Mutya Buena

Mutya Buena

Mutya Buena is a British pop and R&B singer from Kingsbury, United Kingdom. She first comes to prominence in the early 2000s as a member of Sugababes, one of the UK’s most successful girl groups, before later pursuing a solo career and a short-lived return to the original group line-up.

Sugababes

Buena joins Sugababes alongside Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy, with Buchanan and Buena knowing each other from school and Donaghy joining them at a music recording studio in 1998. Buena leaves the group in December 2005, after becoming unable to promote the follow-up single “Ugly”. She is replaced by Amelle Berrabah shortly afterwards.

The group achieves major commercial success, with four platinum-selling albums, six number one singles, a platinum-selling greatest hits album and a BRIT Award. After Buena’s departure, the original members later reform under the name Mutya Keisha Siobhan.

Solo work

After leaving Sugababes, Buena signs with Universal Island Records and begins work on her debut solo album. Her first UK single as a solo artist is “This Is Not Real Love”, a ballad duet with George Michael, which reaches number 15 and also appears on Michael’s Twenty Five compilation. She tours with Michael on the London and Manchester dates of his 25 Live tour.

Her debut solo album Real Girl appears in 2007 and reaches number 10 in the UK. The title track becomes a major hit, reaching number 2 and earning a BRIT Award nomination for Best Single. The song samples Lenny Kravitz’s “It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over” and is produced by Full Phat. The album also includes the duet with Michael and is featured on the Sex and the City, Vol 2: More Music soundtrack. Real Girl is later certified gold.

Further releases and collaborations

Buena works with a range of artists and producers after leaving Sugababes, including Amy Winehouse, George Michael and Groove Armada. Her collaboration with Groove Armada, “Song 4 Mutya (Out of Control)”, reaches number 8 in the UK charts. She also releases “Just a Little Bit”, which reaches number 65, and “B Boy Baby”, a reworking of The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” with Amy Winehouse, which reaches number 73.

She covers Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” for BBC Radio 1’s “Radio 1 Established 1967” anniversary project. In 2007 she performs at V Festival and T4 On The Beach, and she also fronts Jill Scott’s band on Later... with Jools Holland when Scott is unable to appear.

Later career

Buena announces in 2010 that she is stepping away from music to focus on training as a child psychologist, but she returns the following year after time spent raising her daughter. Her comeback single, “Give Me Love”, is released in May 2011. In 2012, the original Sugababes line-up’s regrouping under the name Mutya Keisha Siobhan is officially confirmed, and the first new material emerges in early 2013 with a short a cappella preview of “Boys”.