EXCLUSIVE: PRODUCER SCOFFS AT SUGABABES RUMOURS
The British rapper Professor Green – real name Stephen Manderson – scoffed at reports that he’s working with a reunited Sugababes.
The girl group’s much loved original members – Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena and Siobhán Donaghy – are said to be back in the studio, although they can’t actually record or perform under the name ‘Sugababes’.
Speculation about a rebooted Sugababes spread online when two of the group’s founders tweeted about working with Manderson last week. “Hanging out in the studio with @professorgreen and two lovely ladies with bags of talent :-p lol,” Buchanan wrote.
Manderson, returning to Australia to perform at the Future Music Festival, says it’s all a beat-up.
“Oh, no, no, no,” he laughs at the speculation. “People got the wrong end of the stick.
“I was in the same studio [complex] then that I’m in now.”
Now a pop franchise, Sugababes have had more line-up changes – and dramas – than the old Destiny’s Child. The current incarnation of Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen last presented Sweet7 in early 2010.
Popjustice reported that a reunion album is progressing, with the trio now managed by Felix Howard, co-writer of their early single Overload.
Buena, dropped by her label after 2007’s solo debut Real Girl, has denied the Sugababes talk, tweeting to a fan, “No track [with] keisha or professor G he was around tha studio. im jus workin on my stuff @ tha moment.”
Buchanan’s camp maintains that she’s wrapping up an album of her own.
Today Manderson said, “You have a producer called Naughty Boy on the ground who did [my songs] Kids That Love To Dance and Astronaut. Then on the next floor up you have Craze & Hoax who did Heaven for Emeli [Sandé] – and then you’ve got some stuff [from them] on my next record. Then you’ve got Sunny, who did Do For You and Forever Falling for me – and then the producer on the top floor, Mojam, who did Avalon, Remedy and Monster. So it’s just a whole different bunch of people.
“I just happened to be in the building at the same time as Keisha.”
Oddly, Popjustice suggested that some of the aforementioned producers – and Sandé – are involved in the “Origababes” project.
Manderson, who issued his second album, At Your Inconvenience, late last year, is aghast that even the Guardian has picked up the story. But he’s used to dealing with gossip now.
“It’s amazing – like I’ve opened papers to find out so much stuff about myself!
“If I wanna find out if I’m in a relationship or not, I just read Heat magazine.”
The Future Music Festival visits Brisbane Saturday 3 March, Perth Sunday 4, Sydney Saturday 10, Melbourne Sunday 11 and Adelaide Monday 12.
