Siobhán Donaghy

Siobhán Donaghy
Background information
Birth name	Siobhán Emma Donaghy
Born	14 June 1984 (1984-06-14) London, England
Genres	Pop, alternative, experimental
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1998–present
Labels	London, Parlophone, EMI
Associated acts	Sugababes
Website	siobhandonaghy.co.uk

Siobhán Emma Donaghy (born 14 June 1984) is an English singer-songwriter of Irish descent. She was a founding member of girl group the Sugababes, although she left in August 2001 and was replaced by Heidi Range. Donaghy left the group after one album. Since her departure from the Sugababes, Donaghy has released five solo singles, two albums, and has appeared in a remixed version of the hit stage show Rent Remixed for its 2007–2008 run where she played Mimi alongside Denise Van Outen.

Early life and career

Donaghy was born in London, England and has two sisters named Bevin and Róisín, who works as her make-up artist.^{[citation needed]} She attended The Douay Martyrs School in Ickenham, in the London Borough of Hillingdon.^{[citation needed]} She was discovered by former All Saints manager Ron Tom, who went on to manage Sugababes.^{[citation needed]}

1998–01: Sugababes

Main article: Sugababes

The group was created when Donaghy and Mutya Buena, while working together in a studio, hooked up with Buena's best friend Keisha Buchanan. Manager Ron Tom decided they were to be a trio, and came up with the name "the Sugababies". Within a year they were offered a record contract by London Records and started calling themselves the Sugababes.

Their debut single, "Overload", was a top ten hit in the UK and was nominated for a BRIT Award for "Best Single".^{[citation needed]} It was a top five hit in Germany and New Zealand.^{[citation needed]} The group co-wrote most of the tracks on One Touch, with the help of All Saints producer Cameron McVey. One Touch produced three more top forty singles in the UK: "New Year", "Run for Cover" and "Soul Sound".^{[citation needed]}

According to Donaghy, she left the group because she never got along with Keisha Buchanan, whom she described as a bully. Donaghy became depressed (eventually being diagnosed with clinical depression) and could no longer be a part of the Sugababes. In an interview with thelondonpaper, Donaghy said: "It's difficult to leave a band and then make sort of a solo career. I left for a very good reason and I've never for a second wanted to go back there." Donaghy is still in touch with her former colleague, Buena, saying she is always pleased to see her.

In March 2010, it was reported that Donaghy's former bandmate, Mutya Buena, was pursuing legal rights to the Sugababes name. Buena was doing it by herself and only listed Donaghy and Buchanan's names on the documentation to register the Sugababes' name with the EU's trademark office OHIM.

2002–05: Revolution in Me

Donaghy started writing music with the help of former producer Cameron McVey to help overcome her depression, and began performing under the alias of "Shanghai Nobody", an anagram of "Siobhán Donaghy".^{[citation needed]} In March 2003, Donaghy released the 7-inch vinyl single "Nothing but Song" under this title as she did not want to be known as "the girl who left the Sugababes".^{[citation needed]} For the release of her first commercial single in June 2003, "Overrated" (co-written with McVey and Paul Simm), Donaghy reverted to her given name. "Overrated" peaked at number nineteen in the United Kingdom.^{[citation needed]} It was followed by the single "Twist of Fate", which was released in September 2003 and charted at number thirty-seven.^{[citation needed]}

Donaghy's debut album Revolution in Me was released by London Records in September 2003, and entered the UK Albums Chart at number 57.^{[citation needed]} Working with her on the album were father-son producers and writers Cameron McVey and Marlon Roudette from Mattafix. Each of the twelve tracks on the album were co-written by Donaghy with McVey, Silvio Pacini, Preetesh Hirji, Matt Kent and others.

In 2005, Donaghy appeared as a backing vocalist on the Mattafix album Signs of a Struggle and on the Morcheeba album The Antidote.

2006–08: Ghosts

Donaghy parted with London Records in a mutual decision with the company.^{[citation needed]} She recorded a second album independently which was picked up by Parlophone, part of the EMI group, which also bought the rights to Revolution in Me. The album's title track, "Ghosts", was released in February 2007 as a 12-inch promotional two-track single with the song "Don't Give It Up". The latter song was given a wider release in April 2007 and peaked at number twenty-three on the UK Singles Chart.^{[citation needed]} The second single, "So You Say", was released in June 2007 and peaked at number seventy-six.^{[citation needed]} A remix of "Don't Give It Up" by Jerry Bouthier is featured on the Kitsune release BoomBox, released in November 2007.

The album, Ghosts, was also released in June 2007 and peaked at number seventy-three.^{[citation needed]} Donaghy had said of the release that she wanted commercial success only so that she could continue to make music. She told The London Paper: "I make left field pop music, and it's a difficult genre to be in because it's not straight pop, it's not alternative, and it's quite hard to market. You have to push it and work it." The album was recorded in a small studio near Barneville-Carteret, France with producer James Sanger;^{[citation needed]} other producers/songwriters include Jony Rockstar, Carl McIntosh ("There's a Place"), Ben Ranyard ("12 Bar Acid Blues"), Charles Lucy of Lucy Tuning ("Sometimes") and Marius De Vries.

Donaghy appeared as the character of Mimi, a lead role, in the William Baker-directed production of RENT in London's West End at the Duke of York's Theatre, which opened in October 2007 and ran until February 2008. She said she was "overwhelmed that she got the part and was looking forward to the challenge". In August 2007 she flew to New York to watch RENT on Broadway to get inspiration for her interpretation of her part. This was Donaghy's West End debut.

2009–present: Third Album and reforming Sugababes

In a January 2009 interview with the music site We7, Donaghy indicated that there will be no further solo albums released for the time being. "At this point in time I have no further plans to undertake another record of my own. Ultimately, the true nature of the business side of the music industry is enough to keep me away. Nonetheless, if I find myself in the future bursting with ideas and experiences I feel the need to share through music, I will be back," Donaghy stated.

In June 2009, Donaghy was featured on the Square1 single "Styfling" produced by Silvio Pacini. Later in the year, she said in an interview with fashion site ponystep.com that she feels she had "had the break" she wanted from the industry and was currently working on new music but was unsure when it will be finished. Donaghy has been working with The Sound of Arrows, Saturday Night Gym Club, Magik Johnson, Max Tundra, Metronomy, and Ed Mcfarlane of Friendly Fires.^{[citation needed]}

Rumours of the original line up of Sugababes reforming had been circulating around online for various months but with all members denying any intrest in reforming. On 26 January 2012 Emile Sande confirmed that the band where reforming speaking to MTV saying "Yes, that is true. I've written for the original line-up of the Sugababes, which I'm very happy about because I just loved them when they first came out. I loved their sound, it was so cool. It was very different, so I'm happy to kind of be involved in what started the whole Sugababes journey. It sounds amazing." Keisha tweeted on January 5: "Hanging out in the studio with Professor Green and two lovely ladies with bags of talent" Mutya followed by tweeting "At studio with Professor Green in the building and two beautiful ladies" Although the original trio will not be able to relase under the name Sugababes due to it currently still being used by the current members of the band.

Artistry

Donaghy has received wide acclaim for not only her songwriting ability but also her singing style, Amy Raphael of The Observer stated that her voice was 'Incredibly Soulful' and had a sense of 'Purity' to it, whilst Cameron McVey himself spoke of Donaghy saying 'She sings like someone from the late Fifties. Like one of Phil Spector's girls.'.

Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian complimented Donaghy's vocal abilities calling her voice 'rich' and again stating its 'soulful' sound without becoming overbearing. Whist he also criticized her music for not being as established sounding as her voice, he did feel the music was genuine and lacked the usual 'cliches' of certain other themes.

Also commenting on her voice was Nick Levine of Digital Spy adding that Siobhán has not only the ability to sing with great conviction but can also build up her voice to a bolder and more audacious sound all with apparent ease.

Discography

See also: Sugababes discography

Albums

Year	Album details	UK Albums Chart peak position
2003	Revolution in Me Released: 29 September 2003 First solo studio album Label: London Formats: CD, digital download	112
2007	Ghosts Released: 25 June 2007 Second studio album Label: Parlophone Formats: CD, digital download	92

Singles

Year	Song	Chart peak positions				Album
		UK	IRE	NED	EU
2003	"Nothing but Song"	—	—	—	—	Revolution In Me
	"Overrated"	19	33	75	86
	"Twist of Fate"	52	—	—	—
2007	"Don't Give It Up"	45	—	—	—	Ghosts
	"So You Say"	76	—	—	—

As a featured artist

Year	Song	Chart peak positions				Album
		UK	IRE	NED	EU
2009	"Styfling" (Square 1 featuring Siobhan Donaghy)	—	—	—	—

Music videos

Year	Song	Director(s)
2003	"Overrated"	Big TV!
	"Twist of Fate"	Nick Wood
2007	"Don't Give It Up"	Sophie Muller
	"So You Say"	Jamie Thraves

Theatre appearances

Year	Production	Role	Theatre
2007 / 2008	Rent	Mimi	Duke of York's Theatre, London

External links

• Official website
• Siobhán Donaghy at Allmusic
• Siobhán Donaghy at the Internet Movie Database