N-Dubz

Career

All three members were born in Camden Town; Fazer is of Afro-Caribbean heritage, while Dappy and Tulisa are of Irish and Greek-Cypriot heritage. They met around age 13 at Haverstock School and formed a group under the management of Dappy's father, Byron Contostavlos, formerly of Mungo Jerry, who died on 12 April 2007. Their upbringing was hard, involving violence, depression, drug abuse, financial difficulty, bullying, and gang culture. Initially performing as the Lickle Rinsers Crew, they released the singles "Bad Man Riddim" and "Life is Getting Sicker by the Day".

They then planned the name "Hakuna Matata" but due to a copyright conflict with Disney chose "No Worries"; after finding another group with that name, they briefly used "NW", which caused confusion with N.W.A., then settled on "NW1" (their postcode district) and later changed it to "N-Dubz". Their first music video was for "Everyday of My Life" in 2005, played on Channel U, and they recorded demos as NW1 including "Don't Feel Like Moving", "Girl On Road" and "Livin Broke".

Their first released single was "You Better Not Waste My Time" (download only), followed by the self-released "I Swear" in 2006, which brought mainstream notice. The self-released "Feva Las Vegas" in 2007 reached No. 57 on the UK charts. Each member appeared on the second series of Channel 4's Dubplate Drama after the group began to gain attention.

Controversies

In January 2009, Dappy and Fazer were removed from a British Airways flight by police after it landed in London from Edinburgh. They were accused of threatening passengers, including swearing at children. Cabin crew had alerted authorities, and armed officers were waiting at the gate. Later that year, Tulisa clashed with La Roux singer Elly Jackson, who had said women in hip-hop music dress like prostitutes.

Tulisa called Jackson a "twat" and questioned her upbringing. Around the same time, N-Dubz's DJ Maze was accused of raping a young fan after a performance at Butlins in Skegness. The group then used BBC Radio 1Xtra's Twin B as their DJ for the Christmas Party Tour. In January 2010, the band appeared on The Chris Moyles Show.

A listener named Chloe Moody texted in, calling Dappy "vile," "a little boy with a silly hat," and the group "losers." Dappy copied her number from the studio console and later sent threatening messages, including one saying she would die unless she apologised. Moody said the messages continued after she refused to apologise. N-Dubz's management later apologised for Dappy and offered free concert tickets, but Dappy never apologised directly.

Just two months earlier, in November 2009, Dappy had appeared with Schools Secretary Ed Balls to promote the single "RU Cyber Safe." After the texting incident, Balls dropped him from the campaign, calling the messages completely unacceptable and noting that Dappy had apologised and admitted there was no excuse.