Fazer from N-Dubz talks about leaving his hip hop image behind, announces upcoming tour, discusses his chaotic family life, and uncovers the true reason behind the band’s breakup.

Fazer gained notoriety as a member of the successful music group N-Dubz, where he was known for his rebellious persona in the world of hip-hop. In the past, he openly acknowledged that both he and his bandmate Dappy were heading down the wrong path.

After twenty years in the spotlight, Fazer, whose real name is Richard Rawson, has embraced a more settled lifestyle and embraced the role of a devoted family man. He is in a loving relationship with his girlfriend, Ashley Havelin, and they are parents to four children.

Fazer and Ashley’s love story began over ten years ago, introduced by mutual acquaintances. They have since welcomed their children into the world, including daughter Ava, aged 11, and the younger twins, Zariah and Zaviar, who are 22 months old, along with their son Zander, who is seven months old.

As can be expected with one tweenager and three children under the age of two, the house is a whirlwind when I step through the front door, yet the reception I receive is nothing but welcoming. 

Friendly and polite, Fazer, 37, and Ashley make parenting four young children seem easy as they chat with me about life now and how things have changed since they first met nearly two decades ago when Fazer was part of one of hip-hop’s biggest bands. 

Yet Fazer is used to change as N-Dubz’s fame didn’t come overnight, with the group – which also featured Dappy’s cousin Tulisa – grafting for eight years before they achieved mainstream success. 

For Fazer, it was a simple trip to McDonalds when he released that the group had ‘made it’. 

As he explains: ‘We went viral when we released a song called I Swear. It was on every kid’s phone, if you weren’t listening to that song it wasn’t cool. 

‘Then me and Dappy went to Marble Arch McDonald’s one day and we lierally got mobbed in there. We weren’t ready, it was just on our own, no security and a barrage of people. It was absolutely insane.’

With their rise to fame slow and steady, there is no particular moment that Fazer classes as a highlight. 

‘Our whole career has been like highlights from the jump because it’s always been  on an uphill trajectory for us,’ he explains. ‘Everything that we do always gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

From winning our first MOBO, for example, without being signed to a major record label, then going on to headlining our own tours and then headlining arena tours, everything is just like a monumental moment in our careers.

‘For us, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and that’s a beautiful thing.’

The trio knew each other from childhood, with Dappy and Fazer best friends in school and Tulisa brought into the band as Dappy’s cousin. 

While Fazer went on to date Tulisa for two years, splitting in 2012, I have to ask – was there any friction at the group as the non-family member? 

‘They’re blood cousins, they’re like brother and sister, grew up in the same house.

‘So where I came in, I was like a mediator between the two. Sometimes they’d be knocking heads and I have to step in and be like, “yo, come on, we got things to crack on with, now’s not the time for it.”

‘Then 20 minutes later it’d be alright. It was like they never had an argument, like hugging and kissing.’ 

As well as the occasional in-fighting, N-Dubz haven’t been without scandal. 

All three members have had brushes with the law over the years and caught up in feuds with other artists, such as Lethal Bizzle. 

Yet Fazer doesn’t live his life with any regrets. 

Looking back on his career now older and wiser, he muses: ‘People ask me that question [if I have regrets] a lot. I feel like it’s made us who we are today.

‘If we had changed anything, I don’t feel like we would be where we’re at or the kind of people that we are today. I wouldn’t change anything.’

In 2011, at the height of their fame with four MOBO Awards and three top 10 singles under their belt, N-Dubz decided to go on hiatus. 

At the time, Tulisa lashed out at Dappy, tweeting: ‘dappy left ndubz, that’s y we split, n wen he wanted 2 get away I tried 2 move him… In2 my yard.

‘But he left n got a new num n I aint heard from him since, he aint called or made contact [sic].’ 

While things are fine between the pair now, Fazer confesses that the trio needed to have some time apart.  

‘We were working for 10 years, and then we had our mainstream break, working for four years,’ he muses. ‘That’s 14 years of being around each other day and night!

‘We just wanted a break. We wanted to live a normal life, do some normal stuff, go on holidays, start some families…. it got to the point that even my mum would be like, “I have to switch on the TV to see you.”

‘We always said that we would bring [the band] back anyway, even at the time, we never said that was the end of end.’

True to their word, the group reformed in 2022, releasing a single, Charmer, and going back out on tour. 

Reflecting on their past tour, Fazer revealed one of the best things was seeing the diverse nature of the crowd. 

‘You had the trappers moshing out with the goths, the goths having it with the mums and dads and the mums and dads with the kids that are bringing their kids. It was beautiful.’

While their sell-out tour delighted their hardcore fans, N-Dubz’s reunion gig was married by tales of in-crowd fights and a cancellation due to Dappy losing his voice. 

Addressing the violence, which saw police and security forced to wade into many of the gigs, Fazer muses: ‘adrenaline’s high and there’s alcohol involved…

‘Everyone’s energy is high. These fights are gonna happen. And to be honest with you [citing their Cardiff gig as an example] it was the girls that were worse than the boys.

‘They were absolutely insane. Carnage out there.’

When the tour came to an end, there were concerns that a follow up would be impossible after Dappy launched into a furious tirade claiming he hadn’t been paid for the tour. 

In a since-deleted Instagram post, he threatened to ‘twist the head off’ his management and ‘slap’ his accountants over the dispute, adding: ‘F**k N-Dubz and f**k everyone who helped manage them. I’ll never write another song or bar with N-Dubz again.’

Yet Fazer insists that all is now fine and that Dappy is fully on board with the new tour. 

Explaining the dispute, he says: ‘Once you have the money in the bank and everything gets deducted, then you start to see what you earn. 

‘Before we saw that we didn’t know what was happening, so we were like “why haven’t we been paid yet?”

‘The accountants were taking long to do all the accounting for the budgets and everything afterwards.

‘So he was just like, “I haven’t been paid and I need to be paid,” but everything’s been sorted now, everyone’s been paid. It’s all good.’

Ashley was pregnant during the N-Dubz reunion tour and revealed how lovely it was that she could take their eldest to see the group perform. 

‘Ava’s so proud and it’s so nice for them to come along and see it because she wasn’t born on their last tour so she never knew what dad really did’ she explains. 

‘It was really eye opening for her and for the school friends she brought along with her.

While Fazer gives fans some insight into family life on social media, he confesses he’d be keen to share more of his day to day activity with a reality show. 

‘It would just be bedlam,’ he laughs. ‘I think it would probably be one of the most watched things on TV, because it’s so crazy!’ 

Ashley adds: ‘It’ll probably be a lot of beeps, a lot of screaming’, with 

As Fazer jokes: ‘I think we’d give the Osbournes a run for their money.’ 

While their family life is self-admittedly chaotic, Fazer and Ashley’s love for one another has remained constant. 

While there’s a preconception often associated with rappers not settling down, Fazer is happier than ever with his family unit and partner. 

‘We’re close to each other and we’ve got kids as well so I feel like that’s a driving force to make sure that everything stays as a family unit,’ he explains. 

‘You know, it’s bigger than just having an argument and saying “I’m going to leave”.

‘For me anyway, my parents are not together and I always wanted to make sure that my kids have that stability in a household where they have mum and dad in the same home.

‘It’s about giving my kids what I lost out on a little bit.’ 

Ashley and Fazer met through mutual friends, with Fazer admitting that when they first spoke it was ‘like I had known her for years.’ 

While Ashley initially rebuffed his advances, turning down an invite to his birthday and even a trip to Paris, they eventually ended up meeting up and ‘the rest is kind of history from there.’ 

As Ashley confesses: ‘We don’t have like a date that we started going out. We don’t actually have an anniversary, he’s got out of that one!’ 

Yet the pair, who have been together for more than a decade, are stronger than ever. 

When the subject turns to having more children, however, it’s clear the pair aren’t quite on the same page. 

Asked if a fifth child could be on the cards, Ashley is hesitant while Fazer quickly quips: ‘The answer was supposed to be no!’ 

Yet Ashley explains: ‘I’m really struggling with the fact that, because I had two babies last year and a baby now this year and he’s getting bigger, I’m thinking I’m never gonna have a little baby ever again.

‘I’m finding it really hard. It’s making me really sad because I think for the last few years I’ve just had so many babies. But yeah, I don’t know.’

Any potential baby plans will no doubt be on hold for now anyway as N-Dubz plan to get back on the road again. 

‘Next year we’ve got some amazing, massive announcements,’ Fazer teases. 

‘I feel like it’s gonna do wonders for us and it’s gonna give people a really good idea of who we are as people and what it’s taken to get to where we are.’

In the meantime, N-Dubz have been enjoying spending time with their loved ones. 

Tulisa has also been in the public eye lately after appearing on I’m A Celebrity. 

Revealing he was cheering on Tulisa from the comfort of his living room, he shared: ‘We watched it until she got kicked out and then I stopped watching 

‘There was no need for me to be watching this anymore. Now my band member’s not in it anymore it’s not gonna interest me as much!’ 

He admits he was the first to vote for her to do the dreaded Bushtucker Trials, he went on: ‘Of course, I did! She probably would have done the same for me!’ 

Yet he couldn’t be prouder of her Jungle stint. 

Despite enjoying watching his bandmate thrive on the show, it’s not a path he’d pick for himself.  

‘I’m from London,’ he laughs. ‘I don’t like spiders or creepy crawlies. I’m not for eating any of these weird things.

‘I saw Melvin and Oti put in those helmets and they threw these massive spiders in and even just watching it set me off. I was like, no, no, no, no! 

‘I think the only show I would do is with Bear Grylls because it’s a bit more gritty and reality driven.

‘Man against nature, that’s what I’m all about. I love fishing, I love camping, I love making fires. I love cooking and hunting and all of that sort of stuff.’

For now though, Fazer is fully focused on the future of N-Dubz.  

Confirming another tour is on the horizon, he shares: ‘Those who missed out last time and weren’t able to get tickets, hopefully this time round, you’ll have a bit more luck.

‘We take passion in our live shows. We always make sure that each tour is better than the one before.’