Bad to the bone?

Apr 19 2008 by Gavin Allen, South Wales Echo

Two arrests, a near fatal machete attack and another set of No1 hits. ‘Last Sugababe through the door’ Amelle Berrabah tells GAVIN ALLEN that the bad-girl group is a far easier place to be these days ...

SUGABABES’ reputation for in-house girlie goss is so well known that even their newest member admits she was worried about joining the group.

For a three-piece group to have gone through two line-up changes is impressive, even by disposable pop standards.

And the departures have happened against a backdrop of tabloid tales about serious unrest in the camp.

In 2005, Mutya Buena became the second founding member to quit and while the singer tasked with replacing her was excited by the huge opportunity in front of her, she was afraid all those rumours were true.

“I used to think it myself before I joined,” said Amelle Berrabah about the girl group’s reputation.

“I thought they would be bitchy to me, not nice girls in general, but as it turns out you couldn’t wish to meet two nicer people.

“Heidi is so sweet and lovely and Keisha is just the friendliest, funniest girl you could ever meet.

“But we still get that... I think (the band’s reputation) is painted onto the Sugababes.”

Given the band’s “difficult” status, I was prepared for an awkward interview but Berrabah proved friendly and bubbly. Unfortunately for the singer, her tenure with the band has done little to alter their bad-girl image because she has – unintentionally – attracted most of the recent headlines.

Her soap-opera story began in January 2007 when her boyfriend Freddie Fuller was accused of alleged rape by her younger sister, Samiya, a claim Fuller strenuously denied.

That drove a wedge between the couple and they split, only to reunite when Fuller was released without charge.

But even that paled in comparison to the horror story that awaited the couple in December 2007 when Fuller was attacked with a machete in the couple’s hometown of Aldershot and almost killed.

Berrabah was sat next to Fred in their Manchester hotel bedroom during our interview, where she spoke about the tabloid frenzy that followed.

This included pictures of Fred body-wrapped in bandages on the front page of the News Of The World.

“It was hard, there’s no other word for it,” said Berrabah, who will be 24 on Tuesday.

“It was emotionally draining and I just wanted to crawl into a hole, I’ve never felt so low.

“I know Fred had never felt so down in his life either.

“When all the crap was being said about us we felt really frustrated that people were judging us without knowing us at all, and that was just wrong. “When it was all going off it did put a hell of a strain on the relationship but it has definitely brought us closer and we are chilled out now.

“Hopefully this year we can move on.”

Berrabah has also had to endure being arrested twice in the last year – once for criminal damage and once for assault – and on both occasions she has been released without charge.

So is the Sugababes’ bad-girl reputation sticking to her too, I wonder?

“Yes, it has definitely stuck,” sighed Berrabah, who is back on the road touring the group’s latest CD Change.

“We’ve been on road for a few weeks now and I’d been looking forward to it.

“It’s been good to get away from people and things and just forget about stuff.”

Being embraced by the warm bosom of the band isn’t an image that computes when that band is Sugababes.

But Berrabah contends that there’s a lot more harmony between the members now. “I think it was hard on the girls knowing that the third person in the band didn’t want to be there,” she offers.

“But now we know that all three of us want to be here and are all driven towards the same thing, towards getting better and better.”

Sugababes perform at Cardiff International Arena on Wednesday. Tickets cost £26 from 029 2022 4488.