Raye - Do It Again (2018)

2018 was a very productive year for Raye, and as well as the two proposed albums that she wanted to release, in 'Dark Dance Songs' and 'Scorpio', she recorded many more songs just to get them down on tape, with no real plan of what to do with them. I've therefore taken a further sixteen of these recordings and compiled yet another album that she could have released in 2018, had her record company not been so stubborn in refusing to let her have a long-player under her own name. 

Track listing

01 Boom Boom
02 Forgive You
03 My Oh My
04 Kiss Me If U Can
05 Spoke To Keisha
06 Never Go Back
07 Just @ Me
08 Cared For Ya
09 Do It Again
10 Mister Mister
11 Talking
12 Meet My Mama
13 I Wish
14 Caramel Classic
15 Perform
16 Turn Off Your Phone

TG4 - Time For The New (2002)

TG4 was an American R&B female quartet, consisting of Keisha Henry, Davida Williams, Sevyn Streeter (aka Ambee), and Ashley Gallo. The group was assembled by Chris Strokes and was signed to T.U.G. Entertainment, where Stokes served as their manager. He offered Streeter the first spot in the T.U.G./A&M group after she opened for B2K and IMX at a concert in Orlando, Florida in early 2001. Davida, Ashley, and Keisha fell in line after a string of successful auditions, and the name TG4 is short for Tom Girls 4. The group's only major single was 'Virginity', which peaked at number 88 on the US Billboard R&B chart in 2002, as their second single, '2 Minutes', failed to chart on any Billboard chart, and after the group parted ways with their original label, their album, 'Time For The New', was shelved indefinitely. Williams left the band to focus on her acting career, and the remaining members renamed themselves Tomgirls 4 Eva, and they were signed to the Soul Chemistry label, although they didn't stay together for long, and disbanded shortly afterwards. Streeter signed a deal with Jive Records and the RichCraft label in 2007 as a member of Rich Harrison's girl group, RichGirl, and although the group did not release a full album, work on a self-titled debut had begun in 2009, with a planned release in 2010 or 2011. As a precursor to that cancelled RichGirl album, here is what could have been TG4's debut release from 2002. 

Track listing

01 Intro 
02 Can't Trust A Friend (feat. Needa S)
03 Zip it Up (feat. Needa S)
04 Virginity
05 Pop The Question
06 Busted
07 Sweat
08 Way Gone
09 Two Minutes
10 My Pillow
11 Best Friends
12 Secretly

Sunday Girl - Four Floors (2012)

Jade Williams was born on 21 May 1988 in Sidcup, Greater London, and is professionally known as Whinnie Williams. She grew up in Broxbourne, working at a local pet shop every Sunday during her teenage years, and as she had not revealed her name to the other members of staff, she became known as Sunday Girl, which would later become her music alias. Having overcome stage fright through hypnosis, she joined many cover bands, including a ska band, a jazz band, and a trio who did covers of '40s blues standards with a ukulele and double bass. However, she soon became bored of singing covers and so took a gap year during her studies to travel and, more importantly, focus on her song-writing. While singing at a night club, she was discovered by a manager, and he helped direct her to work with other songwriters, which led to her eventual signing with Polydor Records and Universal's Geffen Records in late 2009. Her debut single as Sunday Girl was 'Four Floors' in March 2010, followed by 'Self Control' in July, and then she was offered a support slot on Ellie Goulding's tour during November. Her third single, 'Stop Hey', was officially released through iTunes by Polydor in February 2011, and in June she was featured on Martin Solveig's album 'Smash', performing 'Let's Not Play Games', which she co-wrote. 

Her cover of 'Love U More', originally by Sunscreem, was promotionally released in October 2011, but its commercial release was delayed indefinitely, although that seemed insignificant when her big break came, with her cover of Pixies' 'Where Is My Mind?' being used for Thomson's 2011 holiday TV campaign, and the single's success helped her to be signed by Universal's Island Records in early 2012. In turn, this led to other TV ads, in particular for supermarket chain Aldi, with her cover of 'My Favourite Things' in 2015. In March 2012 she co-wrote the song 'Turn Up The Radio' for Madonna's twelfth studio album 'MDNA', and her song 'High & Low' was featured on the official motion picture soundtrack of 'StreetDance 2'. In February 2013 she announced the end of the Sunday Girl project, and released her first singles under the name Whinnie Williams, with both 'You Don't Love Me' and 'Break Hearts In Your Sleep' appearing in 2013. In 2018 she founded interiors brand Poodle & Blonde, and has been the host for BBC 3 show 'Flat Out Fabulous' since 2020, but with the end of the Sunday Girl project, the proposed Polydor album was shelved, so I've taken all her known recordings up to 2013 and added a few choice covers from Blur, Keisha, MGMT and Everything Everything, to add to the one from Pixies, and we end up with the album that could have appeared in 2012 if Sunday Girl had carried on. 

Track listing

01 Stop Hey
02 Self Control
03 Four Floors
04 Human Love
05 Where Is My Mind
06 TiK ToK
07 Love U More
08 Tender
09 Time To Pretend
10 High & Low
11 Photoshop Handsome

Keisha Buchanan - Gimme Pressure (2009)

Keisha Kerreece Fayeanne Buchanan was born on 30 September 1984 in Westminster, London, and first met and befriended future Sugababes member Mutya Buena in primary school. In May 1998, Siobhán Donaghy and Mutya Buena, both aged just 13, had been signed as solo artists, but decided to work together after performing at the same showcase. While working in the studio, Buena invited her best friend Keisha Buchanan to watch them, and their manager Tom decided the three girls would make a good trio, likening their different appearances to the United Colors of Benetton campaign. Originally dubbed the Sugababies, the group's name was tweaked to Sugababes when they were signed by London Records, and their debut single, 'Overload', peaked at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart in 2000, and was nominated for a BRIT Award for Best Single. The band's debut album, 'One Touch', was released later that year, and it peaked at number 26 on the UK Albums Chart, but despite the album producing three more top 40 hits, the sales of 'One Touch' did not meet London Records' expectations, and so they dropped the group in 2001. 

During a Japanese promotional tour in August 2001, Donaghy left the group, citing disagreement and in-fighting amongst the group's members, and she was replaced former Atomic Kitten member Heidi Range. Having already started work on a second album with new member Range, the trio looked for a new record label, eventually signing to Island Records, and their first single for them, 'Freak Like Me', scored the group their first UK number 1. On the back of this success, the group's second album, 'Angels With Dirty Faces', debuted at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart and was later certified triple platinum. The group's third album, 'Three', was released in late 2003 and reached number 3 on the UK Albums Chart, earning the group a BRIT Award nomination for Best Album, while the lead single 'Hole In The Head', became their third UK number 1. 2004 was a difficult year for the group, with alleged backstage catfights, and continuous rumours of in-fighting within the group and constant split reports. After a hiatus, Sugababes released their thirteenth single, 'Push The Button' in October 2005, and it was another number 1 hit for them in the UK, while its parent album 'Taller In More Ways' became the group's first UK number 1 album. 

Following an apparent illness that prevented Buena from promoting follow-up single 'Ugly', it was announced on 21 December 2005 that she had left the group, and Amelle Berrabah joined in late December. After a Greatest Hits Tour, Sugababes released 'Change', their fifth studio album, and the first to feature Berrabah on all tracks. 'About You Now' was released as the album's lead single in September 2007, and on its release  it became their sixth UK number one hit, and first Hungarian chart-topper. In October 2007, 'Change' became the group's second UK number 1 album, and following the Change Tour, the band returned to the studio to write and record tracks for their sixth studio album, the provocatively titled 'Catfights And Spotlights'. After the release of the single 'No Can Do', the group announced that there would be no 2009 tour in support of 'Catfights And Spotlights', as they wanted to focus on writing and recording material for their seventh studio album, 'Sweet 7'. They travelled to the United States to work on the record, and in April 2009 they signed a contract with Jay-Z's label Roc Nation, which gave them access to high profile producers. However, in September 2009 it was officially announced that Buchanan had left the group, being replaced by former Eurovision entrant Jade Ewen. 

Buchanan revealed on Twitter that it was not her decision to leave, resulting in some journalists describing her as having been "sacked", but public opinion was mostly positive for her, with Digital Spy running an article titled "Keisha Buchanan, We Salute You", in which they thanked her for her contribution to "incredible pop songs". Her first recording after leaving the group was a feature on Jay Sean's single 'Far Away', after which she began work on her debut solo album. She later revealed that she had recorded 50 tracks for the album as of August 2011, but considering that only a handful have leaked I think this was somewhat of an exaggeration. The album was initially supposed to be released in 2011, however according to Buchanan, "every time we lock down there's always someone else who wants to work with me", and so it has suffered constant delays, and is still yet to appear. Despite the fact that there are supposed to be around 50 songs recorded, only three have ever surfaced, and so in order to make up an album's worth of music I've added a few of those collaborations, plus the five tracks from Sugababes 'Sweet 7' album which featured her lead vocals, and which were wiped and re-recorded by Ewen when Buchanan left the group. 

Track listing

01 Under Control
02 No More You
03 Gimme Pressure
04 Whatever Makes You Happy
05 Dreamin' (feat. Political Peak)
06 About A Girl
07 Fearless
08 Wear My Kiss
09 Give It Up (feat. Asher D)
10 Wait For You
11 Anything's Possible (feat. Wayne Williams & J Gunn)
12 Miss Everything

Tracks 2, 6, 8, 10 & 12 are songs from Sugababes 'Sweet 7' album with Buchanan on lead vocals 

Amelle Berrabah - Save Myself (2017)

Amelle Berrabah was born on 22 April 1984 in Aldershot in Hampshire, and is best known for being a former member of the girl group the Sugababes, replacing founding member Mutya Buena, who left the group in December 2005. She attended The Connaught School in Aldershot and the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, and it was there that she met her managers and formed the group Boo2, with her sister Samiya. In 2003 she won Top of the Pops magazine's Star Search, which gave her the chance to be the lead singer of a new group, but in 2006 she was brought in to replace Mutya Buena when she left Sugababes, having impressed their management when they saw her perform at an American showcase a few years earlier. The first single to feature Berrabah's vocals, 'Red Dress', entered the UK singles chart at number four, but because of the hastiness of the replacement, she could only re-record vocals for three of the tracks on the band's latest album 'Taller In More Ways', making the group a four-piece for this record only. They performed the 2007 Comic Relief single with fellow girl band, Girls Aloud, with 'Walk This Way' topping the UK charts. The first single from their album 'Change', the Dr. Luke-produced 'About You Now', topped the UK singles chart for four weeks, with the album becoming the group's second UK Albums Chart number one, giving them the top position on the singles and albums charts simultaneously.  The group quickly began working on the follow-up to 'Change', and 'Catfights And Spotlights' was released in late 2008, but it was their lowest charting album. 

After the commercial disappointment of 'Catfights And Spotlights', the group started working on the 'Sweet 7' album, signing with Roc Nation and working with their in-house producers in the US. Around this time, Berrabah also featured on 'Never Leave You' by Tinchy Stryder, which debuted at number one on the UK singles chart. In 2009 it was rumoured that Berrabah had left the group, as she had missed two engagements promoting the album, but it was later revealed that in fact Keisha Buchanan had been removed due to disagreements with Berrabah and Heidi Range, and she was replaced by Jade Ewen. Following these events, Berrabah checked into a European health clinic for a three-week stay, citing "severe nervous exhaustion". After the release of 'Sweet 7' in early 2010, Sugababes left Island Records for a distribution deal with RCA Records, and the first single from their next album, 'Freedom', was released for free in August as a gift to fans. A few months later Range announced that Sugababes were taking a break while they pursued individual endeavours. 

Berrabah began working on solo material in 2011 with producer Pete Kirtley, and in January 2012 she announced that she had been working on a solo album in Los Angeles. In May 2013 she confirmed she had nearly completed work on the record, and was looking to release the collection some time in the summer, having written every song on the album apart from two. 'Summertime' was released as the lead single on 21 September 2014, and around this time she also made a series of appearances on reality TV competitions, competing in the BBC celebrity gymnastics show Tumble (with professional partner Douglas Fordyce) in mid-2014, and Celebrity Masterchef in 2016. This effectively put her musical career on hold, as when she listened back to the album, she realised that the music she had made over the previous two years was not to her taste, and so she scrapped the whole record. In 2019 she made her theatre debut with the jukebox musical Club Tropicana, and in January 2022 she was announced as the presenter of the late show on Milton Keynes radio station MKFM, so it looks like it's unlikely that she will ever release an album. That being the case, here is your chance to hear the only one that she made, and to decide if it was as bad as she thought it was.  

Track listing

01 Come On
02 So Complete
03 Never Leave You (feat. Tinchy Stryder)
04 Silly Cow
05 Runaway (feat. Beenie Man)
06 Save Myself
07 How Beautiful My Love Is
08 Testify (feat. K-Syran)
09 Summertime
10 Love Is All We Need (feat. Adam J)
11 Shelter
12 God Won't Save U Now (feat. BBX)

Jade Ewen - Heart Lights (2009)

Jade Ewen was born on 24 January 1988 and grew up in Plaistow, London, and she started singing and taking dance classes before she was even four. She attended New City Primary School, then Brampton Manor Academy, before transferring to the Sylvia Young Theatre School on a scholarship, and while there she appeared in the television productions 'The Bill', 'Casualty', 'Mr. Harvey Lights A Candle' and 'The Ghost Hunter'. At the age of ten she went to an open audition for The Lion King, and was offered the part of Young Nala. In 2005, Ewen became a member of the girl group Trinity Stone, which signed with Sony BMG, but they disbanded in 2007, and she later recorded with rapper Kwamé. She released a digital single, 'Got You', in 2008 under Kwame's Make Noise label, and also co-wrote the song 'A Little Bit' for the girl group Booty Luv, and 'Let Me Be Me' for Jessica Mauboy. In January 2009, Ewen was approached for and participated in the process to select the UK representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, and she was selected to represent the UK with her performance of the song 'It's My Time', composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. 

She finished in fifth place at Eurovision, but that was the highest placing for the UK since 2002. Having already signed with Polydor Records before the Eurovision selection, she began working on her debut album. In September 2009, Ewen joined Sugababes as the replacement for Keisha Buchanan, and while her single, 'My Man', had already been released in the week she joined the trio, promotional activities for it were cancelled. In an interview with the BBC, she confirmed that her commitment to the Sugababes was her main priority, and that her solo album had been put on hold. Sugababe's single 'About A Girl' debuted at number eight in the UK, and was followed by their 'Sweet 7' album in early 2010, after multiple delays during 2009. Ewen remained with the group until 2013, when it was revealed that Sugababes were no longer recording in the studio together, and that the group was "pretty much done". Following the split, Ewen concentrated on theatre work, and all thoughts of her debut album were put on the back burner. Alongside the two singles which were released in 2009, a few tracks had been laid down before it was cancelled, and so we have enough to reconstruct what her debut could have sounded like had she not joined Sugababes in 2009.  

Track listing

01 My Man
02 Stolen Love
03 Ruthless
04 Got You
05 Got My Shit Together
06 I Had Him First
07 Wake Up
08 Burn It Up
09 Punching Out
10 It's My Time
11 Teardrops

Mutya Buena - Addiction (2011)

Following her departure from The Sugababes in December 2005, Mutya Buena began working on her debut album after signing a solo deal with her previous label, Universal Island Records. The first single to be released in the UK featuring her vocals was a ballad duet with George Michael, titled 'This Is Not Real Love', which was released in November 2006 and reached number 15 in the UK. In early 2007 the title track of her debut solo album 'Real Girl' was released as a single and reached number 2 in the UK, as swell as receiving a BRIT Award nomination for Best Single. The album peaked at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart, while 'Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control)', her collaboration with dance duo Groove Armada, was released in the UK in July 2007, and reached number 8 in the charts. The fourth release from the album, 'Just A Little Bit' stalled at number 65, and following a collaboration with Amy Winehouse on a re-working of the Ronettes' track 'Be My Baby', she was dropped by her record label in February 2008, who cited poor sales and charting positions from 'Real Girl' and her last two singles. While without a label, she featured on Asher D's second single 'With You', from his album 'Ashley Walters', as well as the Don-E track 'The Time Is Now', 'Fallin'' with Agent X, and 'Give Back' with Tah Mac. In October 2010, Buena expressed uncertainty about continuing in the music industry, and said she was currently training to become a psychologist for children, although despite this announcement, she teamed up with City Boy Soul and digitally released 'Be OK' in January 2011, as well as recording lead vocals for 'Give Me Love', penned by UK DJ/Producer Paul Morrell. In 2011 she released a demo on SoundCloud called 'All B4', and tweeted that a rumoured Sugababes reunion was not happening as she was working on her own stuff, which had fans speculating that a second solo album might be on the cards. However, in July 2012, it was officially confirmed that the original line-up of The Sugababes had reformed under the name Mutya Keisha Siobhan, and they were writing songs for a new album for Polydor, so any follow-up to 'Real Girl' was put on hold. A few tracks have since surfaced which were said to be intended for her second solo album, and if we add those to some of the collaborations that she recorded in 2008, plus a few out-takes from 'Real Girl' and a Live Lounge cover of 'Fast Car', there is enough material to put together a pretty good album, which could have followed 'Real Girl' if her label hadn't dumped her. 

Track listing

01 Addiction
02 Fallin' (feat. Agent X & Ultra)
03 Give Me Love (feat. Paul Morrell)

04 All B4

05 Dark Side
06 The Time Is Now (feat. Don-E)
07 With You (feat. Asher D)
08 If We Fall
09 Love Story
10 Fast Car  
11 To The Limit
12 Addiction (Reprise)

Sugababes - The Sacred Three (2014)

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

2Pac - 100% Black Gold (1996)

Tupac Shakur began recording under the stage name MC New York in 1989, and after signing with Atron Gregory, manager of the rap group Digital Underground, he was added to the group as a roadie and backup dancer. In January 1991 he debuted under the stage name 2Pac on Digital Underground, under the new Interscope Records label, on the group's January 1991 single 'Same Song', which also opened the group's 'This Is An EP Release'. Shakur's debut album '2Pacalypse Now' arrived in November 1991, and would bear three singles, 'If My Homie Calls', 'Trapped' and 'Brenda's Got A Baby', all of which depicted individual struggles under socioeconomic disadvantage in a distinctive poetical style. Shakur's second album 'Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z...' was released in in February 1993, and was a critical and commercial advance on its predecessor, debuting at No. 24 on the pop chart in the Billboard 200. In late 1993, Shakur formed the group Thug Life with Tyrus "Big Syke" Himes, Diron "Macadoshis" Rivers, his stepbrother Mopreme Shakur, and Walter "Rated R" Burns, releasing its only album 'Thug Life: Volume 1', in October 1994. Shakur's third album 'Me Against The World' was released in March 1995 while he was incarcerated, and is now hailed as his magnum opus, and commonly ranks among the greatest, most influential rap albums of all time. The lead single 'Dear Mama' was released in February 1995 with 'Old School' as the b-side, and is the album's most successful single, topping the Hot Rap Singles chart, and peaking at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

While Shakur was in prison in 1995, his mother was about to lose her house, and so Shakur had his wife Keisha Morris contact Death Row Records founder Suge Knight, who advanced Shakur's mother $15,000 to pay her debts. In October 1995, Knight visited Shakur in prison again and posted the $1.4 million bond, allowing Shakur to return to Los Angeles and join Death Row, with the appeal of his December 1994 conviction pending. His fourth album 'All Eyez On Me' came out on Death Row in February 1996, and was rap's first double album, featuring Shakur rapping about the gangsta lifestyle, and leaving behind his previous political messages. In between recording tracks for his albums, Shakur was constantly taping music, and there are many hand-written track listings of proposed albums which never appeared. One of these is the legendary '100% Black Gold', which was to have followed 'All Eyez On Me', but before it could be finalised Shakur was shot four times by an unidentified assailant in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in September 1996, and he died six days later. At the time of his death, a fifth and final official solo album was already finished, 'The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory', under the stage name Makaveli, which became the first of many posthumous releases over the next decade. Yet there is still much music which remains officially unreleased, and '100% Black Gold' is one of the very best of the fan-produced albums which has used some of those tracks. The album went through many different tracklist and name adjustments, being variously known as 'Outlaw Immortal', 'Still I Rise' and 'Thug Life Vol. 2', before finally settling on '100% Black Gold', and this reconstruction follows exactly the hand-written track listing for it that Shakur left behind. 

Track listing

01 Hit 'Em Up (feat. Outlawz)
02 Wordz 2 My First Born 
03 Troublesome '96
04 Made Niggaz (feat. Outlawz)
05 When Thugz Cry
06 Never Had A Friend Like Me
07 Never Call U Bitch Again
08 Fuckin' Wit The Wrong Nigga (Part 1)
09 Mama's Just A Lil Girl
10 Who Do U Believe In (feat. Yaki Kadafi)
11 Thug n' Me (feat. Jewell)
12 Fuckin' Wit The Wrong Nigga (Part 2) a.k.a. Tongue Kissin'