KOKOnista Of The Day: Keisha Buchanan Is The Courageous Singer Fighting Systemic Racism In British Music Industry

Keisha Buchanan is a British singer and songwriter and was a founding member of the girl group Sugababes alongside Mutya Buena and Siobhán Donaghy. With the Sugababes, Buchanan had six number one singles and two number one studio albums, making the Sugababes one of the most successful British pop acts of the 21st century.

 

Keisha Buchanan was born on 30 September 1984 in Westminster, London to parents of Jamaican descent. She first met and befriended future Sugababes member Mutya Buena in primary school. She recognised her from an appearance on a talent contest TV show presented by Michael Barrymore.

In May 1998, Siobhán Donaghy and Mutya Buena, both aged just 13, had been signed as solo artists, but decided to work together after performing at the same showcase. While working in the studio, Buena invited her best friend Keisha Buchanan to watch them. Manager Tom decided the three girls were to be a trio, likening their different appearances to the United Colors of Benetton campaign. Originally dubbed the Sugababies, the group’s name was tweaked to Sugababes when they were signed by London Records to give the group a more mature image.

Buchanan was asked to leave the group in September 2009 and was replaced by Jade Ewen. In October 2019, Buchanan returned to the group alongside the other two original members.

On 20 July 2012, Buchanan and her former Sugababes colleagues, Buena and Donaghy confirmed their reunion. The original trio was not able to release music under the name “Sugababes” as it was still being used by the then-current members of the group. Instead they released music under the new name, Mutya Keisha Siobhan before securing the legal rights to the Sugababes name in 2019.

Keisha explained that she was often portrayed as an instigator of the band’s fights – saying that she now believes this was an example of systemic racism.

She said: ‘I believe that systemic racism comes in all different forms and if you’re abusing someone’s character to manipulate them… it’s based on perception.

‘The press side – some people had never met me and just decided I was the instigator of situations, and no one ever gave me the chance to say actually what happened. We know in life there are always two sides to every story.’

Photo Credit: Getty