Girl bands come and go but there's something about the Sugababes that suggests a bit of staying power.

That's not to say they're the same band they were when the original trio of 14-year-olds was formed a decade ago.

Reports of in-fighting and bitter fall-outs have surrounded the succession of line-up changes over the years and Keisha Buchanan is now the only original member.

The rumours haven't done them any harm. Sugababes are like the trendy clique of girls at school holding court in the sixth-form common room, the ones who always had perfect hair, wore the right shoes and went out with boys who had their own cars.

Compared to the cartoon-like Spice Girls and girl-next-door talent show winners Girls Aloud, there's something slightly aloof and untouchable about the Sugababes.

And the feisty edge to their music and lyrics is what has held them head and shoulders above the other over-styled pop-lite bands that have faded in and out of the charts over the past decade. Not for nothing have the 'Babes been named the most successful all-female UK act so far of the 21st century.

The Sugababes story began when Keisha and Mutya Buena, who had been friends since childhood, met Siobhan Donaghy at a party in 1998. The teenagers were introduced by manager Ron Tom who had been working with both Mutya and Siobhan. While they recorded tracks for the album that would become One Touch, it was suggested that the group might work better with a third member.

Keisha was asked if she could sing and, naturally, she could (as a six-year-old she'd appeared on Michael Barrymore's My Kind of Music TV show belting out Whitney Houston's The Greatest Love Of All), and soon she was welcomed into the 'Babes fold. The name Sugababes is said to originate from Keisha's school nickname, Sugar baby'.

When all the band members were aged just 14 they released debut single Overload which hit the Top 10 and was nominated for a Brit award for Best Single.

Other hits soon followed - New Year, Run for Cover and Soul Sound - but, during a Japanese promotional tour, Siobhan left the group, saying she wanted to pursue a fashion career.

Heidi Range, a founder member of Atomic Kitten, was announced as her replacement in 2001.

Eighteen months ago, Mutya left to have a baby and follow a solo career, and Amelle Berrabah was her replacement.

Latest single About You Now and the aptly-titled Change album saw a new, invigorated feel to the band's trademark harmonies, coupled with some unexpected changes in musical direction.

"To keep the band fresh, and to have a reason to make this album we needed to ask ourselves, What haven't we done before? What can we improve on?'" says Keisha.

"Heidi and I weren't interested in covering old ground, and it's also important that we reflected the fact that, with Amelle now in the band, the Sugababes weren't just sticking to a formula."

Amelle enjoyed the album-making process. "Joining a band so far into their career was daunting and to start with I felt there was a lot of pressure on me, but recording the album has been a surprisingly easy experience," she says. "We got in the studio and it just clicked."

From Push the Button to Hole in the Head, from Round Round to Ugly, Sugababes have sold more than two million singles, hitting the No 1 slot four times.

They've sold more than five million albums (including three triple-platinum discs in the UK) and have amassed more Top Ten singles than the Spice Girls, All Saints, Destiny's Child or Bananarama, and more Top Ten hits with original songs than any girl group since The Supremes. They're also the first girl group since the 1980s to release more than three hit albums, trouncing Destiny's Child and the Spice Girls.

Last autumn the band simultaneously topped the singles and album charts. According to the Official UK Charts Company, the last British group to do that was Take That in November 2006. Sugababes had already done it a year earlier with Push The Button, taken from their album Taller in More Ways.

The trio has become synonymous with imaginative, cutting edge, effervescent pop music, turning in some defining moments and picking up countless plaudits including two Brit awards, and a Q award.

They remain a band you can trust to deliver the goods, mainly because they appear to be fans of their own music. "None of us would get on stage and perform songs we weren't proud of," Keisha concludes. "And this time round, we're more proud than ever."

All this recording success is all well and good, but can they cut it live? You'll get chance to find out this spring when the 'Babes steer their tour bus up to our neck of the woods.

The chart-toppers are playing in Bradford and Harrogate, following in the footsteps of boy band McFly who gave the arenas a miss for a while last year in favour of a tour of smaller regional venues, which included St George's Hall.

You may even get close enough to see what colour lip gloss the girls are wearing. It'll be like being invited back into the inner sanctum of that sixth-form common room all over again.

  • The Sugababes are at St George's Hall on Monday, March 31 - for tickets ring (01274) 432000 - and at Harrogate International Centre on Friday, April 11. Ring 0845 1308840.