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Three young Brit girls, three albums old. The Sugababes have a lot going for them. They came up the hard way to make music that appeals to fans the world over. The trio is sassy, glossy and seductive. The lineup includes Keisha Buchanan (born 30 September, 1984), Mutya Buena (born 21 May, 1985) and Siobhan Donaghy. Childhood friends, Buchanan and Buena, of Jamaican and Filipina descent respectively, grew up together in London, England. The duo met third member Donaghy at a party when they were just 13. The girls met up between school hours for practice and were on their way to forming a band. They were soon singing at any place that would showcase their music.
The next three to four years gave them enough experience to approach a record company. The big day soon dawned and London Records signed them on. They took help in the songwriting department from Cameron McVey, which brought about inevitable comparisons to label mates All Saints. But the girls tried to create their own image and did nothing to imitate their peers.
The Top 10 success of the urban pop classic Overload was achieved on the strength of radio play rather than media coverage. The trio's talent was demonstrated on the largely self-written album One Touch, an impressive fusion of contemporary urban beats and classic soul vocals.
Though the new millennium saw the group in trouble. They were dropped by London Records and to add to their woes, band member Donaghy left the trio only to be replaced by another London native Heidi Range (born 23 May, 1983). Thanks to her mellifluous voice and easy assurance, Heidi was on board.
The new lineup was now scouting for a record label once again. The revamped trio was signed up by Universal Island. In May 2002, they topped the UK charts with their cover of the Girls On Top bootleg hit Freak Like Me, a combination of the Adina Howard song and Tubeway Army's Are Friends Electric? The trio returned to the top of the UK charts in August 2002 with the classy Round Round.
In the meanwhile former member Siobhan Donaghy launched her solo career in June 2003 with the spiky pop rock single, Overrated.
For the moment the Sugababes are on a high with their new album aptly titled Three.
The Record magazine managed an exclusive interview with the girls, who spoke at length about their life, loves and their new album.
The Record: When did you decide you wanted to take up singing as a career?
Heidi: I always knew that music was what I was going to do.
Mutya: We left school at the age of 14 when we were like in the third year… So it was like no one asked us, we were just like 'oh we're in a group,' and that was it.
Keisha: Yes, we were recording and going to school at the same time and we couldn't really do much then, so we left and got private tuition. We never said we're going to start a group. It never really happened like that because Mutya was recording as a solo artist way before I came along and she asked me to come to the studio just to keep her company. One of the producers asked me if I could sing and I did a track with her and that was basically it. I just started coming back every day and then we got signed as a group.
TR: Things have changed since you first formed your group and signed your record deal? Any comments?
Mutya: We're so much happier now. We've got different people around us and a different company and everything.
Keisha: It was harder in the beginning when you have a lot of adults around you, and decisions made without our knowledge and we didn't really have a say in anything.
You can read the rest of our interview with Sugababes in the November 2003 issue of The Record Music Magazine available at your local newsagent.
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