Young Voices 9

23 | THE VOICE JUNE 28 - JULY 4, 2012

POSTER BATTLE d Beyoncé & Kelly Rowlan

s k n a B a i l a e z A to hit the catwalk?

Fazer

The solo star

n o t o g s a h o Wh f o e d i s g n o r the w ? w o n n w o r B Chris

24 THE VOICE AUGUST 9 - 15, 2012

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SPLITS THAT BROKE OUR HEARTS We profile a selection musical groups whose break-ups broke us!

1) CALLING ALL GIRLS: American boy band ATL captured our hearts in 2003 with their debut album, The ATL Project.

They disbanded two years later 2) DON’T LEAVE ME GIRL: Blackstreet’s self-titled debut album went platinum. Their career continued in a similar vein. They have had a number of group member changes in their 20year reign

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3) COMING AT YA!: UK trio, Cleopatra, famed for their chunky braids, hit our television screens in 1998. The sisters disbanded three years later. Lead singer, Cleo has since launched a solo career 4) DAMAGE LIMITATION: UK quintet, Damage, made us so proud didn’t they?

Their five-year reign produced hits Love II Love, Ghetto Romance and Wonderful Tonight 5) DESTINY FULFILLED: Destiny’s Child had us hanging on their every word.

They epitomised girl power. We loved them (despite the numerous band changes). They called it a day in 2005 6) HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE: We absolutely adored 90s American boy band, Dru Hill. They’ve changed group members as many times as we’ve had hot dinners, but the original line up will always have a place in our heart

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7) GO WITH THE FLOW: Floetry, the talented British R‘n’B duo - comprised of

member Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes, remaining members T-Boz and Chilli attempted a comeback

8) IMAJIN THAT: American R‘n’B group, Imajin, had a firm place on the walls of teenage girls in the late 90s. It is believed that lead member, Olanmide Faison, is still performing

13)TOTAL ECLIPSE: Total were an American R‘n’B group and one of the signature acts of Sean Combs’ Bad Boy Records imprint during the 90s. They disbanded in 2001

9) MATURED: Who didn’t like a bit of Immature (some may call them IMX) in the 90s. The group, lead by Sister Sister star, Marques Houston parted ways in 2001. Houston and member ‘Romeo,’ are believed to be forging a comeback

14) ULTIMATE SADNESS: Who can forget the soft, sweet vocals of Ultimate Kaos’ lead singer, Hayden. The British boy band from the 90s were formed by Simon Cowell and produced hits, Some Girls and Casanova

10) BLUESTARS: American R‘n’B group, Pretty Ricky, enjoyed success in 2007 with the release of their second album, Late Night Special. Like many before them, the original line up is gone, while new members are said to be releasing more music 11) STILL SOLID: Our favourite 30strong (don’t quote us) garage collective are arguably responsible for bringing the genre to the mainstream. They broke up in 2004, for years after the release of Oh No, their first mainstream release. The released Since You Went Away in 2010.

12) CRAZY SEXY COOL: The muchloved American trio, TLC, found success in the 90s while also enduring a series of spats with the law, each other, and their record label. Following the death of

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Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart parted ways in 2007. We’re still holding out for a reunion

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15) PERFECT XSCAPE: American R‘n’B group, Xscape, had a string of hit songs during the 90s including Just Kickin’ It and Understanding. We miss them!

16)STAY: What would this list be without the quintessential R‘n’B boy band of the 90s – yes, Jodeci. The group, which consisted of K-Ci, JoJo, DeVante Swing and Mr Dalvin, brought us hits including Forever My Lady and Stay 17) GET IT TOGETHER: Named after the area code of their hometown is platinum-selling trio, 702. Their career spawned hits, Where My Girls At and Steelo

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18) DON’T LET GO: En Vogue kept us rocking in the 90s with hits Free Your Mind, Don’t Let Go and My Lovin’

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Chibundu Onuzo

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CHIBUNDU ONUZO, 21, started writing novels and short stories at the age of 10 and less than a decade later, she became the youngest woman ever to be signed to Faber & Faber, which has published books by 12 Nobel Laureates and six Man Booker prize winners.

Her debut novel, The Spider King’s Daughter is part of a two-book deal with the publishing powerhouse and charts the unlikely relationship that develops between a poor street hawker and a sheltered rich girl who meet on a street in Lagos.

“I love telling stories. It’s really that simple,” Chibundu said.

Since its release in March 2012, the book has garnered a 4.5 out of 5 star

rating on Amazon and a 4-star review from The Metro.

It has even earned her a place alongside a Booker prize-nominated Oxford professor on a longlist for the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize for debut novelists.

Chibundu, who is studying History Literature at King’s College, has given readings at the South Bank, The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival and Cambridge Wordfest and recent media appearances include BBC Radio 3’s The Verb and BBC Scotland’s The Book Café.

She has also been profiled by CNN and The Observer recently named her one of the ‘Authors To Watch Out For’ this year.

Email us your Student of The Week candidates: Young.voices@gvmedia.co.uk

AUGUST 9 - 15, 2012 THE VOICE 25

The N-Dubz star talks to YV’s Akilah Russell about going it alone, hidden talents and the future of the group

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HERE ARE still a few things about Fazer that his fans and critics can learn. The first – and arguably most important – is that

the 24-year-old N-Dubz star embodied much more than ‘the rapper’ role in the UK trio.

Fazer, real name Richard Rawlins, was actually responsible for helping to create their sig-

nature sound, going on to produce many of the band's biggest hits.

"My next record documents me on the grand piano. It really shows my musicality and my piano skills."

Rewind and come again?

Grand piano?

Yes. He plays the piano. He raps, produces and he is an accomplished songwriter. No wonder launching a solo career came naturally to the north west London native.

"Coming off the back of NDubz really gives me the chance to showcase what I can do as a musician and an artist," he says.

He continues: "The core fans know about things and what I do behind the scenes for N-Dubz and everything else, but not everybody necessarily knows so this [album] will be the eyeopener for a lot of people.

"My album is not bracketed in one genre it's going to show versatility from my production skills to showing different genres of music that I can do."

Riding on the wave of his passion for music (and letting the screaming fan inside me loose for a second), I tell him that his first single, Killer is 'an actual tune'.

With a modest laugh, he explains the story behind the hit, which has now racked up

over a million views on YouTube in its first week: "I was just like let me go in the booth and start putting some vocal ideas down, so I started putting some melodies down and it sounded great.

"Initially the song wasn't even for me, but I thought, 'nah man, my voice sounds good on it, it's a bad man tune. It's going to shut down festivals, it’s going to shut down clubs, so why not?’"

I ask if he has any plans to include more dubstep in his songs.

I am corrected before I can take my next breath: "It's not dubstep if you think about it. It's a weird one because it has an influence of everything in the charts at the moment. From hip-hop, to dance, to trance - a bit of everything."

Whoops! Awkward. Next question.

What’s the craziest thing a fan has said to him on Twitter? (This is the only question I can come up with under pressure.)

He laughs.

"I reweeted one today! It was kind of rude like, you might not want to put this in the interview!"

He is right, I couldn't put it in the interview. Sorry!

Stemming back to his N-Dubz days, Fazer has always been a favourite amongst the ladies.

In fact, many of his female fans are famed for going to the extreme to get his attention, but even I can't believe it when he says: "I have other ones where girls have tattooed my face on their arms. They have tattoos of me on their rib cages, wherever, it's crazy!"

Being the last in the group, which includes rapper Dappy and ex-girlfriend and singer Tulisa, to embark on a solo career, Fazer's decision to strike out on his own instantly sparked

AZEALIA BANKS:

Famed designer, Alexander Wang has chosen the rapper to be the face of his latest collection.

rumours that N-Dubz have broken up for good.

After promising that their hiatus is not an “Oasis break where everyone goes away and never comes back again”, he says: "This is the time where we can show people what each individual can do, so they can see what the group is really about and then we can capitalise on that and bring it back to N-Dubz."

Killer is released on August 26 through Island Records

RITA ORA:

The British singer is rumoured to replace star, Jessie J, on the judging panel of hit talent show, The Voice.

Dear Kat,

My friend from school keeps running away from her care home and she is getting in trouble.

I'm scared that she's going to get kicked out of school because they will move her somewhere else. We are really tight and I hope that she stops. She won't tell me why she's doing it either.

What should I do?

Yaya, 16, central London

Hi Yaya,

EDDIE MURPHY:

Thanks for your letter.

I’ll start by saying that you are a very good friend. Although your friend may never tell you, she is lucky to have someone like you in her life looking out for her.

I can only imagine that being in a care home is a very hard and testing experience for anyone to handle, let alone a teenage girl.

The overwhelming feeling of vulnerability and sadness at not having the family structure that she may see displayed in your life and those of her schoolmates, may be too much.

All you can do is be understanding and patient. If you are as tight as you say, she will come around. Tell her your concerns about her absence from school. It’s only a matter of time before heads at school get involved and this situation gets worse. Tell her this.

All you can do is continue being a good friend to her, without letting your education suffer. Listen to her when she wants to talk, don’t force her, let her find her way back to you.

The comedian was the victim of a Twitter prank, which claimed that he had died. We can confirm he is very much alive!

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Chris Brown took to Twitter to hit back at reports that he aimed a homophobic comment at singer Frank Ocean.

Makeda east London

Eunice south London

"HUH??????...Are we still in 'mental highschool'? My Opinion on the whole Frank Ocean subject is ......... Love who u wanna love. It's ur decision."

Chris Brown

The site The Voice website is now available on mobile phones and other wireless devices. is designe d to work Go to the web browser on your device and type in www.voice-online.co.uk on a You can then sav e this page as a bookm ark or favou rite, so you c an it again find easily.

LEWIS HAMILTON:

Lewis Hamilton reportedly upset girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger after reports surfaced claiming he spent a night partying with 10 girls.

When you browse the mobile site, what you see will be tailored to the device you have in your hand, for example the way you move around the news sections and the number of images you see.

Depending on the contract you have, certain costs for accessing the internet on your phone - usually referred to as data charges - may apply.

If you are not sure about the potential charges for accessing the internet on your phone, please ask your mobile network provider.

The Voice does not charge access to its web site.

ran devices ge of mobile and whether screen sizes, you a touchs r phone is cree whether n one or you use a keypa d or trackba ll.

JESSIC A ENNIS

26 THE VOICE AUGUST 9 - 15, 2012

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