Sugababes Girls
Sugababes are Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena, and Heidi Range; three music-loving lasses - Mutya and Keisha being from London, and Heidi from Liverpool. The three girls have been dubbed the faces of intellectual, soulful pop in a chart filled with bland, artificial music. Previous to their current line-up, Sugababes consisted of Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan Donaghy. “We’ve been together for four years now. Keisha and I’ve known one another since we were eight because we attended elementary school together. We met Siobhan at a party when we were thirteen. Siobhan then met our manager Ron Tom through her cousin. He then put us in the studio and we did some demos, which he went for different record companies and we were signed by London Records,” says Mutya.
Multi-ethnic U.K. trio Sugababes jumped aboard the teen pop bandwagon before the new millennium and exuded their own sassy demeanor without the frivolity of most mainstream acts. Siobhan Donaghy, Keisha Buchanan, and Mutya Buena were barely in their teens when they formed in 1998, sharing a liking of garage, hip-hop, and ballroom music. Initially, Sugababes were three friends who enjoyed singing along to the radio. Buchanan and Buena had been pals since elementary school, and a chance meeting with Donaghy molded a fierce bond. A career in music wasn’t intentional, yet a deal with London surfaced in 2000. Studio time with producer Cameron McVey (All Saints, Pete Tong) led to One Touch, which was released during the summer of 2001 and featured a dozen tracks co-written by the girls, including the blockbuster “Overload.” Sales didn’t meet London’s expectations. The group was subsequently dropped.
During the fall of 2001, rumors swirled about Donaghy’s departure. Buena and Buchanan denied that Donaghy was booted out of the group, but she was nonetheless given chase a four-year run. Heidi Range, among the pre-chart members of Atomic Kitten, became her replacement, and Angels with Dirty Faces — the group’s second album — was released through afresh deal with Island by the end of 2002. The Richard X-produced “Freak Like Me,” a cover of Adina Howard’s 1995 R&B hit that featured a bolstered version of Tubeway Army’s “Are Friends Electric” as its backdrop, debuted as a first hit in the U.K. The Xenomania-produced “Round Round” followed suit with identical success.
Siobhan Donaghy left the group after they had released four singles from their debut album, which they co-wrote - “One Touch.” The reason for the departure of Siobhan has never been officially revealed, although reports suggest she left because she was more concerned in rock/indie music besides the soulful pop Mutya and Keisha were interested in. Other reports suggest that Siobhan left to pursue a career in fashion. Whichever, it seems Siobhan backed away from telling Mutya and Keisha directly, opting for a cover-up of “going to the toilet” and never returning, telling their manager that she had left. However, determined not to be disheartened by Siobhan’s departure, Mutya and Keisha, the two original Sugababes, held auditions and recruited afresh member in the shape of Heidi Range - who was a member of the band which later evolved into Atomic Kitten. Unfortunately for Mutya and Keisha, who had just formed a new-look Sugababes, London Records, their record company, dropped them and refused to invest any longer money into the Sugababes project, citing poor record sales as their reason (”One Touch” failed to crack America, and their UK singles reached the lower parts of the top 15).
Sugababes weren’t disheartened, and were contracted by Universal/Island records, who also have Shaggy on their books, which was a major factor the Sugababes considered before they signed on! “The Word” - a track the girls recorded whilst still signed to London, was deemed suitable for the comeback single they needed to re-establish themselves around the world. However, when in the studio, it was suggested that a club “mash-up” consisting of Adina Howard’s “Freak Like Me” vocals mixed with Gary Numan’s “R Friends Electric” should be recorded officially by the Sugababes. Richard X mixed the track, and the “We Don’t Give A Damn Mix” of “R Freaks Electric” was sent and rotated in clubs rather than the previous “mash-up.” The track was decidedly the first single and the comeback release the Sugababes needed. A dark video showing the initiation of Heidi was made, and sent to channels, and a more commercialized radio mix was sent to radio. On release, “Freak Like Me” by the Sugababes went straight to the top of the UK charts.
Three, released in late 2003, fittingly topped out at number three on the U.K. album chart. It spawned another United Kingdom. Number 1, “Hole in the Head,” which even managed to scrape the Hot 100 in the U.S. and hit the top of as is country dancing* chart. Amazingly, the group was never given much of a push stateside. Taller in More Ways, the fourth album, followed roughly two years later and eclipsed the group’s already successful run by reaching the top of the U.K. album chart. Shortly after its release, Buena left the group on good terms, citing personal persons. Amelle Berrabah’s entry into the group prompted a re-release of Taller that featured her vocals on a handful of cuts; Buena’s work was left intact on a couple of others, and the album eventually gained platinum status. Overloaded: The Singles Collection was out by the end of 2006, and just a year later, the Sugababes released Change, a record which contained the chart-topping single “About You Now.” MacKenzie Wilson & Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
The new deal gives the girls more freedom. “I don’t know if our personalities were chancing on before but now I think we’re getting a chance to do that,” says Keisha. “You’d never think that I’m really really bubbly and a kinda Jim Carrey pulling faces type girl, and that Mutya’s quite fresh, and obviously there’s plenty of personality on Heidi, and now I think we’re getting a chance to show all of that.” The future of the Sugababes is set - after the release of the second single, “Round, Round” which also went straight to #1, and “Angels With Dirty Faces” - their more autobiographic second album featuring new songs, such “Shape,” a duet with Sting, “Virgin Sexy,” “More Than A Million Miles,” “Just Don’t Need This” and “Stronger.”
