US group Fifth Harmony has become the latest casualty of the pop world with Camila Cabello jumping ship, leaving them as a four-piece.
Finding yourselves without a crucial member of the act is an occupational hazard for groups, as many have discovered.
Camila has said that she was “shocked” to read the statement that Fifth Harmony put out about discovering that she was leaving them through her reps, calling it “simply not true”, and promises to be back with some solo work in the new year.
So while we await Camila’s next project and whatever’s left for the remainder of Fifth Harmony, let’s take a look back over some of pop’s most shocking splits.
Take That
Teens called in sick to school, fans appeared on TV chat shows to talk through their despair and the nation went into mourning – when Robbie Williams left Take That in 1995, it seemed like the split to end all splits.
He went on to provide celebrity gossip pages with a wealth of stories as he abandoned his clean boyband image in favour of boozing, piling on the pounds and befriending the Gallagher brothers, before launching an incredibly successful solo career.
But Take That fans needn’t have worried, as once their days of teenage angst were behind them, they found their favourite group reformed with various line-ups, including Robbie back on stage with his old pals for a while.
Spice Girls
The other great pop rift of the 90s came when Geri Halliwell walked out on the Spice Girls in 1998.
Mel C has since revealed that Mel B and Geri had both quit a few times before then but managed to patch things up, until the day that Ginger Spice had finally had enough.
Geri, of course, turned to her male counterpart, Robbie, for advice as she went it alone and embarked on a solo career, while the rest of the girls managed another two years before they finally called it a day in 2000.
One Direction
For those who weren’t old enough (or even around) to be devastated by the splits of the 90s, the most traumatic break-up of recent times has to be Zayn Malik leaving One Direction.
Since forming on The X Factor, scoring a string of number one hits, releasing their own film and winning adoration worldwide, it seemed like the future was rosy for the boys.
But then came the bombshell that Zayn wasn’t happy and for some inexplicable reason wanted to be “a normal 22-year-old” (although he later admitted that got boring after two weeks), and off he went to work on his own music with producer Naughty Boy, breaking millions of hearts in the process.
The rest of One Direction rallied round and kept it together but, with the lads working on various solo projects, is this the end of the group?
Sugababes
At what point does a pop group stop existing? That seems to be a question the various line-ups of the Sugababes are intent on testing to the extreme.
Originally, the trio was Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy, until Siobhan quit and was replaced by Heidi Range.
All seemed good until Mutya also wanted out and Amelle Berrabah came in to complete the three, and a few years later Keisha also jumped ship to be replaced by Jade Ewen, meaning that there wasn’t a single member of the original line-up left.
In an even odder twist, the Sugababes finally disbanded in 2011 – but in the same year, the original three reformed as Mutya Keisha Siobhan, or MKS.
Eternal
Another troubled girl group were Eternal, who sadly didn’t live up to their name and suffered a number of break-ups.
The original line-up was sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett, Kelle Bryan and Louise Redknapp – but Louise decided to go solo after just one album.
However, all was not rosy even as a trio and, when Kelle told the sisters she wanted to record her vocals separately from them, she was sacked from the group by fax, with the leftover duo later being dropped by their record label in 2000.
