Tulisa’s dad dead: Singer devastated as Mungo Jerry keyboard player, Steve Contostavlos, known as Pluto, passes away

Tulisa’s father, renowned musician Steve Contostavlos has passed away.

The keyboard player, who went by the name of Pluto, played for the band Mungo Jerry.

Tulisa, 36, took to Instagram on Tuesday to share an emotional tribute.

She posted a childhood image showing her snuggling with her dad and the words: ‘Love you pops, rest in peace. Forever my father’s daughter.’

The singer’s heartfelt post was met with a plethora of sympathetic messages from her showbiz pals and followers.  

Heartbroken Dappy, 38, also previously shared the sad news as he posted a video of himself with his uncle, alongside a white dove.

Tulisa ‘s father, renowned musician Steve Contostavlos has passed away [pictured together]

Tulisa posted a childhood image showing her snuggling with her dad and the words: ‘Love you pops, rest in peace. Forever my father’s daughter’

The keyboard player, who went by the name of Pluto, played for the band Mungo Jerry (pictured in 2011) 

Tulisa, 36, took to Instagram on Tuesday to share an emotional tribute

Tulisa commented on the post with a broken heart emoji and Dappy, real name Costadinos Contostavlos, wrote: ‘I’m so sorry T.’ 

In 2024, Tulisa opened up about her unconventional relationship with her father.

She told Paul C Brunson on his We Need To Talk podcast: ‘Me and my dad’s relationship has not been a conventional one.

‘I would say me and my dad now we’re just more friends that kind of have an understanding of one another.’

Meanwhile, she spoke of her dad’s influence on her musical career during a chat on Ferne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast.

She shared: ‘My dad had a little studio in Dollis Hill and he used to bring me there sometimes when he was working. He put me on the mic at the age of five. I was singing Little Mermaid.

‘I just knew there was nothing else I felt passionate about.’

That same year, I’m A Celebrity fans were stunned to discover her father was also famous. 

Heartbroken Dappy [L], also previously shared the sad news as he posted a video of himself with his uncle, alongside a white dove [the pair pictured with N-Dubz bandmate Fazer in 2023]

Dappy seen fishing with his late uncle in 2015

Tulisa’s heartfelt post was met with a plethora of sympathetic messages from her showbiz pals and followers

They were surprised to discover her dad was a keyboard player from the band Mungo Jerry. 

The rock group was formed by Ray Dorset in 1970 and they were famed for their hit In The Summertime. 

Tulisa’s uncle – her bandmate Dappy’s father – Byron was the bassist for the band and later became the manager of N-Dubz. 

Commenting on her musical heritage, fans wrote: ‘Did you know that Tulisa and Dappy’s uncle was in Mungo Jerry of In The Summertime fame?’ 

‘I did not know that Tulisa Contostavlos’ dad was the keyboard player in Mungo Jerry.’ 

‘Little piece of trivia. Tulisa’s father and uncle were in the band Mungo Jerry.’ 

The Contostavlos family left Africa in the Seventies and moved to London where they lived in a six-bedroom house in leafy Brondesbury, with Tulisa’s grandfather a senior diplomat with the United Nations.

After touring the world with Mungo Jerry, Plato returned to London. He got together with Tulisa’s mother, Ann Byrne, in 1984, and Tulisa was born four years later.

In 2024, Tulisa opened up about her unconventional relationship with her father

‘I would say me and my dad now we’re just more friends that kind of have an understanding of one another’

‘My dad had a little studio in Dollis Hill and he used to bring me there sometimes when he was working. He put me on the mic at the age of five. I was singing Little Mermaid’ [Tulisa pictured with her father]

A talented singer and impressionist, Ann enjoyed fleeting success with her sisters Louisa, Paula and Moira in 1980s swing band Jeep.

There was also an appearance on short-lived talent show Go For It, in which she performed as Hollywood screen icon Marilyn Monroe.

Unbeknown to Plato, however, Ann had suffered a mental breakdown two years before they met.

Later diagnosed as a schizoaffective disorder, the condition was triggered again when Tulisa was two and Ann began suffering from hallucinations. 

Ann’s condition continued to deteriorate, meaning she spent regular periods in the psychiatric unit at the nearby Royal Free Hospital.

It was a devastating time for the family, with Plato looking after Tulisa on his own and his daughter unable at first to understand why her mother was not at home. 

The couple split up when Tulisa was 10.

After the break-up, Plato moved in with his parents at their £1.2 million five-bedroom house in West Hampstead, while Tulisa stayed with her mother.

The singer was thrust into the role of primary carer for her mum who battled a combination of bipolar and schizophrenia. 

The rock group Mungo Jerry was formed by Ray Dorset (pictured in 1974)  in 1970 and they were famed for their hit In The Summertime

After touring the world with Mungo Jerry, Plato returned to London. He got together with Tulisa’s mother, Ann Byrne, in 1984, and Tulisa was born four years later [Tulis pictured with her mother Ann] 

A talented singer and impressionist, Ann enjoyed fleeting success with her sisters Louisa, Paula and Moira in 1980s swing band Jeep (L-R: Ann, Louisa, Paula and Moira Byrne)

Back in 2012, Plato told how he taught Tulisa to stand up for herself after she faced relentless bullying in school over her mother’s mental illness. 

He told the Sunday Mirror: ‘My daughter was horribly bullied. It was awful. Children would scream, “Your mum’s a loony”. Tulisa was about five years old when it first started. She would come home crying all the time.

‘In the end I had to tell her, ‘I can’t go and sort this problem out for you. This is the kind of thing you are going to face in life and you have to stand up for yourself’.

‘Then one day when she was about seven, after I had trained her for about six months, she came back from school and said, “Dad I knocked one of them out. You were right Dad, I did it”. It had to be done, the misery that child went through at school was unbelievable. Every time she went in she was terrified.’