Ama and UnkleJam. Tulisa had been convinced that the award would go to Mutya Buena rather than her act. There was a huge cheer when N-Dubz was announced as the winner. Tulisa strode to the stage alongside Dappy and Fazer. Dappy took the award and led the audience in a chant of ‘Naa Naa Niiii’. After thanking members of the band’s management, his mother and friends, Dappy said: ‘Most of all I want to say thank you to my Dad, rest in peace. RIP, thank you very much.’ He then passed the microphone to Tulisa who thanked the fans, her family and ‘most of all Uncle B for putting his heart and soul into us and getting us where we are today.’ Securing the award had been so important for the band – all the more so because of B’s death. Tulisa felt that Dappy in particular ‘couldn’t bear the thought of not getting it’ after all they had been through. Elsewhere that evening, Amy Winehouse was crowned best female vocalist while Dizzee Rascal was named best male. However, for N-Dubz the evening was all about honouring Uncle B. Tulisa said later that they felt his spirit was present in the arena. The band would go on to win further MOBO awards.
In the months that followed, Tulisa looked back over the influence that B had on her life, both musically and beyond. Memories kept flashing back, including the time he taught her karate during a family holiday in Greece. He had not merely shown her the physical moves but also the more esoteric and emotional techniques behind them, including the concepts of ‘cleansing the soul, positive and negative energy and that kind of thing’. She said that many of his concepts about spirituality helped influence her own spiritual and ultimately religious journey (a journey we shall return to in due course).
What a legacy he had left in the life of his treasured niece. He would have been delighted to see that in the wake of his death, all his devoted hard work began to pay off. Finally, the band was going places. In 2007 they signed to Polydor Records. To get a record deal with such a label was a major success for them. The UK arm of the label has released the material of hit acts including Slade, Girls Aloud, Kaiser Chiefs, The Saturday and S Club 7. Internationally it has released the work of the likes of the Black Eyed Peas – a band N-Dubz have sometimes been compared with – Emimen, Queens of the Stone Age and Pussycat Dolls. What a prestigious rostrum Tulisa, Dappy and Fazer were joining. Their first release on Polydor was a reissue of ‘You Better Not Waste My Time’. It reached UK No 26. The band considered this ‘a result’, particularly given that it had been released previously.
Then, in 2008, the band released a new song called ‘Ouch’. The video for the song was uploaded to YouTube and received four million views within a month. It was clear that Tulisa’s music was connecting with the public. However, the relationship between the band and their label soured soon after when the band played Polydor some of their other songs. The label bigwigs were not having any of it. They disliked everything they heard, including ‘Ouch’ and ‘Papa’. Having rejected many of the band’s songs – which felt like precious babies to Tulisa, Fazer and Dappy – Polydor then made broader efforts to mould the band into a different outfit. First, the label suggested that song-writers join the band in composing new songs. The band felt that the aim of this was to take them in a different direction – not a direction they were happy to go in. They gave Polydor’s ideas a go, including a studio session with a producer and songwriter who had worked with George Michael and X Factor winner Leona Lewis, respectively. ‘It wasn’t us,’ reflected Tulisa, who felt they would have been selling out to go along with Polydor’s plans.
She actually felt that Polydor simply did not understand what N-Dubz were about. This is a far from uncommon complaint from bands signed to big
In the months that followed, Tulisa looked back over the influence that B had on her life, both musically and beyond. Memories kept flashing back, including the time he taught her karate during a family holiday in Greece. He had not merely shown her the physical moves but also the more esoteric and emotional techniques behind them, including the concepts of ‘cleansing the soul, positive and negative energy and that kind of thing’. She said that many of his concepts about spirituality helped influence her own spiritual and ultimately religious journey (a journey we shall return to in due course).
What a legacy he had left in the life of his treasured niece. He would have been delighted to see that in the wake of his death, all his devoted hard work began to pay off. Finally, the band was going places. In 2007 they signed to Polydor Records. To get a record deal with such a label was a major success for them. The UK arm of the label has released the material of hit acts including Slade, Girls Aloud, Kaiser Chiefs, The Saturday and S Club 7. Internationally it has released the work of the likes of the Black Eyed Peas – a band N-Dubz have sometimes been compared with – Emimen, Queens of the Stone Age and Pussycat Dolls. What a prestigious rostrum Tulisa, Dappy and Fazer were joining. Their first release on Polydor was a reissue of ‘You Better Not Waste My Time’. It reached UK No 26. The band considered this ‘a result’, particularly given that it had been released previously.
Then, in 2008, the band released a new song called ‘Ouch’. The video for the song was uploaded to YouTube and received four million views within a month. It was clear that Tulisa’s music was connecting with the public. However, the relationship between the band and their label soured soon after when the band played Polydor some of their other songs. The label bigwigs were not having any of it. They disliked everything they heard, including ‘Ouch’ and ‘Papa’. Having rejected many of the band’s songs – which felt like precious babies to Tulisa, Fazer and Dappy – Polydor then made broader efforts to mould the band into a different outfit. First, the label suggested that song-writers join the band in composing new songs. The band felt that the aim of this was to take them in a different direction – not a direction they were happy to go in. They gave Polydor’s ideas a go, including a studio session with a producer and songwriter who had worked with George Michael and X Factor winner Leona Lewis, respectively. ‘It wasn’t us,’ reflected Tulisa, who felt they would have been selling out to go along with Polydor’s plans.
She actually felt that Polydor simply did not understand what N-Dubz were about. This is a far from uncommon complaint from bands signed to big
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