1998–2005: Early career and Sugababes In 1998, at age 13, Buena, along with
Siobhán Donaghy and
Keisha Buchanan, formed the Sugababes. The group were managed by Ron Tom, who had previously managed the British girl group
All Saints. Buena and Buchanan had known each other since they were eight years old, while Donaghy had been managed by Tom over the prior two years. Their debut single, "
Overload", was released on 11 September 2000, and reached the top ten on the
UK Singles Chart. It was nominated for a
BRIT Award for "Best British Single" in 2001. The album spawned three further singles, two of which reached the UK top twenty. Sugababes second album,
Angels with Dirty Faces, was released in August 2002 through
Island Records. Influenced by the
new wave,
dance, and pop music of the 1980s, the record enjoyed success in the UK, where it reached number two and went triple platinum.
Three, Sugababes' third album, was released in October 2003. It reached number three in the UK and produced four singles, all of which reached the UK top ten. The group's fourth album,
Taller in More Ways, was released in October 2005. The album reached number one and went double platinum in the UK. In a retrospective interview in 2025, Buena revealed that if she had been allowed a one month break from the group after the birth of her daughter, she would have stayed. The last remaining original member, Buchanan, said upon Buena's departure, "...we will all miss Mutya, but we also knew there was still a place for bringing in somebody new who could help us carry on taking the Sugababes brand of music forward".
Amelle Berrabah joined the group two days after Buena's departure. It was released in November 2006, reaching number 15 in the UK, and the top ten in Italy and Denmark. Her debut solo single, "
Real Girl", was released in May 2007. It reached number two in the UK, and was shortlisted for "Best British Single" at the 2008 BRIT Awards. The song samples
Lenny Kravitz's song "
It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over", and was produced by London-based production company Full Phat, consisting of
Matt Ward and Dean Gillard. "Real Girl" was also featured on the
Sex and the City, Vol 2: More Music Soundtrack. Buena's debut album,
Real Girl, was released on 4 June 2007, and peaked at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart. The track "
Song 4 Mutya (Out of Control)", her collaboration with dance duo
Groove Armada from their album
Soundboy Rock (2007), was released in the UK in July 2007. It peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart, and spent seven weeks in the top forty. The fourth release from
Real Girl, "
Just a Little Bit", reached number 65 in the UK. Buena also collaborated with
Amy Winehouse, on a re-working of the track "
Be My Baby" by
the Ronettes titled "
B Boy Baby", which reached number 73 in the UK. Buena was nominated for the "Best UK Newcomer" award at the 2007
MOBO Awards, which took place on 19 September 2007. In December 2007,
Real Girl was certified gold by the
British Phonographic Industry (BPI), denoting sales of 100,000 copies in the country. On 12 February 2008, Buena was dropped by Island Records due to the poor charting positions of her last two singles from
Real Girl, "Just a Little Bit" and "B Boy Baby". In October 2008, Buena appeared on ''
Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong''. In 2009, Buena collaborated with various
independent artists, including on
Ashley Walters' single "With You", from his album
Ashley Walters, the
Don-E track "The Time Is Now", "Fallin" with Agent X, and "Give Back" with Tah Mac. Buena also joined an array of artists to feature on the debut single of the London-based production duo NightShift, titled "Can You Persuade Me", a remix of "
I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" (2009) by
Pitbull. On 2 January 2009, Buena entered
Celebrity Big Brother 6 as a housemate. On 16 January 2009, Day 15 of the series, she walked out of the Big Brother house after surviving eviction the same night, admitting to missing her daughter. In March 2010, six months after Buchanan's departure from the Sugababes, Buena filed a claim for ownership of the band's name with the European Trademark Authority. Though Buchanan and Donaghy's names appear on the trademark submission, it was confirmed that Buena was the sole applicant for submission and Donaghy and Buchanan were not involved. The fourth line-up launched an opposition to the claim on the basis that goodwill and reputation in the mark and trading name "Sugababes" belongs to the partnership – not an individual. In September 2010, Buena contributed to six tracks on the album
The Sound of Camden, which was recorded in Israel with music producer Roy Sela. The album explores themes from
Camden Town market in London, and has been available for purchase at the market itself and online. Buena recorded a series of covers of rock songs from rock bands such as
U2,
the Pixies and
Iron Maiden, in a "chilled-out-lounge style". In October 2010, Buena expressed uncertainty about continuing in the music industry and said she was currently training to become a psychologist for children. Despite the announcement, Buena teamed up with City Boy Soul, a band consisting of ex-
Damage singer Coree Richards and British rapper
Gak Jonze, and digitally released "Be Ok" in January 2011. Buena also recorded lead vocals for "Give Me Love", penned by UK DJ/Producer Paul Morrell. Buena performed at Birmingham
Gay Pride on 28 May 2011. In December 2011, a
video blog posted by The Sabotages Studio revealed that Buena was set to release "My Love" featuring Thor Alaye in early 2012, and "Bedroom" featuring Shide Boss that same year.
2011–2017: Forming Mutya Keisha Siobhan In October 2011, several news outlets reported that the original line-up of the
Sugababes would reform. In January 2012, further circulations that the group would reunite were sparked, after both Buena and Buchanan
tweeted they were in the studio with "two other females" and British rapper
Professor Green. However, Buena later denied this on Twitter, saying: "No track [with] keisha or professor G he was around tha studio. im jus workin on my stuff @ tha moment. (sic)" In April 2012, it was reported that the line-up had signed a £1 million record deal with
Polydor Records. In June 2012, Donaghy confirmed on Twitter that new music would be released, saying: "the soonest it'll be is in 2 weeks. The latest is 10 weeks." In July 2012, it was officially confirmed the group had reformed under the name Mutya Keisha Siobhan and were writing songs for a new album under Polydor. The group appeared on the cover of fashion magazine
Ponystep in December 2012. That same month, they performed an intimate gig at
Ponystep's New Year's Eve party. The performance marked the first time Buena, Buchanan and Donaghy had performed together in over a decade. On 26 March 2013, the group featured on a remix of
Phoenix's single "
Entertainment". Mutya Keisha Siobhan's first single, "
Flatline", was released in June 2013. The track experienced moderate commercial success, peaking at number 50 in the UK. MKS performed their first official headlining gig at Scala on 1 August. On 6 November 2013, Buena said that she was open to reclaiming the Sugababes name. In November 2013, the group embarked on the Sacred Three Tour, playing six dates across the UK. In February 2014, Buena attended the
NME Awards 2014 as part of Mutya Keisha Siobhan, where the trio performed with English electronic music band
Metronomy. On 13 February 2015, the group released the single "Back in the Day".
2017–present: Solo projects and return to Sugababes In March 2017, Buena started her own music
agency, called Colour of Musiq. In April 2018, Buena was featured on the track "Game Over" with Rockwell, JSTN and Rico Flames, and also appeared in its music video. Around this time, Buena began undertaking various television projects. She appeared in an episode of
MTV's
Just Tattoo of Us, and appeared in series five of the British dating
reality series
Celebs Go Dating on
E4. In 2019, she participated in the
fourth series of the British reality
game show Celebrity Coach Trip paired with
So Solid Crew member
Lisa Maffia. The couple won the series. In September 2019, Buena, along with Donaghy and Buchanan, regained rights to the Sugababes name which allowed Mutya Keisha Siobhan to use their original group name. Buena resumed releasing music with the Sugababes after the group regained the rights to their name, recording a cover of the
Sweet Female Attitude song "
Flowers" for
DJ Spoony's album
Garage Classical (2019). The group had planned to release further new music in 2020, but the plans were later put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2020, she released the single "Black Valentine", on which she has writing credit, in collaboration with London-based pop duo Electric Pineapple. Later that year, she expressed an interest in releasing an
R&B album. On 20 May 2022, Buena released the single "Takin' It Easy" alongside Morfius. In 2022, Buena, as part of Sugababes, appeared at various festivals, embarked on a headline tour and released
The Lost Tapes, an album consisting of their 2013 single "Flatline" and previously unreleased material. In April 2023, Buena released the single "All I Own", in collaboration with Dutch-Filipino DJ and producer
Laidback Luke. On 15 September 2023, Buena, along with Buchanan and Donaghy, released their first solo single under the Sugababes name since reclaiming it, titled "
When the Rain Comes", to positive reception. The group performed the song on
The Graham Norton Show,''
and on Jools' Annual Hootenanny.'' In September 2024, Buena appeared as a contestant on the nineteenth series of
Celebrity MasterChef. She was eliminated in the third round. In 2025, Buena, as part of the Sugababes,
self-released the singles "
Jungle", "
Weeds", and "
Shook", and embarked on the
Sugababes '25 arena tour between April and May. In November 2025, she released her autobiography
Real Girl, and appeared as a guest judge on the
seventh series of ''
RuPaul's Drag Race UK''. == Personal life ==