Tula Paulinea "Tulisa" Contostavlos (born 13 July 1988), often known mononymously as Tulisa, is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is best known for being a member of the now defunct Camden-based hip hop group N-Dubz, with her cousin Dappy and their friend Fazer formed in 2000 and together releasing three studio albums before announcing their hiatus in 2011. Contostavlos is currently a judge on the The X Factor and mentored the "Groups" category in her first year including Little Mix, the first ever group to win the competition to date. Contostavlos will release her debut solo album in the summer of 2012. On 16 March 2012 during a Twitter dispute with her cousin and bandmate Dappy Contostavlos announced that N-Dubz had in fact split up and were not taking a break as stated in 2011.
Contostavlos was born in Camden Town, North London, to an Irish mother, Anne Byrne (who, with her three sisters, was a member of the 1980s band Jeep) and a Greek Cypriot father, Steve Contostavlos (part of Mungo Jerry). When Tulisa was five, her mother, who has bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder, was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. Contostavlos' father left the family home when Tulisa was 14 years old. She said that she was brought up in a 3 bedroom house and experienced a lot as a teenager: violence, depression, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, anorexia nervosa, mental health issues, financial difficulties and bullying.
Kelly Rowland (born Kelendria Trene Rowland on February 11, 1981) is an American recording artist, songwriter, dancer, actress and television personality. Born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in Houston, Texas, Rowland rose to fame as one of the founding members of the American R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time.
During the hiatus of Destiny's Child, Rowland released her debut solo album Simply Deep in 2002, which contained influences of alternative-R&B and rock music. It included her joint worldwide number-one single "Dilemma" with rapper Nelly, and the international top-ten hit "Stole". Following the group's disbandment in 2005, Rowland released her second solo effort Ms. Kelly in 2007 and despite being less successful than its predecessor, it included the international hit singles "Like This" and "Work". In 2009, Rowland scored her second worldwide number-one hit with French DJ David Guetta, on his single "When Love Takes Over". Her third solo album Here I Am was released in 2011 and included the UK top-ten hits "Commander" and "Down for Whatever", as well as the US R&B number-one "Motivation".
Gary Barlow (born 20 January 1971) is an English singer-songwriter, pianist and record producer. He is frontman and lead vocalist of pop group Take That and the head judge on the The X Factor. Barlow is one of Britain's most successful songwriters. He has had two Number 1 singles and a Number 1 album as a solo artist, and has had sixteen top 5 hits, eleven Number 1 singles and seven Number 1 albums with Take That. He is also a six-time recipient of the Ivor Novello Award and has sold over 45 million records worldwide with Take That.
In Barlow's autobiography, he relates that his love of music began at an early age.
"I was one of those kids that's forever dancing in front of the TV looking at my reflection."
He said he enjoyed watching Top of the Pops on television, and when he was ten years old, he watched an episode of the programme in which Depeche Mode were performing their new single "Just Can't Get Enough". Barlow was mesmerised by the sound and decided he wanted a keyboard for Christmas. For the next few years, he spent most of his spare time teaching himself to play his favourite songs.
Louis Walsh (born Michael Louis Vincent Walsh; 5 August 1952) is an Irish entertainment manager and judge on the British television talent show The X Factor.
Originally from Kiltimagh, County Mayo, Walsh moved to Dublin to get a start in the music industry. He managed Johnny Logan, Boyzone and Westlife, three of Ireland's most successful pop artists in recent decades. In later life, Walsh began an alternative career as a TV talent pundit, on programmes such as You're a Star, The X-Factor and Britain's Got Talent, amongst others.
Louis Walsh got his start in talent an agreement with Johnny Logan, whom Walsh met on a bus when he was 20, and, despite legal difficulties with Logan's previous management, Walsh was convinced that Logan could be a big star if he just got the right breaks. Walsh persuaded Logan to enter the 1979 and 1980 National Song Contests. Logan won 1980 heats with a Shay Healy number called "What's Another Year", representing Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest that year in the Netherlands, which he won.
Cheryl Ann Cole (née Tweedy; born 30 June 1983), often known professionally as Cheryl, is an English pop and R&B recording artist, songwriter, dancer and model. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the reality television show Popstars: The Rivals on ITV. The programme announced that Cole had won a place as a member of the girl group, Girls Aloud. Cole has been part of the group's twenty consecutive top-ten singles (including four number one singles) in the UK and five platinum albums (two of which went to number one) and earned five BRIT Award nominations from 2005 to 2010. In 2009, Girls Aloud won "Best Single" with their song "The Promise". In 2009, Girls Aloud announced their musical hiatus and Cole went on to release two solo albums, which both went to number one in the UK: 3 Words (2009) and Messy Little Raindrops (2010). She achieved a number of hits, including two number one singles: "Fight for This Love" and "Promise This". Cole is set to release her third solo album A Million Lights on the 18 June 2012, with lead single "Call My Name" being released on the 10 June 2012.