A DECADE has passed since the Sugababes last released music but any hopeful fans out there are going to have to wait even longer.
I’ve learned plans to reunite for their 20th anniversary have been scrapped after the pandemic scuppered their chances to get in the studio or perform,
Original members Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy had been due to launch a comeback — which was announced in this very column — last year.
But the girls have now decided to do their own thing after their anniversary passed without them able to get together.
Keisha has now moved to Canada, where she is pursuing an acting career, while Mutya is working on a solo EP.
Siobhan was also reluctant to get into the studio with the girls after restrictions eased last year because she was extra cautious of Covid-19 due to her young son. During an Instagram Live at the weekend, Keisha admitted: “We had so many plans for last year.
“2020 was our anniversary year, we built it up to do so many things but it didn’t happen, so we have to restructure.
“We just have to be motivated to do it and passionate about it and once we are actually in the studio it flows really easily for us.
“But it’s about getting us all on the same page on the same date and the pandemic makes it really tricky.
“It just has to be organic and be on the same page as far as our schedules are concerned.”
However, that could be a long way off given Keisha’s move across the Atlantic, where she is determined to make it as an actress.
She added: “I’ve been taking acting classes. I did land a role but the virus has put a pause on everything there as well.”
Siobhan left the group in 2001, followed by Mutya in 2005 and Keisha in 2009.
The replacement members stopped making music in 2011.
In total, the group notched up six No1 singles.
Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan released a track called Flatline in 2013 under the name MKS, before winning back the rights to the Sugababes brand.
At this rate, life won’t be sweet for the Sugababes any time soon.
WHAT do a Pussycat Doll and an ex-Towie regular have in common?
Not a lot actually, given that Brentwood is worlds away from the A-list heights of being in the biggest girl band.
But when it comes to fashion it seems Ashley Roberts and Ferne McCann are a match made in heaven.
My colleague Andy Halls today shared a picture of Ferne wearing this chic striped dress from Karen Millen on his Biz TV page.
And not long afterwards, Ashley emerged from her stint on the airwaves at Heart FM in London in exactly the same outfit.
She showed off her legs in a pair of matching lime green court shoes.
Sorry Ferne, Ashley wins this one.
JACK Savoretti says escaping London has given him a renewed drive to combat environmental issues.
The singer, now in Oxfordshire, said: “Since moving to the countryside I’ve become very much more in touch with the im-portance of nature. When I lived in London I had this constant sort of rage about it, where I thought, ‘This isn’t good enough’.
“You smell pollu- tion, felt it, saw it, even tasted it at times.”
He’s now backing campaign AddressPollution.org to allow Londoners to see the air quality in their area.
THE Eurovision Song Contest is pushing through with plans to have all acts performing on stage in Rotterdam on May 22.
But artists, including the UK’s James Newman, will have to stick to strict distancing rules.
Show chief Martin Osterdahl said: “The spirit and tradition of the Eurovision Song Contest is about uniting Europe on one stage and we are very much still determined to achieve this in Rotterdam. This protocol demonstrates our commitment to make this happen.”
JOEL Corry was the most successful DJ of lockdown, going to No1 for six weeks with Head & Heart last summer.
But now he’s got a record-breaking plan to celebrate the end of restrictions – by playing the longest-ever DJ set on June 21, if clubs are finally able to reopen.
He said: “I’m going to find out what the Guinness World Record is for the longest DJ set and break it. They won’t get me off those decks on June 21.
“DJing is my love in life and being forced to stop doing it has only made me realise how lucky I am to do this.
“When I go back to touring again I’m going to be grateful for every moment.”
Despite Joel’s love of club bangers, when asked what his first album was, he said: “My friends will kill me for this one, but my mum got me ABBA Gold when I was ten or 11 for Christmas.”
As for his record bid, the current holder of the longest club DJ set is Norberto Loco, in Dublin in 2014, at 200 hours.
That’s more than eight days straight.
Joel had better make sure he gets his beauty sleep while he still can.
THE Isle of Wight Festival has been pushed back three months in the hope it can still go ahead.
The four-day event was originally scheduled for June but has been moved to September 16 to 19, when Lionel Richie, Lewis Capaldi and Duran Duran are due to headline.
LOOKS like Ava Max was just too peckish after her hair and make-up session as she tucked into a delicious-looking snack.
The Sweet But Psycho singer, who shared the photo after performing on US telly, released her debut album Heaven & Hell last September, when it reached No2 here. However, in November it was snubbed in the nominations for the Grammy Awards, which take place in a fortnight.
But Ava certainly doesn’t seem too fussed about getting a nomination, now or in future.
She said: “If it happens, it happens. I’ll be grateful, but I don’t live my life for awards. I live my life to make people happy and to give, and giving is my number-one priority.”
Good for her.
SOPHIE Ellis-Bextor claims Radio 1 stopped playing her music after she had her first child, Sonny, in 2004. The singer, who’s had six top ten singles and now has five children, said: “Being a mum in the pop world just felt like very awkward bedfellows and I felt like a lot of doors that had started to open had started to close in regards to that.”
She told Jay Rayner’s Out To Lunch podcast: “It might have been in my mind but on Radio 1 they probably don’t play many women in their 20s with a couple of kids.”
TARON Egerton showed Tom Cruise how it’s done as he wrapped filming on the film Tetris.
Tom’s Mission: Impossible has been on and off for the past year, but Taron – with a new ’tache – was able to celebrate the end of shoot- ing in Scotland.
He wrote on Instagram: “We made a whole movie in a pandemic and I couldn’t be prouder of everyone involved.”
The Apple+ movie is expected to explore the legal battles over ownership of the game.
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