Professor Green

Manderson was born in Hackney, East London on 27 November 1983. and was raised by his grandmother, Patricia, from the age of one on the Northwold Estate. His father, Peter, committed suicide in 2008 in Brentwood, Essex. Green has stated previously he feels his father's death has made him a better person, saying: "I'd had a turbulent relationship with my dad. He was always in and out of my life and I was raised by my grandmother Patricia. Mum, who had me at 16, was there for the most part but my grandmother was the most influential. I last saw my dad alive on my 18th birthday. He came over to see me but after that we just stopped talking. There was no real reason. He hanged himself and I had to go and identify the body in the morgue." Manderson also talked about his father's death in the song "Goodnight" from the album "Alive Till I'm Dead" and about the problems with his family in "Read All About It" from the album "At Your Inconvenience". Manderson said he "fell in to rapping accidentally" as he was at a party at a friend's house, where everyone was freestyling, and he got put on the spot and he said it worked for him. Then, on seeing a flyer for a freestyle night called LyricPad, he decided to go. Despite having no experience freestyling, he won. After going to LyricPad again the next month, a scout from JumpOff spotted him. From there he battled and won every week, eventually becoming Champion. As of June 2011, he remains the only MC to win seven times in a row, a feat he accomplished twice. At JumpOff, Mike Skinner from The Streets saw and signed Manderson up to his record label, The Beats, although Manderson is never very complimentary when asked about his experiences there. Manderson gained the alias of 'Professor Green', the 'Green' part derives from the slang of cannabis, and he continued to sell cannabis until he was signed to The Beats. On 23 May 2009 Manderson was attacked with the neck of a broken bottle in the Cargo nightclub in Shoreditch, East London. Manderson has a tattoo of the word "lucky" where he was stabbed with a bottle, although this was prior to the attack on his neck. His assailant was later convicted of the crime and sentenced to eight years in prison. It emerged in December 2011 that Manderson is dating Millie Mackintosh