserving of such commercial success: it is a magnificent summer pop classic. Within hours of the summery song hitting No 1 she was confirmed for the Ibiza and Mallorca Live festivals.

  Despite the success, some people will continue to call Tulisa all sorts of things and she will continue to do her best to accept that. She knows it comes with the territory. While the horror with which some people greeted her appointment as an X Factor judge subsided once they saw the real Tulisa on their screens, for some she will always be a bit too wild and urban for them to truly consider her the nation’s sweetheart, a position temporarily occupied by Cheryl Cole after she joined the show. However, one should recall that while Cole remains a working-class, Geordie celebrity, her past was never as wild as Tulisa’s. In other words, she was closer to the rung of the ladder marked ‘nation’s sweetheart’ before she set foot in the X Factor sphere. In fact, Tulisa is actually closer to being ‘the people’s princess’, though not in the same way as Princess Diana – who earned that title via Tony Blair. Rather, Tulisa is the princess of the people who consider themselves the people. For them, any controversies surrounding their heroine are unlikely to shake their admiration for a girl who worked hard for her celebrity stature. Indeed, Tulisa did not want to become the second Cheryl but the first Tulisa.

  After her own tumultuous childhood had tested Tulisa to the hilt, she will want to be a perfect mother to her own kids. She continues to develop her faith, too. Even before she goes onstage she takes a few moments to say one Hail Mary, one Our Father and then adds: ‘Thank you, God, please give me the strength to tear up this show.’ This is just one of the many things that we have found about her in these pages that confound the majority of the public’s perception of her. It is important to share the real Tulisa, so more people can be inspired by her. As well as her explicitly religious moments, a more everyday personal philosophy for life she has outlined is: ‘You only live once and the main thing in life is to be positive, do the best you can and try to be happy. No matter where you are or what you are doing, there’s no point in anything unless you are happy.’ After the challenges life has thrown at her she could only have thrived by adopting and sticking with such an approach.

  What would the shy, geeky Tula Paulinea Contostavlos, standing alone in the playground at La Sainte Union school, have made of the conquering goddess she would blossom into? She is surely a person her younger self could be proud of. The story so far ends on a note of faith and promise, with Tulisa looking to the future. ‘I’m a lot more religious now,’ she said in May 2012. ‘I kind of stopped believing in God but as I got older I found my faith again – and with that has come morals. My naughty days are firmly in the past.’

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Linda Blair, Birth Order, Piaktus, 2011

  N-Dubz, Against All Odds: from Street Life to Chart Life,

  Harper Collins, 2010

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Thanks to: Lucian Randall, Joanna Kennedy, John Blake, Michelle Signore and Chris Morris. Thanks also to my mother, for her amusing voicemail message asking, ‘How is your Turlooloo book coming along?’ Chas Newkey-Burden is a leading celebrity biographer whose subjects include Amy Winehouse, Simon Cowell, Brangelina, Tom Daley and Stephenie Meyer. His books have been translated into 14 languages. He has also co-written books with Kelvin MacKenzie and Julie Burchill. He is a regular guest on BBC Radio London and a columnist for the Jewish Chronicle.

  Follow him on Twitter: @AllThatChas

  All images © PA Photos

  Two sides of Tulisa – top, with mother Ann Byrne and, below, at the launch of her own perfume.

  Fazer, Tulisa and Dappy line up.

  N-Dubz at the Shepherds Bush Empire, London in 2009.

  Tulisa in N-Dubz mode at a beach festival in Weston-Super-Mare

  Making an entrance at the 2010 Brit Awards in London.

  Tulisa never knowingly takes her eye off the ball – here at a celebrity football match in 2009.

  Dappy and Tulisa at the BBC Radio 1Xtra Live gig in London.

  Louis Walsh, Tulisa, Kelly Rowland and Gary Barlow making their presence known as judges on a certain TV talent show.

  In the mix with Tulisa’s X Factor hopefuls Little Mix, from left: Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, Tulisa herself, Jesy Nelson and Perrie Edwards.

  Proudly clutching both Gary Barlow and the Talent Show award won for the X Factor at the National Television Awards 2012.

  Tulisa in Manchester for the X Factor.

  Tulisa with X Factor graduate Olly Murs at the Hamme
rsmith Apollo in London.

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  First published in paperback in 2012

  ISBN: 978 1 85782 670 8

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