How Dua Lipa rose to Brits fame just one year after living in a council flat with her parents ‘waiting for money to roll in’
POP star Dua Lipa has the world at her feet after becoming the most nominated artist at the Brits Awards for the second year in a row.
She also picked up two Grammys last Sunday, has been named the best-selling female artist of 2018 and unveiled her waxwork at London’s Madame Tussauds on Friday.
But we can reveal that while Dua, 23, was writing and performing her award-winning music, she was living with her family in a cramped former council flat in London, waiting for the money to roll in.
The Sun on Sunday tracked down Dua’s friends and former neighbours to chart her remarkable journey from the daughter of Kosovan refugees to fame. A fame sure to grow after the Brits on Wednesday this week.
Her best friend Zana Veseli, 24, who Dua has known since childhood, told us stardom has not changed the beautiful singer.
She said: “Dua is the same person now as she has always been.
“All her life she has wanted to be a pop star. To see her winning so many awards is just amazing.
Dua lived in the cramped flat in West Hampstead, North West London, with dad Dukagjin, 49, mum Anesa, 46, sister Rina, 17, and 12-year-old brother Gjin until last year.
Grandmother Ana Antunes used to see Dua when she returned home to the three-bed flat after nights out partying.
Ana, 55, said: “It’s amazing how well she has done given that her family came from nothing.
“This estate is home to ordinary families, people from the Middle East, Somalia and Jamaica.
“I was two doors down from Dua and I used to see her all the time.
“She would walk around in jeans, a small jacket and trainers, very simple. You’d never guess she is famous.
“I often saw her when she was coming home at 2am with a group of friends. They would be in high spirits, screaming at the top of their lungs.
“Her dad was very good looking. He would be driving them home in his black Tesla. They seemed a really nice family.”
Ana’s daughter, Anna Batista, 31, an estate agent who lives on the estate, added: “Dua’s dad was friendly.
The mother would say hello but she was much quieter.
“We were very surprised when we found out their daughter is the famous Dua.
“Their flat was super basic, just a few small rooms with Moroccan furniture. It’s not the kind of place you associate with someone winning awards.”
Dua has previously told how her parents fled war-torn Kosovo in 1992 amid the oppression of the ethnic Albanian population.
Her paternal grandfather, Seit Lipa, who died in 1999, was head of the Kosovan Institute of History.
They had been a well-off family, with Dua’s dad training to be a dentist and also singing in a rock band and her mum a lawyer.
But when Seit refused to rewrite the history books to state that the new nation had always been a part of Serbia, he lost his job and his relatives had to flee for their lives.
Kosovan composer and family friend Florent Boshnjaku, 49, exclusively revealed: “It was a very scary time. They closed all the schools and the media.
“Every academic was a target. There were people who disappeared. The family was in danger. They had to move.”
Dua was born in 1995, three years after her parents claimed asylum in the UK and settled in the capital.
The couple worked at cafes and bars to make ends meet and in the evenings her dad took business courses, while her mum retrained in travel and tourism.
When Dua was 11, and with the Kosovan war at an end, the family returned home. But four years later the teen made her way back to London alone to live with a friend.
She enrolled at Parliament Hill School in Gospel Oak and attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School on Saturdays.
NGO worker Zana said: “I still remember when she told me she was moving back to London. She said she wanted to go to school and work as a model. I didn’t think she would last more than a month, she was only a little girl.
“There were definitely days when she would feel down, as her parents could only visit from time to time.
But Dua was always so dedicated. She was very talented from an early age and her main focus has always been on singing.
“When we would go on holiday to Montenegro, we would sing into hairbrushes. She did it so much I would have to ask her to stop.”
Dua’s family returned to London in 2012 and she moved into the West Hampstead flat that was their home until last March. They now share a luxury home in North London’s Kilburn.
YouTube to stardom
Summer 2009: Starts to post song covers on YouTube.
Aug 2015: Releases first single, New Love.
June 2017: Performs at Glastonbury.
July 2017: New Rules, from self-titled debut album, becomes her first No1.
Feb 2018: Nominated for five Brits, more than any other artist. Wins two.
Dec 2018: Calvin Harris collab, One Kiss, is biggest-selling song of 2018.
Feb 2019: Electricity, with Silk City, wins Best Dance Recording Grammy.
It was in 2015 that a producer spotted Dua’s cover version of Cocoa Butter Kisses, by Chance The Rapper, on YouTube and she was signed to Warner Bros.
Her self-titled debut album was released two years later and spawned a wave of Top Ten singles including Be The One and chart-topper New Rules. Last year she was crowned British Female Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act at the Brits.
In 2017 she earned £2million, after her company made just £11,000 in 2015.
Her catchy songs, sultry looks and distinctive brunette bob have helped secure a huge fan base — and celebrity chef Isaac Carew, 32, who she has dated on and off for three years.
Her pal Zana added: “I feel so proud of everything she has achieved without changing at all.
“I am proud to call her my best friend.”
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