Mungo Jerry star Plato Contostavlos has put an end to speculation his singer daughter Tulisa endured a troubled youth, insisting the N-Dubz star was "spoilt rotten" as a child.
Tulisa Contostavlos has found fame in the U.K. as the lead singer of hip-hop group N-Dubz, and has admitted to being in a girl gang, taking drugs and running into trouble with the law.
But her dad Plato, keyboardist for Mungo Jerry, insists the 22 year old enjoyed a comfortable middle-class upbringing.
He tells Britain's Mail on Sunday, "I am so proud of Tulisa, but it frustrates me to see her painted as a bad girl because as a child she was spoilt rotten and had everything she wanted.
"I don’t know where this image of her being from the 'ghetto' comes from. It’s not the Tulisa I know. She is a well brought-up girl who had a comfortable childhood...
"Tulisa was my only child and she was spoiled. There was no such thing as 'No' to Tulisa. From the age of seven all she wanted for her birthday was cash. She wasn’t interested in toys or presents like other little girls, it had to be money, £500 in cash.
"She would go shopping with her mum and buy designer clothes and I’d pay for that because they are my family and she’d keep the £500. We went on holidays to Greece. Her grandparents live in a villa in Voula, which is a very smart suburb of Athens. Tulisa still has her own bedroom there and she loves going to Greece to get a break from the music scene or on fishing holidays."