| THE VOICE JUNE 28 - JULY 4, 2012 23

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POSTER BATTLEJ COLE & KENDRICK LAMAR

Angel to work with Lewis Hamilton

So Solid announce comeback

Reunited

Divine soulDivine soulDivine soulDivine soulDivine soulKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyraKyra:::::::::::::::

Right track

24 � THE VOICE JANUARY 24 - 30, 2013

THE SHOW Me Amazing FootballAcademy is the brainchild of JuniorOgunyemi. The 20-year-old Londonerestablished his institute on limitedresources and a deep desire to usefootball as a vehicle to transform livesand has watched his sporting venturegrow from strength to strength.

Junior’s efforts were recognisedwith the Unlimited Sport ReliefAward in 2010, where he received a£7,500 prize fund for his academy.

He was also the recipient of theNational Varsity Pitch SocialEntrepreneurship Award 2010,which he collected at the British

Library after pitching his ideas toprominent businesspeople. Theyincluded Doug Richards of BBC’sDragons’ Den and Richard Tyler, theenterprise editor of the DailyTelegraph and Sunday Telegraph.

He has also been awarded a£2,000 start up funding fromKnowledge East Enterprise Networkand is about to launch his secondventure, student magazine Spotlight22.

“I have so many ideas. My aim is toturn all of my hobbies into busi-nesses, so it never feels like work!”

* www.rarerecruitment.co.uk

Nick is the adopted sonof Whitney Houston.Bobbi is the biologicaldaughter of the latesinger. They announcedtheir engagement lastyear

3

The American Idol singerallegedly carried on ayear-long relationshipwith Cook while he wasstill married. She gavebirth to their first childlast year

4

6 7

1513 14

They’ve been friends foryears, so it was only amatter of time. P Diddy, afather of five, had for-merly reconciled withlong-term partner KimPorter, with whom he hasfour children

The fiery rapper dumpedher hype man boyfriend,Safaree, in 2011 after heallegedly assaulted her.They have reportedly rec-onciled within the last fewdays

We don’t know how thisbegan, but we know itended in tears andhumiliation. Followingtheir spilt, reality star Robtook to Twitter andallegedly accused thepop star of cheating onhim with “20 dudes”

18

The X Factor winner waspictured slipping into aLondon hotel with‘Hollywood womaniser’Jeremy last week. Shefailed to respond tospeculation

Miss Keys was brandeda “home wrecker” whenshe began dating pro-ducer Swizz Beatz, who,according to his ex-wife,was still in a relationshipwith her

The 70-year-old father ofTennis aces, Venus andSerena, started dating33-year-old tennis fan,Lakeisha, a few yearsago. Lakeisha reportedlygave birth to the couple’sfirst child in September

Shamed golfer, TigerWoods, whose affairswith numerous womenhit headlines in 2010, istrying to win his wayback into his ex-wife’saffections. There’s talk ofa $200m pre-nup deal

Shaunie, the ex-wife ofbasketball star, ShaquilleO’Neal, started dating24-year-old model,Marlon Yates, after herdivorce. He is 14 yearsher junior

The Lakers star wasexposed as a love rat in2011. Some reportsclaimed he had cheatedon Vanessa with over 100women. The couple havenow cancelled plans todivorce

Some time last year theYoung Money rapperannounced that he wasengaged to socialiteDhea after a string offailed romances. CanDhea make an honestman of Lil Wayne?

One is the ex of Rihanna;the other is the ex of ChrisBrown. As far as contro-versy goes, this is it.Nothing has been con-firmed, yet Karrueche settongues wagging whenshe tweeted Drake’s lyrics

Junior Ogunyemi

1 5

The married couple hitheadlines late last year fol-lowing a domestic dispute.There were allegations ofcheating and claims thatChad headbutted the real-ity star. They have report-edly reconciled

They broke up in 2009after Chris assaulted theBajan singer. Followingyears of cursing eachother on social networks,they have reportedly rec-onciled

CONTROVERSIAL COUPLESRihanna and Chris Brown, need we say more? Here’s a look at other eyebrow-raising romances

CHRIS BROWN& RIHANNA

KIM KARDASHIAN& KANYE WEST

SHAUNIE O’NEAL& MARLON YATES

KOBE & VANESSABRYANT

LIL WAYNE &DHEA

DRAKE & KARRUECHE TRAN

NICKI MINAJ ANDSAFAREE SAMUELS

RITA ORA & ROBKARDASHIAN

FANTASIA BARRINOAND ANTWAUN COOK2 BOBBI KRISTINA

& NICK GORDONP DIDDY &CASSIE

CHAD JOHNSON &EVELYN LOZADA

Just weeks after announc-ing her spilt from husbandof 72 days, KrisHumphries, Kim begandating long-time friend andrapper, Kanye West. Thecouple are expecting theirfirst child later this year

At 43, singer JenniferLopez is 18 years olderthan dancer boyfriend,Casper Smart. The pairbegan dating after J-Lodivorced hubby, andfather of her twins, MarcAnthony

98 JENNIFER LOPEZ& CASPER SMART 10 TIGER WOODS &

ELIN NORDEGREN

11 RICHARD WILLIAMS &LAKEISHA GRAHAM

17 ALEXANDRA BURKE& JEREMY PIVENALICIA KEYS &

SWIZZ BEATS

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Dear Kat,I didn’t get into any of the universities I applied for but I lied to

my boyfriend about it. I didn’t mean to, but I just wanted toimpress him and now he has told everyone that I am going to agood one to study.

My mum said I should tell him the truth and that he won't judgeme, but he is really smart and I am afraid that he'll leave when heknows that I'm not.

What should I do?

Katia, 18

Dear Katia,I think it's a bit harsh to say you're not smart, getting into uni-

versity is really hard in this climate and not getting a place isnothing to be ashamed of.

Explain that you were embarrassed and that you did notmean to lie. If he really cares about you, he will support you infinding another place.

Also, please consider all of the options you have. It might bethe case that you can go to your second choice university andmaybe retake your exams?

Don't be afraid to do whatever it takes.

Hope this helps.

JANUARY 24 - 30, 2013 THE VOICE � 25

SHE MAY be 24-years-old, but UKsongstress Kyra’smusical taste couldeasily be mistaken

for someone twice her age. To such an extent that when

she was offered the chance toperform with any musical act inthe industry, she chose Eightiescrooner, Alexander O’Neal.

She laughs when I questionher about her interesting choice.

“Yeah, wow you went rightback in the notes,” she says,obviously surprised at the depthsof my investigative work.

She explains: “A few yearsago, BBC 1Xtra invited me to bepart of their Electric Proms andthey basically said I could chosewho I wanted to work with andthey would try and make it hap-

pen. I went for the throwbackartist, rather than the modern dayartist. We got together in the stu-dio, wrote a song called Helloand recorded it. It was a reallygood.

“If I had it my way, I would do astraight soul album, real throw-back stuff, but sometimes it’swhat’s digestible for other peopleas well. I really love soul music;Earth Wind and Fire, Fatbackband. Admittedly, I don’t really lis-ten to large amounts of modernmusic. When I’m at home, I puton a throwback Bobby Womacktrack.”

That’s Kyra in a nutshell.Although she has all the fittings ofa modern-day pop star; thelooks, voice and bubbly person-ality, she is deeply-rooted in gen-res past. Something, she says,she owes to her musical father.

“My dad plays the bass and Iwas brought up on rare grooveand soul. My brothers, sister andI were always singing and danc-ing to something. There hasnever been a music-free day inmy house.”

And if you listen to her music,you can hear these soulful ele-ments littered throughout herbody of work, which includesdebut track Good Love, hailed asthe summer anthem of 2012 byChoice FM and new single NextYear, a light-hearted take on thewoes of making resolutions.

“I say everything has an ele-ment of soul in what I do.Definitely some reggae influencesin there and some pop. Withsongs like Next Year, people saythey can relate to them. That’swhat I write about, I write aboutmy life experiences.”

When I catch up with Kyra,she’s on a week-long writingcourse Birmingham. A trip, shesays, is helping her “refine hersound.”

“I think the importance of thisweek has actually been great forme in terms of refining my sound.I feel like I have about five albumsin me right now.

“I write everything, but I defi-nitely co-write with other peopleas well. I’m very, very involvedwith the whole creative process,the sounds I want to hear andlots of other stuff. When I go intothe studio, I will literally just vibe.Melodies, words, and conceptsjust come to me.”

Kyra started taking music seri-ously when she finished second-ary school. She travelled to LA,New York and Atlanta to write andrecord with the likes of Bei Major(Tinie Tempah, Keri Hilson) andMike Kalombo (So So Def),among others.

“It really honed my writingskills. The Americans are reallygreat with a pen. They have thisamazing work ethic. It showedme that you’re one of many. Theperson that is cleaning the bins isan amazing vocalist.”

Has it been easy breaking intothe industry despite her wealth ofexperience?

“It’s quite a weird one becausefor me, I don’t feel like I’ve beentrying to break. I actually just feellike I’ve been living, singing anddeveloping. People say, ‘you’vebeen singing for a while, whyhaven’t you been signed?’ I don’treally see it like that. It’s notabout your talent, it’s about whois around you, the right timingand the right music.”

Up until late

last year, the singer was man-aged by XYZee, the name behindUK rapper Wretch 32, GeorgeThe Poet and singer JacobBanks, but in a “YV exclusive”(her words, not mine), theyparted ways in September.

“Sometimes things don’t workout,” she says.

“It was amicable. Obviouslythere were things that didn’t workout between us, but I still see theguys and I support them fully.Working with Wretch 32 and Zeon(founder of XYZee) was fantastic,but sometimes things don’t workout, it’s not always personal.

She did, however, supportWretch on a nationwide tour, anexperience she lists as the high-light of 2012.

“It was a massive highlight. Ican’t explain how amazing it wasto be on stage every night in frontof thousands and to actuallyhave an audience responding toyou and singing them back toyou was awesome.”

Our conversation comes to an

apt close with some advice foraspiring singers.

“Set yourself realistic goals thatare attainable. It’s all good sayingthat you want to perform atGlastonbury, but have you evengot a song? Don’t be scared toget out there and do it. I can’texplain how priceless it is to goout and perform, because that’sreally where you are going tohone your skills. Every gig,whether there are two people ortwo thousand people, is a learn-ing curve.

She adds: “Right now is suchan amazing time for UK females.We have had the success ofEmeli [Sandé], Adele and JessieJ, which is inspiring. You reallyhave to come in with your ownstamp. In some ways, you canview it as harder, but I actuallyview it as a positive. It makes mewant to be even better.”

Next Year is scheduled for releaseon January 28. For more informa-tion, visit: www.mynameiskyra.com

Founding member of So Solid Crew,Megaman, confirmed that the groupwill embark on a reunion tour.

“21.3.13 #WeBeginThingsTickets Go On Sale Friday

9am #SolidLove #StarsUp”

DAPPY: The N-Dubz star has

been found guilty of affrayand assault following a

brawl at a petrol station inFebruary.

DELILAH: Alleged nude images of

the UK singer wereposted online by an

anonymous source lastweek.

ANGEL: After weeks of

speculation, the singerconfirmed that he is

helping F1 ace, LewisHamilton, launch his

singing career.

ANTHONY HAMILTION:The soul singer said his

recent Grammynominations took him bysurprise but is "amazed"

by the honour.

Retro, trendy, swag

KARRUECHE TRAN:

Suave, smart, sharp

TINIE TEMPAH:

TWEET OF THEWEEK

So Solid Crew

UK singer Kyra talks to YV’s Dionne Grant aboutmeasuring success, working with AlexanderO’Neal and her hopes for the future

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26 � THE VOICE JANUARY 24 - 30, 2013

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