N-Dubz star Tulisa Contostavlos has revealed her real name and fans will be shocked at the revelation.
The singer, 33, spoke about her birthname on the latest episode of Olivia Attwood's So Wrong It's Right podcast. When quizzed by the Love Island star about her real name, Tulisa shared the heartwarming story.
Olivia said: "Tulisa is not your actual name?" To which the star responded: "You're the first person to bring that up ever. I love that, fresh energy. It's Tula."
READ MORE:N-Dubz's Tulisa reveals one reason why she'll return to prime time TV
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The Loose Women star added: "Out of all the years of knowing you, following you, I have never heard that mentioned." Tulisa then shared the family reason behind her name.
She explained: "So let's start from the beginning. My grandmother is also called Tula, so I was named after her. So Tulisa means tiny Tula in Greek, because I'm half Greek. So then if you pronounce Tulisa, in British, yeah. That ended up being my nickname anyway, when growing up."
When talking about the rise of N-Dubz, she also revealed that she was not meant to be in the original lineup after her Uncle B set up the group with Dappy as the founding member. The singer said: "Uncle B sadly passed away when I was 18, but before that, he basically managed N-Dubz.
"And when his son, Dappy, came to him at a very young age and said, 'Dad, I want to be a rapper', he was like, 'Ok, but I think we're gonna do a lot better if we get a group together so we let's get another person, a female singer'. So Fazer was his best friend from the age of eight from karate, and even though I was a singer, they didn't come to me first.
"They went to this other girl in school that I remember called Rachel. She's a bit older than me, a bit more popular, I was still in my nerdy era. And Rachel didn't turn up to the studio.
"So my uncle B came and knocked on my door, and he was like, 'Right, T, we really need you at the studio. Would you come and lay something down?' and I was like, 'No, I'm gonna be a solo star'."
Tulisa then revealed she had her arm twisted by her uncle after he offered £50 - which she was glad she took in the end after the band's success in the following years.
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