Amelle Berrabah has quit the Sugababes. UK Eurovision entrant Jade Ewen will now replace the singer and join Keisha Buchanan and Heidi Range in the pop trio.

The 25-year-old’s decision follows reports she walked out on the group following a huge fight with Keisha earlier this month. At that time, no one could contact the brunette beauty - whose recent collaboration with rapper Tinchy Stryder, “Never Leave You,” topped the UK singles chart - for days, leading her family to mistakenly fear she had been kidnapped.

“She is deeply unhappy at the moment and is scared of Keisha. She still loves the band and the last thing she wants to do is quit. But the problem needs to be addressed because she feels she is being bullied,” a friend said. “Keisha will criticize her throughout the day and it has been going on for months. It has got worse since Amelle had the Tinchy Stryder single and featured big-time in the “Get Sexy” video. Keisha is very dominating, while Amelle is quite placid.”

The Sugababes - who are preparing to release their new album Sweet 7 - have a history of bust-ups within the band and Amelle is the fifth member of the trio to quit.

Heidi replaced original member Siobhan Donaghy in 2001, while Amelle was brought in after founding member Mutya Buena walked out on the girl group in 2005.