Professor Green

Stephen Paul Manderson (born 27 November 1983), better known by his stage name Professor Green or simply Pro Green, is an English rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, television personality and mental health activist from London. Growing up on a council estate in Clapton, east London, Green went on to become a multi-platinum artist, with 3.5 million combined sales in the UK. He is the former co-host of Lip Sync Battle UK on Channel 5. His autobiography featured on the Times bestseller list, and he is the patron of the suicide prevention charity CALM. Early life Manderson's mother gave birth to him when she was 16 years old, splitting with the boy's father shortly after. At six weeks old he required a pyloromyotomy operation to his stomach. Manderson was raised by his grandmother, great-grandmother and uncles in a two bedroom flat on the Northwold housing estate in Clapton, Hackney, London, in a home which he describes as chaotic. Green's great-grandmother Edie taught him to read and fed his intellectual curiosity as a child. When she died it had a great impact on him as they were so close. He sold cannabis as a youngster and smoked it on a daily basis between the ages of 16 and 24. Although he was a bright student and dreamed of being a lawyer, he suffered from depression at the loss of his parents and he left Stoke Newington School in Clissold Road without any qualifications.