Costadinos Contostavlos (born 11 June 1987), better known by his stage name Dappy, is an English singer-songwriter, rapper, and actor. He is best known for being the lead singer of the Camden-based Grime/hip hop/R&B trio N-Dubz, with his cousin Tulisa and their friend Fazer. He is known for his slightly unusual dress sense and his love for what he describes as "eye-catching headwear".
Education
When Costadinos was younger, he attended Richard Cobden Primary school, then St Aloysius secondary, a Roman Catholic boys-only school in Islington, attending for a year before being expelled for truancy. He then attended Bishop Douglass school when he was around twelve years old, where he got into fights "almost everyday", which "...always started if someone had been making fun of me or something stupid".Dappy eventually dropped out of education when he was 15, but he returned later to study at college and received an A* in English and a B in GCSE Music.
Career
Dappy's father had been a member of the group Mungo Jerry. Byron died on 12 April 2007.However, realising they shared so much in common, Dappy and Fazer (who he had first met at karate lessons when he was 9, before becoming best friends with him at school) started making beats together and coming up with lyrics, later asking Dappy's cousin, Tulisa, to join the band and started to perform in and around Camden Town from the age of thirteen. At the time they were called the Lickle Rinsers Crew and went under the management of Dappy's father Byron, who had found success with 1970s pop band Mungo Jerry, and to Dappy was the "inspiration behind the band". Byron worked at a local barbers shop, putting all the money he had into equipment and resources for the band at their studio. However, Byron died on 12 April 2007 after a heart-attack[2] and N-Dubz wrote the song "Papa (Can You Hear Me?)", which was played at his funeral and became the group's second biggest hit at #19, and at #17 in the download charts. Dappy later described his dad's death as "the lowest point in our lives, we had no money, no manager, no driver, no accountant, but most of all I had no father - B was everything to me and it hurts so much to think that he never got to see what we have achieved now, but I know he's looking down on us and he'd be really proud".Dappy had the words "RIP Dad" tattooed on his neck and doesn't like to say his dad's name, instead referring to him as "B" or "Uncle B", which was also the name of N-Dubz's debut album. Before Byron died, he said he'd like their album to be called Against All Odds but after his death, the group called their debut album Uncle B in tribute, with their second album being called Against All Odds. N-Dubz were forced to reschedule some of their live shows from the Uncle B tour after Dappy was diagnosed with temporary deafness. He later said the ordeal "was terrible and it has really taught me to take better care of my ears because I wouldn't be the musician I am today if I couldn't hear". However he still "suffers from really bad Tinnitus after ignoring advice not to turn his headphones up" according to his ex-girlfriend and "he can't get to sleep unless there's some loud background noise to drown out the ringing. He will leave the shower running all night, thundering away, so he can sleep".It has been claimed that Dappy has an obsessive habit of crashing model planes. There was a rumour Dappy had set up his own Greek kebab shop in London called 'Dapz Bapz', a claim which he later rubbished.He revealed that he is a "massive" Arsenal fan when N-Dubz appeared on Live from Studio Five, gushing "it is an honour to sit next to you" to former Arsenal striker Ian Wright who was one of three hosts on the show.In September 2011, he revealed that he puts pepper into his toddler's mouth when he swears which received a lot of criticism from parents and critics.