Keisha Buchanan broke down in tears only hours after she announced that she had been forced out of the Sugababes. The 24-year-old singer, the last founding member of one of Britain's biggest girl bands, tried to put on a brave face last night by going out in public.

It's my time: Jade Ewen and Keisha Buchanan

When Keisha arrived in the VIP section of the Red Bull Fashion Factory party her friends, including Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child and Oritse Williams of JLS, flocked to support her.

A statement on Keisha's Twitter page last night said she was “no longer a part of the Sugababes” but it was not her decision to leave. Our spy at the London Fashion Week party, in New Oxford Street, said: “Michelle was the first to share words of encouragement. But it all got too much for Keisha, who started to cry in the middle of the party and Oritse from JLS had to comfort her.

“It was heartbreaking. She felt devastated about what happened and thinks everyone thinks she's a b***h when she did everything she could to make it work between her and Heidi and Amelle.”

We can also reveal that Keisha's Sugababe replacement, 21-year-old Jade Ewen, was poached from her own record label a week ago, despite releasing her single My Man only yesterday. A source told us: “Jade was approached by the Sugababes' record label Island last week and pretty much bundled onto a plane to LA on the same day, where they were shooting the next video.”

Jade represented the UK in this year's Eurovision Song Contest, singing My Time. The source added: “Her profile's pretty big since Eurovision, but she felt she couldn't say no. Her own record label didn't even know she had gone, so were getting panicky.”