In the world of Spinal Tap, drummers could spontaneously combust and the show would go on. But news that the Sugababes have now ditched Keisha Buchanan, the last of the original line-up of three, yet plan to put out a new album in the coming months, may be more difficult for fans to take.

While any number of enduring acts have lost the odd musician, those that press ahead successfully without the lead vocalists are arguably rarer. Losing all three of them (by age 24) raises the question: does this Sugababes really bear any relation to what went before? Should their fans accept the personnel changing, as football fans do? Are bands now so manufactured that changing their members barely matters? Or are they all tribute bands now?