Sugababes

Sugababes (formed 1998)

Sugababes are the most successful female act of the 21st century in the UK.

Sugababes: A History

Keisha Buchanan and Mutya Buena, who had been friends since the age of eight, met Siobhan Donaghy aged 13, at a party. When all the band members were just 14, they were offered a record contract with London Records. They had previously been called Sugababies, but as there was already a band with this name, they changed their moniker to Sugababes.

`Overload' was the band's debut single and made the Top 10. The song was nominated for a BRIT award (for Best Single) and three more hits were released from their debut album, One Touch.

Whilst touring Japan, Siobhan left the group. She was later diagnosed with clinical depression and reports surfaced of in-fights between the three band members. Siobhan was replaced by Heidi Range, a founding member of Atomic Kitten.

Sales of One Touch were not as high as London Records had expected and the band was dropped in 2001.

As the band had already begun writing their second album, with Heidi on board, they searched for a new label, eventually signing with Island Records.

The second album, Angels With Dirty Faces, spawned a number one UK single, `Freak Like Me.' The song was recorded by Richard X and used the backing of a Gary Numan song and the lyrics from an Adina Howard track.

The album debuted at number two in the UK album chart, eventually being certified triple platinum and sold over a million copies in Europe. The band performed live at the 2003 BRIT Awards, where they won `Best British Dance Act.'

Sugababes' third album Three was released late 2003 and was nominated for three more BRIT Awards (`Best Album,' `Best Group' and `Best Dance Act') and reached number three in the UK Album chart. From the album, the group had a number one single with `Hole In The Head.'

In 2004, the band were involved in a re-recording of Band Aid's `Do they Know It's Christmas?' in aid of famine relief in Sudan. Chris Martin, Dido and Robbie Williams were also included in the release.

The band's fourth album was entitled Taller In More Ways and was produced by Dallas Austin. The lead single, `Push the Button' went in to the charts at number one in the UK and sold over 300,000 copies in the UK alone. It was also the most popular song that they had released in the US.

In December 2005, it was announced that Mutya Buena had left the band, for personal reasons but an announcement on their website stated that she would remain best of friends with Heidi and Keisha. Mutya's replacement was Amelle Berrabah.

Sugababes were contractually obliged to release the greatest hits collection, Overloaded: The Singles Collection. An accompanying DVD was also released, with 14 of the band's music videos and karaoke versions of the songs.

The band's first number one in the UK, with Berrabeh in the band, was a collaboration with Girls Aloud. They covered Aerosmith and Run DMC's `Walk This Way' as a charity single for Comic Relief.

Sugababes chose to work with William Orbit on their next studio album, as well as Dallas Austin and Dr. Luke. With the release of `About You Now,' Sugababes became the first girl band to top the UK chart on downloads alone. `About You Now' was nominated for a 2008 BRIT Award for Best British Single.