DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS 
P R E S S  R E L E A S E
www.dfa.gov.ph                                                                             2330 Roxas Blvd., Pasay City, Philippines                                                                        Tel. No. 834-4000 
SFA-AGR-757-07                                                                                                                                                       2 Oct 2007

FILIPINO RISING STAR  NOMINATED IN UK MUSIC AWARD  

01 October 2007 – The Philippine Embassy in London reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that Ms. Mutya Buena, a rising pop star of Filipino-Irish descent, was nominated at the 2007 British “Music of Black Origin “ (MOBO) Awards held at 02 Arena in London on 19 September. The MOBO Awards was established in 1996 to celebrate black music such as soul, hip hop and reggae, performed by artists from any background.  

Buena, was a former member of Sugababes, a British award-winning pop group trio. She left her band after giving birth to a baby girl in 2005. During her stint with the group, she accomplished 18 singles, five of which topped in the UK , and 5 albums reaching the top 40 charts worldwide. The band also produced a No. 1 charity single with Band Aid 20.  

Sugababes is one of the few British groups to have all albums in the top 15. It is also privileged to gain more top ten hits with original songs than any other girl band since the era of the Supremes, Destiny’s Child and Banarama. The group won a British award for “Best Dance Act” in 2003. In 2006, it was named the UK all-female act of the 21st century from British Hit Singles and Albums, beating international acts such as Britney Spears and Madonna.    

Ms. Buena is now going solo and has just released her debut album, Real Girl, which includes collaboration with famous acts such as Amy Winehouse, George Michael, Groove Armada, Johnny Douglas, Tah Mac, and MC Viper.  

Real Girl, which was released in June 2007, consistently remained in the top 40 for three weeks, and contains the hit single by the album’s title track “Real Girl”, which entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 11 on downloads alone, climbing to No. 2 after its physical release date. “Song 4” Mutya”, another single from the same album, peaked at No. 8.  

In November 2006, her duet with Michael “This is Not Real Love” reached No. 15 in the UK charts. The song also appeared on George Michael’s Greatest Hits album Twenty Five. Ms. Buena also toured with Michael and both performed the song live on the London and Manchester leg of his Twenty Five Live tour.  

Mutya Buena was also featured on Mac’s album track “Give Back” and on a track on Armada’s album Soundboy Rock. END.

/Gary

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