Sugababes: Keisha's getting ready for a ball
Published Date: 25 April 2008
By GARY FLOCKHART


PASS THE SUGABABES: Keisha Buchanan (1998-present) Heidi Range (2001-present) and Amelle Berrabah (2005-present) are the current incarnation of the Sugababes


IT'S hard to know how to pop the question to Keisha Buchanan. The baby-faced singer has a reputation for frostiness and, if past interviews are anything to go by, she might well take the hump.
Nevertheless, it has to be asked. Stories of feuds in Sugababes appear in the tabloids every other day; tales of bullying, in-fighting and, only last week, reports of some cool behaviour between Buchanan, Heidi Range and Amelle Berrabah at the Royal Albert Hall during their glitzy aftershow party.

This begged several questions, among them 'are things really so bad?' and 'are the trio going to split'?

Fortunately, as one third of Britain's most popular girl band sits back in her hotel suite to give her reply, she's a million miles from her moody media caricature.

"Just paper talk," sighs the 23-year-old Londoner, who it turns out is chatty, honest and a very likeable interviewee. "Gets on my nerves a bit, but I guess they need to write about something.

"We get along fine. Sure, you get disagreements from time to time – what group of girls don't occasionally bicker? – but we're not about to split up."

Since bursting on the scene ten years ago, Sugababes have had over two million singles and five million albums sold worldwide – three of which were triple Platinum discs.

Thanks to an impressive ability to combine comm-ercial success with credibility (they're poppy, for sure, but with a hint of the street), they've also sold out inter-national tours and won dozens of awards, not to mention scoring more Top Ten hits with original songs than any girl band since Sixties legends The Supremes.

Such impressive stats would give many an excuse to play the diva card, but Buchanan seems grounded.

"I'm really looking forward to getting on stage and seeing the fans and seeing how they react to the new material," she says of the threesome's visit to the Playhouse on Sunday.

"For us, touring is like a way of us saying thank you to all the fans who have stuck by us over the years."

The group, whose hits include Freak Like Me, Push The Button and Stronger, have fond memories of Auld Reekie, having performed at Murrayfield Stadium during the Live 8 concert in the summer of 2005.

"We always have a good time in Scotland because the crowds go crazy," says Buchanan. "One of the most memorable gigs of my life was Live 8 in Edinburgh – it was for such a worthy cause and the response from the crowd was amazing. I'll never forget it," she adds.

The last original Sugababe after Siobhan Donaghy was replaced by Heidi Range and Mutya Buena by Amelle Berrabah, you might think Buchanan has seniority on the others.

According to the singer, however, that's not the case. "Everyone thinks that, but I don't. Not at all," she says. "We all write songs and we've all helped out with the production. Every member of the group has an input.

"The only difference is that I've experienced the group from the beginning," she continues. "I haven't had a normal life like Heidi and Amelle. I've been doing this since I was 13, but I don't call the shots, it's all a team effort."

Sugababes formed when 13-year-old Buena was introduced to Donaghy by their manager Ron Tom. Buchanan, who had been friends with Buena since they were eight, was invited along and asked if she could sing. She could, and it was then Tom realised he had something special on his hands.

The girls were just 14 when offered a deal by London Records and, though they went by the name Sugababies when recording their debut album, it was later modified as there was already a band of that name.

Sugababes released debut single Overload in September 2000, and saw their first effort shoot into the UK Top Ten and also receive a nomination for a Brit Award for Best Single.

Donaghy left suddenly a year later amid rumours of internal conflict. London dropped the group but, after replacing Donaghy with Range, who had been in rival girl group Atomic Kitten, the trio came back stronger than ever.

Signed to Island, they had a No1 single with the Gary Numan-sampling Freak Like Me. The accompanying Angels With Dirty Faces album went multi-platinum.

Founding member Buena left the group in 2005 citing personal reasons, but the new line-up of Buchanan, Range and Berrabah has proved a dynamite combination.

Their first proper album together, last year's Change, shot straight to the top of the album charts and it is this record the girls will mainly draw from when they roll into the Capital on Sunday.

According to Buchanan they are eager, have some risqué outfits and sexy new dance routines at the ready.

But as well-oiled a machine as Sugababes are, it is often the unpredictable elements that stick in their memories after a tour.

"I remember on the last tour we were doing Walk This Way and Heidi didn't get ready in time so she didn't come out until the chorus so I had to sing all her words," she laughs. "Luckily our fans have been forgiving when things have gone wrong . . . they're great."

As you might expect, given her success, Buchanan is very well off. So what's been her most extravagant purchase?

"My money is invested," she says. "We've all bought houses.

"We have nice cars though. I've got a convertible Beetle. The roof comes off and it had cream leather seats so I got that. Heidi's got a convertible mini and Amelle has an SLK."

One thing Buchanan spends a lot of her well- earned cash on is partying, and the Sugababe can't wait to hit Edinburgh dancefloors.

"When we did Live 8 we went partying after and had a great time," she says. "I've a lot of friends in Edinburgh, and every time we've played the city we've always had a good time afterwards.

"We definitely have to go clubbing in Scotland, because it's been a nightmare so far," she sighs, bemoaning the fact the girls haven't been partying on the current tour. "We've not been out once – not once. The dancers and the backing singers, they're out partying every night. But they never invite us."

Laughing, she adds, "It's not how it should be. They're the ones with the hangovers, while we're all fresh-faced, having been cooped up in our hotel rooms all night."


Got this from edinburghnews.scotsman.com

Thanks for posting Anne.

Nice interview but it annoys me why they have to keep going back in time. We all know what happened in the past so why do Journalists have to keep going back to how the band formed is beyond me. Its the same thing in every single thing you read.

Thanks for posting, haven't read this interview before.

lovely interview

thnx for posting