Jade Ewen attends the launch party of very.co.uk's Definitions range at Somerset House on September 4, 2013 in London, England.
1st Stop for JADE EWEN and THE SUGABABES News,Photos,Videos, Information and Events Diary.Also Jade Ewen's Favourite blog and is the difinitive record of her music and career.
Thursday, 5 September 2013
ThatGrapeJuice.net Exclusive: Amelle Berrabah Talks New Single, New Sugababes Album….And MKS’ Flatline
Wednesday, September 4th 2013
Eight years removed from her Sugababes fuelled chart debut, Amelle Berrabah continues on in her bid for solo success this year, kicking off with her brand new single ‘Love Is All We Need‘.
Only right then, that as long time supporters of the Sugababes belle, that we catch up with her for an interview in the city of London last week, dishing on everything from the new single, her plans to reunite with the group and ‘Flatline‘, the new single from her would be rivals, MKS.
Check it out below…
TGJ: It’s been three years since the release of ‘Sweet 7′, what have you been up to since then?
Amelle: I have been pretty much in studio writing and recording my first solo album. I kept away from pretty much all public events so I could focus on what I was doing.
TGJ: Great! This year marks the release of solo material from you, what prompted the recording process and how have you found the experience- considering your time as part of a long running group?
Amelle: Well it’s definitely something that I knew I wanted to do for a long time and knew that I would get into studio and focus on it when the time was right. I have had the most incredible journey being in the Sugababes.
Apart from being given the opportunity to do the thing I most love everyday, I also have traveled around the world and seen/experienced things that I would have never seen/experienced before. I had only been on a plane once in my life before I joined the group.
TGJ:As far as production goes, how will your solo sound differ from the ‘Sugababe’ sound, and which writers and producers have you enlisted to help craft the project?
Amelle: The overall sound that I have gone for definitely differs from what me and the girls do musically. Its definitely a reflection of my personality, humour, and my life. Some songs are pretty quirky, some are up beat Dance/Club tracks, some are mid tempo ballads and there’s a track that is totally stripped back where it is just my voice and a piano. Hopefully it’s an album for everyone.
TGJ: You once shared management with ‘Radioactive‘ singer Rita Ora, as you embark on your solo journey how much pressure do you feel is on you to deliver on all front. More specifically, when it comes to standing out in the Brit-Pop crowd?
TGJ: You once shared management with ‘Radioactive‘ singer Rita Ora, as you embark on your solo journey how much pressure do you feel is on you to deliver on all front. More specifically, when it comes to standing out in the Brit-Pop crowd?
Amelle: It’s something I don’t tend to think about as its so easy to fall into the ‘hole’ of worrying about what everybody else thinks and you could fall into something that isn’t you and trying to be someone or something that your not so I tend to keep my eyes forward and go with what I like and don’t compare myself to anyone else.
TGJ: Recent years have seen Amelle the personality outshine Amelle the vocalist due to the absence of new material, what are you hoping to achieve with this new release on a critical tip?
Amelle: I think if you ‘get’ me or ‘get’ my sense of humour, you’ll understand my music better. I have a big imagination and from what I’m told (a lot), I see things or my point of view on things are different to what most would see.
People who know me would say my mind is ‘different’ but I prefer special or unique… Lol! Im hoping to deffo achieve an album for everyone for whatever mood your in. I want the album to make you smile and for people to identify it with themselves and find it easy to relate to.I want to make sure I’m totally finished before I announce a release date, because I’m still changing little bits.
TGJ: We can’t wait to hear it! This year marked the birth (or return) of MKS, what are your thoughts on the reunion and their lead single ‘Flatline’?
Amelle: I like the new single. I had to listen to it a few times but its defo a grower. I think they’ll do well.TGJ: Earlier this year, Jade Ewen stated that she believed Sugababes were ‘pretty much over’. For the record, what is going on with the group and are there any plans for a future release?
Amelle: I deffo wouldn’t say never. I would like to think that all 3 of us would get back together at the end of 2014 to do another album. But that’s if all 3 of us want to do it whole heartily. But a lot changes in a year but I’d like to think we will.
TGJ: Finally, in the grand scheme of things- how would Amelle like to remembered?
TGJ: Finally, in the grand scheme of things- how would Amelle like to remembered?
Amelle: I would love to be remembered as being a talented musician and song writer.
TGJ: Thanks for speaking with us Amelle!
Amelle: Thank you.
*Interview by David Asante (That Grape Juice – London)
Your thoughts?
Read more: http://thatgrapejuice.net/2013/09/exclusive-amelle-berrbah-talks-single-sugababes-albumand-mks-flatline/#ixzz2dyAnO5IH
Follow us: @ThatGrapeJuice on Twitter | ThatGrapeJuiceOfficial on Facebook
Ben Freeman Joins HAPPY DAYS Tour as 'The Fonz'; Full Cast Announced! Broadwayworld.com
Ben Freeman Joins HAPPY DAYS Tour as 'The Fonz'; Full Cast Announced!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013; 07:09 PM - by BWW News Desk
Amy Anzel for Sunday Monday Ltd in association with Todd Ruppert of RTR International, just announced that West End leading man and "Emmerdale" star, Ben Freeman, will take on the iconic role of 'The Fonz' in the UK Premiere and national tour of Happy Days - A New Musical, alongsideCheryl Baker as 'Mrs Cunningham' and the previously announced Heidi Range as 'Pinky Tuscadero'.Directed and choreographed by Olivier Award nominee Andrew Wright, Happy Days - A New Musical will open at the Churchill Theatre Bromley onTuesday 14 January 2014 (previews from Saturday 11 January), before embarking on a national tour. The full tour schedule can be found atwww.happydaysthemusical.co.uk
Ben Freeman can currently be seen as 'Fiyero' in "Wicked" at London's Apollo Victoria Theatre. His other West End credits include 'Warner' in "Legally Blonde", and 'Norman' in "Dreamboats and Petticoats". Ben is probably best known to tv audiences as 'Scott Windsor' in "Emmerdale".
As a member of the pop group Bucks Fizz, Cheryl Baker won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981, and has subsequently had more than 20 hit records including three number ones. She made her theatrical debut in the musical "Footloose", starring in both the inaugural tour and in the West End. Her other musicals include 'Mrs Potts' in "Beauty and the Beast" and "Menopause The Musical". A television regular, last year Cheryl took part in "Celebrity Masterchef" and she came in as first runner-up on "Pop Star To Opera Star" in 2011.
HEIDI RANGE is best known for being the longest serving current member of the multiplatinum selling British girl group, the Sugababes. Last year, Heidi took part in the ITV series, Dancing on Ice, and subsequently in the Dancing on Ice live UK tour. Heidi was one of this year's "Celebrity Masterchef" contestants.
The rest of the cast includes: Lucy-Jane Adcock, Charlie Allen, Henry Davis, Ray Gardner, Emma Harrold, Grace Holdstock, Katie Monks, Eddie Myles, James Paterson, Edwin Ray, Sam Robinson,Andrew Waldron, Scott Waugh and Jason Winter.
Happy Days - A New Musical is written by Garry Marshall, the legendary creator of the popular television series. Garry is also the director of many world-wide hit films including "Pretty Woman", "Beaches" and "The Princess Diaries 1&2". It includes 21 original songs by Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe award-winning Hall of Fame Songwriter, Paul Williams ("Bugsy Malone", "Evergreen", "Rainy Days and Mondays"). The show also includes the much-loved Happy Days theme tune from the TV show.
Henry Winkler, the original Fonz from the television series, will serve as Creative Consultant, working alongside the director in creating the 'Happy Days' world of 1959 America and guiding the cast in creating their ever so familiar characters, especially that of 'The Fonz'.
Happy Days - A New Musical is a hilarious feel-good musical that is guaranteed to have you rockin' and rollin' all week long! This brand new UK Tour based on the hit TV series features the unforgettable 'King of Cool' Arthur 'The Fonz' Fonzarelli. Join your favourite '50's family, the Cunninghams and the rest of the gang - Potsie, Ralph Malph, Joanie and Chachi as they battle to save their beloved diner Arnold's from demolition. In a race against time, can everyone's favourite hero 'The Fonz' save the day?
Andrew Wright is a director and choreographer whose most recent work includes Chichester Festival Theatre's and Cameron Mackintosh's "Barnum" (Theatre in the Park), and "Singin' in the Rain" (Palace Theatre, National Tour and Chichester Festival Theatre) for which he won Best Choreographer at the What's On Stage Awards 2013 and was nominated for Best Choreographer at the Olivier Awards 2012 and Broadway World Awards 2011, as well as the recent national tour of "Wonderful Town".
Happy Days - A New Musical has arrangements and orchestrations by John McDaniel, with Production Design by Tom Rogers, Lighting Design by Philip Gladwell and Sound Design by Ben Harrison.
Happy Days - A New Musical is presented in partnership with Ed's Easy Diner, the much loved chain of retro-American diners that successfully captures the spirit of the classic US original, which is an iconic symbol of an unforgettable period in American history. It was a quarter of a century ago that Ed's Easy Diner opened its doors in London's Soho, growing since to more than twenty diners nationwide.
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Amelle Berrabah | "Love Is All We Need" - A64 [S7.EP10]: SBTV
Published on 4 Sep 2013
We catch up with Amelle Berrabah for a soothing acoustic rendition of "Love Is All We Need" by Adam J & Nightcrashers which is out now.
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/lov...
+ Subscribe it's free: http://bit.ly/NeverMissSBTV
+ Follow us: http://www.twitter.com/sbtvonline
+ Like on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/online.sbtv
+ Instagram - http://instagram.com/sbtvonline
+ Videos, daily editorial and more: http://www.sbtv.co.uk
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/lov...
+ Subscribe it's free: http://bit.ly/NeverMissSBTV
+ Follow us: http://www.twitter.com/sbtvonline
+ Like on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/online.sbtv
+ Instagram - http://instagram.com/sbtvonline
+ Videos, daily editorial and more: http://www.sbtv.co.uk
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
Sexy Sugababe Amelle sidesteps rugby rat - The Sun
Sugababe sidesteps rugby rat
No text please ... Amelle Berrabah with Danny Cipriani
Danny pursued the pop star until.......
How Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan – aka the Sugababes – became MKS
How Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan – aka the Sugababes – became MKS
The Sugababes had instant success as one of Britain's most turbulent girl groups. Now Mutya, Keisha and Siobhán are back as MKS. Is it really all peace and love?
MKS, aka (from left) Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy. Photograph: Phil Fisk for the Observer
They don't like it when I call them the original Sugababes "I hate that word, 'original'," says Mutya Buena.
"Hate it!" says Siobhán Donaghy, pulling in her shoulders.
"It makes us feel," says Keisha Buchanan, "150 years old."
What else to call them? Back in 2000 this trio debuted as the Sugababes with a bristling single, "Overload", that established them as one of the most interesting acts in millennial pop – teenagers, scowlers, minimalist dancers. The band began a piecemeal breakup almost immediately, Siobhán quitting within a year and Mutya departing in 2005. Substitutes were brought in around Keisha, who was herself replaced in 2009. A group called the Sugababes still exists, made up of new-Siobhán (Heidi Range), new-Mutya (Amelle Berrabah) and new-Keisha (Jade Ewen); an album from them is due next year. Meanwhile, the founding three have reunited to make an album of their own. A first single, "Flatline", comes out this month. They call themselves Mutya Keisha Siobhan – or MKS – now.
Well it's clearer than the alternatives I was going to suggest – the Sugadults, Splendababes, Sugababes 5.0. Or would that be a legal infringement?
"It doesn't matter who owns the name now," says Siobhán. "That's paperwork." (I take this to mean their rivals have formal rights.)
"Our music speaks for us," says Mutya.
Siobhán: "Only the three of us can write and sing the way we do."
Mutya: "Unfortunately they [the other Sugababes] don't have our vocals. Well, fortunately, actually."
Keisha: "Why are we even talking about them?"
"Everyone calls us the Sugababes anyway," says Mutya.
"Like last night on Old Compton Street," says Siobhán.
"Well, there you go."
They draw attention when they go out, Mutya Keisha Siobhan. Pop allows no definitive endings (Ginger Spice rejoined and Gary and Robbie made up; Backstreet, just this year, came back), but even so – this lot? Pals again? We meet for lunch in a London restaurant and strangers keep looming up from nearby tables to take pictures on cameraphones. I can almost hear the O, the M, the G being tapped in for Twitter dispersal. It's the original Sugababes! And I thought they couldn't stand each other…
Consider the she-said-she-said, at least as it played out in the press. Keisha once told Touch magazine that Siobhán had ditched the band, back in 2001, by going to the loo and never coming back. "After three hours we thought she's been in there a bit long," Keisha was quoted as saying, and this repeatable bit of fiction tailed Siobhán for a decade. Siobhán, for her part, once admitted: "We just didn't get on." When Mutya left the band Keisha said: "There was love there but no friendship". Siobhán, in 2004: "It was all hate, hate, hate."
"Well, our mums always got on," Siobhán tells me, over lunch.
"Even when we didn't," says Keisha.
Of mean statements in the past, they agree, "It's important we remember we were kids."
And that toilet thing, says Mutya, "was quite funny."
Siobhán: "But it kind of gets old after a while."
Mutya: "Yeah."
Keisha has always been wonderfully blunt about the pop industry – beneath the sparkle that relentless push for profit. Whenever a Sugababe left and was replaced Keisha would say something like, "That's business." Was it a business decision to reform? "No," she says. "For us it was deeply personal. Let me use the right words: people didn't allow us to enjoy the experience the first time round."
They've earned enough money, Keisha says, not to have to do this. "I own five houses. Mutya has two properties. Siobhán bought a house a year ago. Making money is amazing, absolutely, but for us the idea of getting back together was more: 'Why don't we try again, and this time enjoy it?'" During a recent fortnight in Los Angles, a trip to write and record with the producer Dev Hynes (aka Lightspeed Champion), they made time to visit theme parks. They went clubbing in Koreatown. An experiment with an over-the-counter energy supplement left them aching and hungover and wondering if they'd inadvertently taken speed to hike Runyon Canyon.
"To be honest we were pissed half the time," admits Siobhán. She is dressed in hugging jeans, boots, a patterned scarf over a vest. Her basic daily uniform, says Siobhán – and a contrast to Keisha's all-over black bodysuit and aviator jacket. At a time when Keisha was still a Sugababe and Mutya was intermittently touring her solo stuff, Siobhán had re-entered civilian life. From 2006 to 2011 she worked as a model booker in London. Sometimes clients would ask: that Siobhán? But mostly "there wasn't enough time. The phone would be ringing. Paris every season. It was a nice job."
Siobhán has a pleasant, maternal manner – "I miss my girls," she says of the young models she worked with – and it seems obvious to me she's returning to music from a more conventional world. Keisha's different. She arrives at lunch a little flustered, admitting she's not properly familiar, at 28, with public transport. A decade as a Sugababe always meant a driver, but this time the band are "taking control", "no external forces", "organising shoots, preparing our own diary", "girl-powering this shit up". And that sometimes means getting the tube.
"I'm hands-on with the business side of things," says Keisha. "Siobhán does the creative side. And Mutya…"
Mutya's the balance, explains Siobhán.
"What it is," says Mutya, "is there's no point me trying to butt in. I know Siobhán knows her business. I know Keisha knows her business. And I know that eventually they'll tell me about it."
Mutya is like nobody I've met. She wears a leather jacket studded with metal spikes and is smothered in tattoos including one, in Latin, that she can no longer remember how to translate. She's a tireless boob adjuster, "double-Ds, dropping now." She has a habit of inserting strange punctuation into her speech, so that one sentence might unexpectedly become three.
"Jesus! I'm about to fall in. The water."
It is a week after our lunch and the girls have gathered by the River Colne in Hertfordshire for the Observer Magazine's shoot. Wearing white dresses they step off the grassy bank and into the water, wading up to their waists to have dramatic pictures taken. Siobhán is professional about the discomfort and helps to pat beasties from her bandmates' clothes. Keisha, surrounded by the floating tails of her dress, makes an unprintable joke about menstrual cycles. Mutya is struggling – her bra is waterlogged and there's pond-life everywhere. "What is it? I don't even. Fish! Dragonfly! For the love! If I get eaten by the Loch Ness monster I swear. To god."
Mutya Keisha Siobhan Photograph: Phil Fisk After a 40-minute dip the girls change their sodden outfits and take a break in the sun. Siobhán mentions her wedding, earlier in the year, to a sailor, Chris. Keisha's boyfriend, a football agent, ferries in a McDonald's. Mutya talks about her daughter, eight-year-old Tahlia. "Look at them," says Siobhán's sister, Róisin, on hand to do make-up, "married and mums".
Soon Mutya and Keisha are reminiscing about how this all started. "My parents called me from downstairs," says Keisha. "I was probably about six. They said, 'Look, look!'"
A talent show hosted by Michael Barrymore was on TV. "And there was this little Filipino girl, with long hair down her back, singing 'The Greatest Love of All'. I'd never seen anyone as small as me sing like that." Not long afterwards Keisha's family, Jamaican northwest Londoners, moved home and Keisha started at a new primary school. "She was the first person I saw, hair on the carpet – the Filipino girl from Barrymore." Mutya became a friend and they belted out "Feed the World" together in the playground.
Siobhán was another talented child, a champion Irish dancer at five. A manager introduced the young redhead to Mutya and as young teens the pair were taken to sing for label bosses, Siobhán doing the high notes, Mutya the low. When Keisha joined them they almost became "The Q-tees" but one of their managers (this was a growing crowd) suggested a different name. "We ate a lot of junk food and sweets," Keisha recalls, and by the time they were recording together, "we were the Sugar Babes. With an 'r'. I think we had to change that, legally, because Sugar Babes was a porn site or something."
'When people saw pound signs, everything changed. They took away our teenage years': (from left) Keisha, age 16; Siobhán, 17, and Mutya, 16. Photograph: Getty Keisha still has their old demo CDs. "Adorable, very 90s… I stopped listening to them after a while. I would think: 'Oh, if we were just left to it, we could have done so much.'" A deal with London Records came in 1998 and One Touch, their first album, was released in November 2000. They think back on those years with some fondness and a lot of scepticism. All-night sessions in the studio. Piercings. Snuck cigarettes. "Harmless stuff, really. And there was a lot of shit going on around us," says Siobhán. "We never did any of it." They left school at 14, to be home-tutored. Their retinue grew.
Keisha: "At one point we had eight managers."
Siobhán: "We were like: who are these people?"
Mutya: "One did this, one did that, one picked his nose."
Keisha: "Our parents were there, but…"
Mutya: "They got pushed to the side."
Keisha: "My mum doesn't know what she was thinking, now. I think we will each always have a…"
Siobhán: "A grudge."
The girls have discussed it and believe they were manipulated.
Keisha: "They'd whisper to one of us: 'You should go solo.' And to another of us: 'So-and-so doesn't like you.'"
Siobhán: "Who would do that to young girls? We thought it was a creative environment and everyone was having fun. When people saw pound signs, everything changed. That was the taking away of our teenage years, for me."
By the spring of 2001 Siobhán wanted out. She felt isolated by the tutoring ("I was in the year above the other two so I had to take lessons on my own") and depressed – possibly a side effect of taking medication for acne. On tour in Australia she told her managers she was leaving and flew home. A press release went out announcing that Siobhán had a kidney infection ("Disgusting, they didn't even call me") and within a week her replacement, Heidi, had been signed.
Mutya left in 2005 to spend more time with her daughter. Neither she nor Siobhán have particularly fond memories of trying for solo careers. Siobhán: "I think we both did it out of necessity rather than want. All you've ever known is music. And there's the question of education. What are you going to go and do?"
Siobhán released two records, the first a No 117 flop but the second, Ghosts, a critical hit ("I won't better it"). Mutya put out an album of her own, Real Girl, in 2007 and Keisha plowed on with the Sugababes. In 2007 there was another UK No 1 single, "About You Now", the Sugababes' sixth, and then in 2009 Keisha tweeted: "It was not my choice to leave."
She says she's legally constrained from discussing her departure from the Sugababes, although "it was a pack of shite, basically, their reasons for me not being in the group any more. I believe that truth always comes out in the end. And karma…"
Mutya: "Karma's a bitch."
Keisha: "That's just a universal rule."
They might have drifted back together earlier. "I saw you both at a birthday party," remembers Siobhán. "We had a chat, to clear the air, but it was in a nightclub, the timing wasn't right." One day Keisha saw Mutya on TV again; not with Barrymore this time, but Lorraine Kelly. The TV host joked that the original Sugababes should reform. Keisha (at home) and Mutya (on set) thought: Hmm. There were talks that stalled in 2009 and then in 2011 the three of them spent a day in a studio together. "The [vocal] blend was ridiculous. So we continued."
Before a comeback gig in London in January they had to watch old YouTube videos of themselves to relearn their routines. Mutya brought along eight-year-old Tahlia for support. Siobhán's family were there, and Keisha's mum. "They hadn't seen each other for years. It was emotional." At one point Keisha tried to explain the tortured history of the Sugababes to Tahlia. "She was like, 'I don't understand!' I was like, 'Look. There were many, many, many members, yeah?'"
It's time for more photographs in the river. While the girls clamber back into the chilly water, I listen to their new album. It's polished, very good in parts, a surprising seam of electropop along with the expected, hook-y R&B. One track has this plea: "Let me stay pals again." The line is Mutya's and that funny syntax makes me think she might have written it, too. As a sentiment, anyway, it makes sense.
The girls told me over lunch they expect this second run together to be a long one. "We definitely want to establish a body of work… It might never end!" Wasn't there a risk of them going through it all again, I asked, only to repeat the same mistakes? Siobhán answered. "Yeah," she said. "But that's sort of life, isn't it?"
In the murky water Siobhán leads a teetering line of original Sugababes away from the bank. Keisha chats about birthday plans. Siobhán picks pond weed from their dresses. And Mutya maintains a running commentary, talking to the water, to the sky, to anyone who'll listen.
"Go! Away! Fish!... Oh, shit me... Fish!… Tadpoles!... I'm standing on, like, a cliff?... There are little worms up and down my legs and I've got no knickers on."
The single "Flatline" is out on 15 September
"Hate it!" says Siobhán Donaghy, pulling in her shoulders.
"It makes us feel," says Keisha Buchanan, "150 years old."
What else to call them? Back in 2000 this trio debuted as the Sugababes with a bristling single, "Overload", that established them as one of the most interesting acts in millennial pop – teenagers, scowlers, minimalist dancers. The band began a piecemeal breakup almost immediately, Siobhán quitting within a year and Mutya departing in 2005. Substitutes were brought in around Keisha, who was herself replaced in 2009. A group called the Sugababes still exists, made up of new-Siobhán (Heidi Range), new-Mutya (Amelle Berrabah) and new-Keisha (Jade Ewen); an album from them is due next year. Meanwhile, the founding three have reunited to make an album of their own. A first single, "Flatline", comes out this month. They call themselves Mutya Keisha Siobhan – or MKS – now.
Well it's clearer than the alternatives I was going to suggest – the Sugadults, Splendababes, Sugababes 5.0. Or would that be a legal infringement?
"It doesn't matter who owns the name now," says Siobhán. "That's paperwork." (I take this to mean their rivals have formal rights.)
"Our music speaks for us," says Mutya.
Siobhán: "Only the three of us can write and sing the way we do."
Mutya: "Unfortunately they [the other Sugababes] don't have our vocals. Well, fortunately, actually."
Keisha: "Why are we even talking about them?"
"Everyone calls us the Sugababes anyway," says Mutya.
"Like last night on Old Compton Street," says Siobhán.
"Well, there you go."
They draw attention when they go out, Mutya Keisha Siobhan. Pop allows no definitive endings (Ginger Spice rejoined and Gary and Robbie made up; Backstreet, just this year, came back), but even so – this lot? Pals again? We meet for lunch in a London restaurant and strangers keep looming up from nearby tables to take pictures on cameraphones. I can almost hear the O, the M, the G being tapped in for Twitter dispersal. It's the original Sugababes! And I thought they couldn't stand each other…
Consider the she-said-she-said, at least as it played out in the press. Keisha once told Touch magazine that Siobhán had ditched the band, back in 2001, by going to the loo and never coming back. "After three hours we thought she's been in there a bit long," Keisha was quoted as saying, and this repeatable bit of fiction tailed Siobhán for a decade. Siobhán, for her part, once admitted: "We just didn't get on." When Mutya left the band Keisha said: "There was love there but no friendship". Siobhán, in 2004: "It was all hate, hate, hate."
"Well, our mums always got on," Siobhán tells me, over lunch.
"Even when we didn't," says Keisha.
Of mean statements in the past, they agree, "It's important we remember we were kids."
And that toilet thing, says Mutya, "was quite funny."
Siobhán: "But it kind of gets old after a while."
Mutya: "Yeah."
Keisha has always been wonderfully blunt about the pop industry – beneath the sparkle that relentless push for profit. Whenever a Sugababe left and was replaced Keisha would say something like, "That's business." Was it a business decision to reform? "No," she says. "For us it was deeply personal. Let me use the right words: people didn't allow us to enjoy the experience the first time round."
They've earned enough money, Keisha says, not to have to do this. "I own five houses. Mutya has two properties. Siobhán bought a house a year ago. Making money is amazing, absolutely, but for us the idea of getting back together was more: 'Why don't we try again, and this time enjoy it?'" During a recent fortnight in Los Angles, a trip to write and record with the producer Dev Hynes (aka Lightspeed Champion), they made time to visit theme parks. They went clubbing in Koreatown. An experiment with an over-the-counter energy supplement left them aching and hungover and wondering if they'd inadvertently taken speed to hike Runyon Canyon.
"To be honest we were pissed half the time," admits Siobhán. She is dressed in hugging jeans, boots, a patterned scarf over a vest. Her basic daily uniform, says Siobhán – and a contrast to Keisha's all-over black bodysuit and aviator jacket. At a time when Keisha was still a Sugababe and Mutya was intermittently touring her solo stuff, Siobhán had re-entered civilian life. From 2006 to 2011 she worked as a model booker in London. Sometimes clients would ask: that Siobhán? But mostly "there wasn't enough time. The phone would be ringing. Paris every season. It was a nice job."
Siobhán has a pleasant, maternal manner – "I miss my girls," she says of the young models she worked with – and it seems obvious to me she's returning to music from a more conventional world. Keisha's different. She arrives at lunch a little flustered, admitting she's not properly familiar, at 28, with public transport. A decade as a Sugababe always meant a driver, but this time the band are "taking control", "no external forces", "organising shoots, preparing our own diary", "girl-powering this shit up". And that sometimes means getting the tube.
"I'm hands-on with the business side of things," says Keisha. "Siobhán does the creative side. And Mutya…"
Mutya's the balance, explains Siobhán.
"What it is," says Mutya, "is there's no point me trying to butt in. I know Siobhán knows her business. I know Keisha knows her business. And I know that eventually they'll tell me about it."
Mutya is like nobody I've met. She wears a leather jacket studded with metal spikes and is smothered in tattoos including one, in Latin, that she can no longer remember how to translate. She's a tireless boob adjuster, "double-Ds, dropping now." She has a habit of inserting strange punctuation into her speech, so that one sentence might unexpectedly become three.
"Jesus! I'm about to fall in. The water."
It is a week after our lunch and the girls have gathered by the River Colne in Hertfordshire for the Observer Magazine's shoot. Wearing white dresses they step off the grassy bank and into the water, wading up to their waists to have dramatic pictures taken. Siobhán is professional about the discomfort and helps to pat beasties from her bandmates' clothes. Keisha, surrounded by the floating tails of her dress, makes an unprintable joke about menstrual cycles. Mutya is struggling – her bra is waterlogged and there's pond-life everywhere. "What is it? I don't even. Fish! Dragonfly! For the love! If I get eaten by the Loch Ness monster I swear. To god."
Mutya Keisha Siobhan Photograph: Phil Fisk After a 40-minute dip the girls change their sodden outfits and take a break in the sun. Siobhán mentions her wedding, earlier in the year, to a sailor, Chris. Keisha's boyfriend, a football agent, ferries in a McDonald's. Mutya talks about her daughter, eight-year-old Tahlia. "Look at them," says Siobhán's sister, Róisin, on hand to do make-up, "married and mums".Soon Mutya and Keisha are reminiscing about how this all started. "My parents called me from downstairs," says Keisha. "I was probably about six. They said, 'Look, look!'"
A talent show hosted by Michael Barrymore was on TV. "And there was this little Filipino girl, with long hair down her back, singing 'The Greatest Love of All'. I'd never seen anyone as small as me sing like that." Not long afterwards Keisha's family, Jamaican northwest Londoners, moved home and Keisha started at a new primary school. "She was the first person I saw, hair on the carpet – the Filipino girl from Barrymore." Mutya became a friend and they belted out "Feed the World" together in the playground.
Siobhán was another talented child, a champion Irish dancer at five. A manager introduced the young redhead to Mutya and as young teens the pair were taken to sing for label bosses, Siobhán doing the high notes, Mutya the low. When Keisha joined them they almost became "The Q-tees" but one of their managers (this was a growing crowd) suggested a different name. "We ate a lot of junk food and sweets," Keisha recalls, and by the time they were recording together, "we were the Sugar Babes. With an 'r'. I think we had to change that, legally, because Sugar Babes was a porn site or something."
'When people saw pound signs, everything changed. They took away our teenage years': (from left) Keisha, age 16; Siobhán, 17, and Mutya, 16. Photograph: Getty Keisha still has their old demo CDs. "Adorable, very 90s… I stopped listening to them after a while. I would think: 'Oh, if we were just left to it, we could have done so much.'" A deal with London Records came in 1998 and One Touch, their first album, was released in November 2000. They think back on those years with some fondness and a lot of scepticism. All-night sessions in the studio. Piercings. Snuck cigarettes. "Harmless stuff, really. And there was a lot of shit going on around us," says Siobhán. "We never did any of it." They left school at 14, to be home-tutored. Their retinue grew.Keisha: "At one point we had eight managers."
Siobhán: "We were like: who are these people?"
Mutya: "One did this, one did that, one picked his nose."
Keisha: "Our parents were there, but…"
Mutya: "They got pushed to the side."
Keisha: "My mum doesn't know what she was thinking, now. I think we will each always have a…"
Siobhán: "A grudge."
The girls have discussed it and believe they were manipulated.
Keisha: "They'd whisper to one of us: 'You should go solo.' And to another of us: 'So-and-so doesn't like you.'"
Siobhán: "Who would do that to young girls? We thought it was a creative environment and everyone was having fun. When people saw pound signs, everything changed. That was the taking away of our teenage years, for me."
By the spring of 2001 Siobhán wanted out. She felt isolated by the tutoring ("I was in the year above the other two so I had to take lessons on my own") and depressed – possibly a side effect of taking medication for acne. On tour in Australia she told her managers she was leaving and flew home. A press release went out announcing that Siobhán had a kidney infection ("Disgusting, they didn't even call me") and within a week her replacement, Heidi, had been signed.
Mutya left in 2005 to spend more time with her daughter. Neither she nor Siobhán have particularly fond memories of trying for solo careers. Siobhán: "I think we both did it out of necessity rather than want. All you've ever known is music. And there's the question of education. What are you going to go and do?"
Siobhán released two records, the first a No 117 flop but the second, Ghosts, a critical hit ("I won't better it"). Mutya put out an album of her own, Real Girl, in 2007 and Keisha plowed on with the Sugababes. In 2007 there was another UK No 1 single, "About You Now", the Sugababes' sixth, and then in 2009 Keisha tweeted: "It was not my choice to leave."
She says she's legally constrained from discussing her departure from the Sugababes, although "it was a pack of shite, basically, their reasons for me not being in the group any more. I believe that truth always comes out in the end. And karma…"
Mutya: "Karma's a bitch."
Keisha: "That's just a universal rule."
They might have drifted back together earlier. "I saw you both at a birthday party," remembers Siobhán. "We had a chat, to clear the air, but it was in a nightclub, the timing wasn't right." One day Keisha saw Mutya on TV again; not with Barrymore this time, but Lorraine Kelly. The TV host joked that the original Sugababes should reform. Keisha (at home) and Mutya (on set) thought: Hmm. There were talks that stalled in 2009 and then in 2011 the three of them spent a day in a studio together. "The [vocal] blend was ridiculous. So we continued."
Before a comeback gig in London in January they had to watch old YouTube videos of themselves to relearn their routines. Mutya brought along eight-year-old Tahlia for support. Siobhán's family were there, and Keisha's mum. "They hadn't seen each other for years. It was emotional." At one point Keisha tried to explain the tortured history of the Sugababes to Tahlia. "She was like, 'I don't understand!' I was like, 'Look. There were many, many, many members, yeah?'"
It's time for more photographs in the river. While the girls clamber back into the chilly water, I listen to their new album. It's polished, very good in parts, a surprising seam of electropop along with the expected, hook-y R&B. One track has this plea: "Let me stay pals again." The line is Mutya's and that funny syntax makes me think she might have written it, too. As a sentiment, anyway, it makes sense.
The girls told me over lunch they expect this second run together to be a long one. "We definitely want to establish a body of work… It might never end!" Wasn't there a risk of them going through it all again, I asked, only to repeat the same mistakes? Siobhán answered. "Yeah," she said. "But that's sort of life, isn't it?"
In the murky water Siobhán leads a teetering line of original Sugababes away from the bank. Keisha chats about birthday plans. Siobhán picks pond weed from their dresses. And Mutya maintains a running commentary, talking to the water, to the sky, to anyone who'll listen.
"Go! Away! Fish!... Oh, shit me... Fish!… Tadpoles!... I'm standing on, like, a cliff?... There are little worms up and down my legs and I've got no knickers on."
The single "Flatline" is out on 15 September
Monday, 2 September 2013
Sugababes Amelle Berrabah talks solo album: 'I'm being very picky' - Digital Spy
Sugababes Amelle Berrabah talks solo album: 'I'm being
very picky'
Published Monday, Sep 2 2013, 15:36 BST | By Robert Copsey
Since the Sugababes went on hiatus in late 2011, we've only heard small titbits about Amelle Berrabah's impending solo debut.
Currently featuring on the new Adam J and Nightcrashers single 'Love Is All We Need', we met up with her to ask how the album is coming along and whether working with a pair of DJs has persuaded her to make a dance record.
Hi Amelle. Are you pleased with the reaction to your new single 'Love Is All We Need'?
Amelle: "Definitely! Everything I've heard has been positive, which is great. Obviously I was nervous as it's the first thing I've come out with in a while after being the studio for a long time, but it's been refreshing and I'm looking forward to doing some shows."
How did the whole thing come about?
Nightcrashers: "We had the song for a while but we had been saving it for an amazing guest vocalist. We couldn't believe it when Amelle said she loved the track and would vocal it - she has an incredible voice. She nailed it straight away, and she was a positive influence in the studio."
Amelle, has it encouraged you to make more dance music for your solo album?
"It's been across the board to be honest. Some of it is quite quirky. A lot of what I write is something I've been through, done or based on someone else. I've written some really stripped back ballads as well. Obviously the label will get final say about what makes the album, but fortunately we're on the same page, which helps a lot! I'm just writing and writing all the time."
You've been recording songs for quite a while now…
"I know, it's because I'm being very picky about what will make the album! I'm glad the label have let me have time as it's my first solo album and I want to be proud of it. We're looking at releasing it early next year. It's been great to experiment and see what works for me. I've made some weird songs that will definitely never see the light of day!"
How weird are we talking here?
"The lyrics and melodies are just very quirky. There's one song where I'm putting on an accent and playing a character. It was just me losing my mind for a while, I definitely have a strange imagination!"
Are you still in touch with Heidi and Jade?
"Me and Heidi are really close and we always have been. She's really happy and I'm happy for her. Same with Jade - she's cool - she's just got back from holiday. Because you're with those people 24/7, you're always going to have that close bond."
Are Sugababes over for good then?
"We're thinking of getting back together at the end of next year. I'm currently promoting this single now, then my own album. Hopefully after that we can rebuild and see what we're going to do."
What do you think of the new original Sugababes track 'Flatline'?
"I like it! It took me a few listens, but I like the melodies. They can all sing beautifully! It's a great song."
Adam J, Nightcrashers and Amelle's 'Love Is All We Need' is out now. Watch the official music video below:
Read more: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/interviews/a511868/sugababes-amelle-berrabah-talks-solo-album-im-being-very-picky.html#ixzz2dlRdNcilCurrently featuring on the new Adam J and Nightcrashers single 'Love Is All We Need', we met up with her to ask how the album is coming along and whether working with a pair of DJs has persuaded her to make a dance record.
Hi Amelle. Are you pleased with the reaction to your new single 'Love Is All We Need'?
Amelle: "Definitely! Everything I've heard has been positive, which is great. Obviously I was nervous as it's the first thing I've come out with in a while after being the studio for a long time, but it's been refreshing and I'm looking forward to doing some shows."
How did the whole thing come about?
Nightcrashers: "We had the song for a while but we had been saving it for an amazing guest vocalist. We couldn't believe it when Amelle said she loved the track and would vocal it - she has an incredible voice. She nailed it straight away, and she was a positive influence in the studio."
Amelle, has it encouraged you to make more dance music for your solo album?
"It's been across the board to be honest. Some of it is quite quirky. A lot of what I write is something I've been through, done or based on someone else. I've written some really stripped back ballads as well. Obviously the label will get final say about what makes the album, but fortunately we're on the same page, which helps a lot! I'm just writing and writing all the time."
You've been recording songs for quite a while now…
"I know, it's because I'm being very picky about what will make the album! I'm glad the label have let me have time as it's my first solo album and I want to be proud of it. We're looking at releasing it early next year. It's been great to experiment and see what works for me. I've made some weird songs that will definitely never see the light of day!"
© Amelle Berrabah
How weird are we talking here?
"The lyrics and melodies are just very quirky. There's one song where I'm putting on an accent and playing a character. It was just me losing my mind for a while, I definitely have a strange imagination!"
Are you still in touch with Heidi and Jade?
"Me and Heidi are really close and we always have been. She's really happy and I'm happy for her. Same with Jade - she's cool - she's just got back from holiday. Because you're with those people 24/7, you're always going to have that close bond."
Are Sugababes over for good then?
"We're thinking of getting back together at the end of next year. I'm currently promoting this single now, then my own album. Hopefully after that we can rebuild and see what we're going to do."
What do you think of the new original Sugababes track 'Flatline'?
"I like it! It took me a few listens, but I like the melodies. They can all sing beautifully! It's a great song."
Adam J, Nightcrashers and Amelle's 'Love Is All We Need' is out now. Watch the official music video below:
Follow us: @digitalspy on Twitter | digitalspyuk on Facebook
Sunday, 1 September 2013
Video of Jade being drawn by a caricaturist at @TheCooperative #charity event
2 days ago
Video: @TheCooperative #charity event, a caricature artist has "drawn happiness" on @JadeEwen and; #youngcarers face
Saturday, 31 August 2013
Lovely shots of Amelle attending Lipsy 'Glam' launch
Amelle Berrabah - attending the Lipsy 'Glam' fragrance launch held at the Cumberland hotel - London, United Kingdom - Thursday 29th August 2013
Amelle Berrabah, wearing a laced purple dress with orange coloured heels, seen leaving the Mahiki Nightclub in London.
Sugababe Amelle Berrabah was also spotted, dressed in a lace midnight blue frock and orange heels.
Amelle, 29, looked far more composed than The Wanted boys and accessorised her outfit with a gold choker, gold rings, bright red lipstick and and black eyeliner.
Star-studded night: Sugarbabes Amelle Berrabah was also spotted at Mahiki on Thursday night
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2406583/The-Wanteds-Tom-Parker-Jay-McGuiness-leave-club-looking-worse-wear.html#ixzz2dTqGYDBJ
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Lacy lady: Amelle Berrabah wore a blue lace number
Representing the pop world was Sugababes singer Amelle Berrabah, who wore a blue lace sequinned Lipsy bodycon number and orange heels.
XO magazine - MUSIC: #FIRSTLISTEN AMELLE - ‘LOVE IS ALL WE NEED’
The genre of pop music can be a crazy thing, sometimes reaching soap opera proportions - especially girl groups (has there ever been a girl group spared the dramas of breakup rumours, egos, and all around cattiness?). But every now and then you’ll have a member of said group, rise above all the drama and pave their own way. Meet Amelle, who if you didn’t know is 1/3 of the current incarnation of UK mega-trio, the Sugababes. Last week saw the release of her new solo single, ‘Love Is All We Need’, a collaboration with Adam J and the Nightcrashers. The single is typical club fare - featuring dupstep-esque break downs, pulsating beats and a shimmery melody. But what really stands out with this track is Amelle’s vocals, which are as soulful and powerful as ever. This track though isn’t a representation of where her debut solo album is going though. “‘Love Is All You Need” is a really fun track and a great collaboration between Adam J and I, as it really happened quite organic and sonically, but the album will sound a little different. Its more soulful and quirky. I really experimented and took my time in seeing where I wanted to go. Which was great because my label gave me a lot of time and freedom to do so.” It was that freedom that really allowed her to create something a bit different than what people might expect. After spending a year and a half in the studio, the album is “a nice mix of everything, there’s ballads, uptempo songs, its cheeky and quirky, but most importantly its me and I just hope people are into it ya know?” Her favourite track on the album? She has two: ’Come On” ( a mid tempo ballad “very Alicia keys and sentimental as there is a real story behind it”) and ‘Wrigley’s Extra” (like the chewing gum! ) are her standouts.
While we still have a while before the album debuts (the release date is slated for early 2014), Amelle will release another collaboration track this fall, and then her big solo debut after. But for now we’ll be keeping ‘Love Is All We Need” on repeat and keeping our eyes and ears on alert for more!
f
'Love Is All We Need' is out now via Nightcrasher Records
Words | Le’Keisha Sims
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)