A Field Guide To Tulisa Contostavlos

With all the recent hooplah surrounding the video that shows a woman who looks a lot like Tulisa Contostavlos performing oral, we haven't had time to sit down and ask, "Who is Tulisa Contostavlos?" Well, she's a singer, she was in N-Dubz and we've seen her panties a number of times, but that's all we know about her. That is, until we actually did the research.

Tula Paulinea Contostavlos was born on July 13, 1988 in Camden, England. Her mother and father were both musicians: Anne Byrne, along with her sisters, was part of Jeep (we've never heard of them) and Steve Contostavlos was a part of Mungo Jerry, the band that brought us "In the Summertime." Unfortunately, her mom was committed to a psychiatric facility when Tulisa was five, and her father left the family home when she was fourteen. At that point, Tulisa's uncle (and one time N-Dubz manager), Byron Contostavlos, supported her and helped put her through school.

Around that same time, Tulisa's cousin, Costadinos Contostavlos (better known as Dappy), was forming a music group with his good friend, Richard Rawson (Fazer), and they were looking for a female vocalist. The boys were thirteen, Tulisa was twelve, and the three of them performed at spots around Camden as Lickle Rinsers Crew. Their singles became hits on local pirate radio stations, they started getting mainstream attention, they changed their name to NW1, and finally in 2007, they made a serious mark on the UK charts.

Anyhow, this isn't your field guide to N-Dubz, so we'll give you the short version: they steadily climbed the charts since getting together in 2000, their last five albums went silver, gold, double platinum, sextuple platinum, and quadruple platinum (respectively), they each appeared on the Channel 4 series "Dubplate Drama" (the third and final season was centered around Tulisa's character), they released a book and a six part documentary about the group to respond to their critics, they announced they were taking a break in August 2011, and by March 2012 (after a violent Twitter battle broke out between the band members) they verified the rumors that the break was actually indefinite and N-Dubz was over.

But hey, Tulisa doesn't need N-Dubz to get by! She was a judge on the eighth season of "The X Factor," through which she got to mentor an all-female vocal group called Little Mix who went on to win the show--they're the first group act to win the "The X Factor" in the show's eight year history! It was perhaps her success in this realm that gave her the confidence to record her first solo album (coming out this May).

Tulisa has a lot of opportunities in the acting world as well. She was immensely popular on "Dubplate Drama," she played herself in a mob movie called "Bulla" (also known as "Big Fat Gypsy Gangster"), and she'll get her real silver screen debut in an immensely depressing-sounding movie about teens killing themselves called, aptly, "Suicide Kids."

And did we mention that Tulisa is super foxy? She earned the number fifteen spot on FHM's 2010 list of the 100 Sexiest Women in the World, and she posed for her photos in a tight yet elegant black dress, saying that she refused to do the shoot in her undies.

As for her romantic life, Tulisa was once engaged to DJ Adam Bailey, but the two broke it off after Bailey was accused of hurting her (she gave evidence in his trial; he was cleared of all charges). She's also had a relationship with former bandmate Fazer, but they split after a holiday fight this past February. Some folk have suspected that--if the woman in the blowjob tape is actually Tulisa Contostavlos--Fazer was the one who leaked the sex tape online. However, it's worth noting that this sex tape scandal is nothing new; the same thing went down last August. The Sun reports:

A man claimed he was in talks with an American porn giant for rights to the film, and showed a Sun reporter explicit images. He drove a BMW and claimed to own property in London's posh Canary Wharf area.

At the time, Tulisa's lawyers insisted it was "100 per cent fake". They said: "She is horrified that someone would go to the extreme lengths of fabricating a video. It is absolutely not her."

If you remember correctly, her lawyers' new line about the sex tape is, "Tulisa has asked us not to comment on speculation about her personal life." So, as of now, we'll stop commenting on speculations, too.

Regardless of whatever scandals come her way, Tulisa has proven herself to be a serious tough lady, and she'll continue making hits, mentoring musicians, and exploring her artistic options no matter what. We might ask that she ease up on her rule about not posing in her underwear, but hey, we're not here to tell her how to be Tulisa.

· Check out her Twitter (twitter.com)