Sugababes were formed in 1998 by All Saints manager Ron Tom and Sarah Stennett, and the original line-up consisted of Siobhán Donaghy and Mutya Buena, who at age 13 had both been signed as solo artists, but decided to work together, plus Buena's best friend Keisha Buchanan. The group's debut single, 'Overload', peaked at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart in 2000 and was nominated for a BRIT Award for Best Single, and the group co-wrote most of the tracks on debut album 'One Touch', with the help of All Saints producer Cameron McVey. The album peaked at number 26 on the UK Albums Chart, but sales didn't meet London Records' expectations, and so they dropped the group in 2001. Despite their later success, releasing seven albums and numerous singles, some of which topped the UK charts, the name of the band has become a byword for the revolving door-like comings and goings of band members. During a Japanese promotional tour in August 2001, Donaghy left the group, later being diagnosed with clinical depression amid reports of in-fighting amongst the group's members, and she was replaced by former Atomic Kitten member Heidi Range. The band were surrounded by continuous rumours of disagreements within the group and constant split reports, and following an apparent illness that prevented her from promoting their single 'Ugly', Buena left the group in 2005, and was replaced by Amelle Berrabah. In 2009 it was reported that Berrabah had left the Sugababes, as she had missed a couple of promotional gigs, but it was Buchanan, the sole original member of the group, who was the next to leave, with Jade Ewen taking her place. In March 2010, former group member Mutya Buena applied to the European Trademarks Authority for ownership of the group's name, insisting on the application that "the Sugababes have ended" without a founding member still in the group. She was granted her application to use the name on paper, cardboard and stationery. In 2013, despite announcements that the group had been writing songs for their new album and hoped to release new music in 2014, in an interview published in September the previous year Ewen confirmed that the group had actually split two years earlier. In October 2011, several news outlets reported that the original line-up of the Sugababes would reform, and the following April it was reported that the line-up had signed a £1 million record deal with Polydor Records. In July it was officially confirmed that the group had reformed under the name Mutya Keisha Siobhan and were writing songs for a new album for Polydor, including two tracks written with Shaznay Lewis, former member of All Saints. The first glimpse of new material came to light in January 2013 when the group uploaded a short a cappella clip of their rumoured debut single 'Boys', and a couple of months later their producer Dev Hynes uploaded a track on his official SoundCloud page, stating that it would not feature on the group's forthcoming album, with 'Lay Down in Swimming Pools' being a reinterpretation of Kendrick Lamar's 'Swimming Pools (Drank)'. The first officially released song was the 'Flatline' single, which emerged in June 2013, but there then followed a three year silence with no sign of any more new music. In June 2016, at London Pride's Wandsworth Radio special, Donaghy announced that the album was due the following year, but by August 2017 there was still no sign of it, and Buchanan finally admitted in an interview that the group were working on new material after their previous work was leaked online. So with no possibility that the album will ever officially appear, here it is as recorded by the three artists who will forever be known to their many fans as Sugababes.
Track listing
01 Victory
02 Back To Life
03 Fall From Grace
04 Today
05 Summer Of '99
06 Flatline
07 Love In Stereo
08 Boys
09 Metal Heart
10 I'm Alright
11 Up In Flames
12 Beat Has Gone
13 Too In Love
14 Great Escape
15 Love Me Hard
16 No Regrets
17 Back In The Day
18 Lay Down In Swimming Pools
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