| THE VOICE JUNE 28 - JULY 4, 2012 23 | THE VOICE JUNE 28 - JULY 4, 2012 23

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Who has got on the wrong side of Chris Brown now?

Azealia Banks to hit the catwalk?

POSTER BATTLEBeyoncé & Kelly Rowland Kelly Rowland

24 � THE VOICE AUGUST 9 - 15, 2012

CHIBUNDU ONUZO, 21, started writ-ing novels and short stories at the ageof 10 and less than a decade later, shebecame the youngest woman ever tobe signed to Faber & Faber, which haspublished books by 12 NobelLaureates and six Man Booker prizewinners.

Her debut novel, The Spider King’sDaughter is part of a two-book dealwith the publishing powerhouse andcharts the unlikely relationship thatdevelops between a poor streethawker and a sheltered rich girl whomeet on a street in Lagos.

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

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

rating on Amazon and a 4-star reviewfrom The Metro.

It has even earned her a placealongside a Booker prize-nominatedOxford professor on a longlist for the£10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize fordebut novelists.

Chibundu, who is studying HistoryLiterature at King’s College, has givenreadings at the South Bank, TheSunday Times Oxford Literary Festivaland Cambridge Wordfest and recentmedia appearances include BBCRadio 3’s The Verb and BBCScotland’s The Book Café.

She has also been profiled by CNNand The Observer recently named herone of the ‘Authors To Watch Out For’this year.

Chibundu Onuzo

1) CALLING ALL GIRLS: American boyband ATL captured our hearts in 2003with their debut album, The ATL Project.They disbanded two years later

2) DON’T LEAVE ME GIRL:Blackstreet’s self-titled debut albumwent platinum. Their career continued ina similar vein. They have had a numberof group member changes in their 20-year reign

3) COMING AT YA!: UK trio, Cleopatra,famed for their chunky braids, hit ourtelevision screens in 1998. The sistersdisbanded 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 LoveII Love, Ghetto Romance and WonderfulTonight

5) DESTINY FULFILLED: Destiny’s Childhad us hanging on their every word.They epitomised girl power. We lovedthem (despite the numerous bandchanges). They called it a day in 2005

6) HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE: Weabsolutely adored 90s American boyband, Dru Hill. They’ve changed groupmembers as many times as we’ve hadhot dinners, but the original line up willalways have a place in our heart

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

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

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

9) MATURED: Who didn’t like a bit ofImmature (some may call them IMX) inthe 90s. The group, lead by Sister Sisterstar, Marques Houston parted ways in2001. Houston and member ‘Romeo,’are believed to be forging a comeback

10) BLUESTARS: American R‘n’B group,Pretty Ricky, enjoyed success in 2007with the release of their second album,Late Night Special. Like many beforethem, the original line up is gone, whilenew members are said to be releasingmore music

11) STILL SOLID: Our favourite 30-strong (don’t quote us) garage collectiveare arguably responsible for bringingthe genre to the mainstream. Theybroke up in 2004, for years after therelease of Oh No, their first mainstreamrelease. The released Since You WentAway in 2010.

12) CRAZY SEXY COOL: The much-loved American trio, TLC, found successin the 90s while also enduring a seriesof spats with the law, each other, andtheir record label. Following the death of

member Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes, remainingmembers T-Boz and Chilli attempted acomeback

13)TOTAL ECLIPSE: Total were anAmerican R‘n’B group and one of thesignature acts of Sean Combs’ Bad BoyRecords imprint during the 90s. Theydisbanded in 2001

14) ULTIMATE SADNESS: Who can for-get the soft, sweet vocals of UltimateKaos’ lead singer, Hayden. The Britishboy band from the 90s were formed bySimon Cowell and produced hits, SomeGirls and Casanova

15) PERFECT XSCAPE: American R‘n’Bgroup, Xscape, had a string of hit songsduring the 90s including Just Kickin’ Itand Understanding. We miss them!

16)STAY: What would this list be withoutthe quintessential R‘n’B boy band of the90s – yes, Jodeci. The group, whichconsisted of K-Ci, JoJo, DeVante Swingand Mr Dalvin, brought us hits includingForever My Lady and Stay

17) GET IT TOGETHER: Named after thearea code of their hometown is plat-inum-selling trio, 702. Their careerspawned hits, Where My Girls At andSteelo

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

We profile a selection musical groups whose break-ups broke us!

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Email us your Student of TheWeek candidates:

Young.voices@gvmedia.co.uk

SPLITS THAT BROKE OUR HEARTS

1

AUGUST 9 - 15, 2012 THE VOICE � 25

THERE ARE still afew things aboutFazer that his fansand critics canlearn. The first – and

arguably most important – is that

the 24-year-old N-Dubz starembodied much more than ‘therapper’ role in the UK trio.

Fazer, real name RichardRawlins, was actually responsi-ble for helping to create their sig-

nature sound, going on to pro-duce many of the band's biggesthits.

"My next record documentsme on the grand piano. It reallyshows my musicality and mypiano skills."

Rewind and come again?Grand piano?

Yes. He plays the piano. Heraps, produces and he is anaccomplished songwriter. Nowonder launching a solo careercame naturally to the north westLondon native.

"Coming off the back of N-Dubz really gives me the chanceto showcase what I can do as amusician and an artist," he says.

He continues: "The core fansknow about things and what I dobehind the scenes for N-Dubzand everything else, but noteverybody necessarily knows sothis [album] will be the eye-opener for a lot of people.

"My album is not bracketed inone genre it's going to show ver-satility from my production skillsto showing different genres ofmusic that I can do."

Riding on the wave of his pas-sion for music (and letting thescreaming fan inside me loose fora second), I tell him that his firstsingle, Killer is 'an actual tune'.

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

over a million views on YouTube inits first week: "I was just like let mego in the booth and start puttingsome vocal ideas down, so Istarted putting some melodiesdown and it sounded great.

"Initially the song wasn't evenfor me, but I thought, 'nah man,my voice sounds good on it, it's abad man tune. It's going to shutdown festivals, it’s going to shutdown clubs, so why not?’"

I ask if he has any plans toinclude more dubstep in hissongs.

I am corrected before I cantake my next breath: "It's not dub-step if you think about it. It's aweird one because it has an influ-ence of everything in the charts atthe moment. From hip-hop, todance, to trance - a bit of every-thing."

Whoops! Awkward. Next ques-tion.

What’s the craziest thing a fanhas said to him on Twitter? (This isthe only question I can come upwith under pressure.)

He laughs."I reweeted one today! It was

kind of rude like, you might notwant to put this in the interview!"

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

Stemming back to his N-Dubzdays, Fazer has always been afavourite amongst the ladies.

In fact, many of his female fansare famed for going to theextreme to get his attention, buteven I can't believe it when hesays: "I have other ones wheregirls have tattooed my face ontheir arms. They have tattoos ofme on their rib cages, wherever,it's crazy!"

Being the last in the group,which includes rapper Dappyand ex-girlfriend and singerTulisa, to embark on a solocareer, Fazer's decision to strikeout on his own instantly sparked

rumours that N-Dubz have bro-ken up for good.

After promising that their hia-tus is not an “Oasis break whereeveryone goes away and nevercomes back again”, he says:"This is the time where we canshow people what each individ-ual can do, so they can see whatthe group is really about andthen we can capitalise on thatand bring it back to N-Dubz."

Killer is released on August 26through Island Records

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

"HUH??????...Are we still in 'mentalhighschool'? My Opinion on the whole

Frank Ocean subject is ......... Love who uwanna love. It's ur decision."

Dear Kat,My friend from school keeps running away from her care homeand she is getting in trouble.

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

What should I do?

Yaya, 16, central London

Hi Yaya,Thanks for your letter.

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

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

The overwhelming feeling of vulnerability and sadness at nothaving the family structure that she may see displayed in your lifeand those of her schoolmates, may be too much.

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

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

EDDIE MURPHY:The comedian was the

victim of a Twitter prank,which claimed that he haddied. We can confirm he is

very much alive!

LEWIS HAMILTON:Lewis Hamilton reportedly

upset girlfriend NicoleScherzinger after reports

surfaced claiming he spenta night partying with 10

girls.

RITA ORA:The British singer is

rumoured to replace star,Jessie J, on the judgingpanel of hit talent show,

The Voice.

AZEALIA BANKS:Famed designer, Alexander

Wang has chosen therapper to be the face of his

latest collection.

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

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�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.

You can then save this page as a bookmark or favourite, so you can find it again easily.

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Eunicesouth London

Makedaeast London

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Chris Brown

POSTER BATTLEBEYONCE and KELLY ROWLAND

VOTE NOW!! Email us at young.voices@gvmedia.co.uk or tweet us @Youngvoicesmag #YVPosterBattle

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26 � THE VOICE AUGUST 9 - 15, 2012