Amelle Berrabah left Sugababes to “shut off and sort her head out”

Amelle Berrabah took time away from the Sugababes to “shut off and sort her head out”.

The 25-year-old singer recently returned to the UK after spending three weeks at a German clinic where she was treated for “severe nervous exhaustion”.

The singer has revealed she fell ill after struggling to cope with the band’s change in line-up, which saw founding member Keisha Buchanan leave and singer Jade Ewan take her place. She added the stress of Keisha’s departure was hard for her and bandmate Heidi Range to deal with, especially as their relationship was strained towards the end of Keisha’s time with the group.

Amelle said today on UK breakfast show GMTV: “It was very difficult for me and Heidi at the end of the other line-up. I needed to get away to shut off totally and to sort my head out. I feel really good now though. I’m getting on well with things. It’s a really exciting time for us now Jade has joined, we’re all really looking forward to the future.”

Heidi also spoke about Keisha, saying the trio weren’t functioning properly as a group. She thanked fans for their support, and promised their new album, which has been pushed back to next year, will be worth the wait.

She said: “It kind of got to a point where it just wasn’t working. We tried for so long, but I think life’s too short to be feeling like that all the time. I don’t want to go into all the details but in the end we just couldn’t make it work. Myself and Amelle made the right decision morally. I’d also like to take the time now to say thanks to our fans. I know it’s not easy for them to accept the change, but they’ve stuck by us and we’re really thankful.”