Inside Eternal's biggest rows as ex manager recalls horror of working with band

26 September 2023 , 09:56

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Easther and Vernie's behaviour was called out in Jazz's book Big Life

Eternal's former manager once recalled the horror of working with the pop band who he described as “b**chy tyrants”.

Jazz Summers, a legendary music manager, worked with Eternal after Louise Redknapp (then Nurding) and Kelle Bryan had departed the band, leaving just sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett. In his autobiography Big Life, which was released in 2013, he described working with the Stay hitmakers as an “experience that f***ing haunts me”, and said he reluctantly agreed to be their manager back in 1998. In an excerpt from his book, which was published on X, formerly known as Twitter, he recalled the sisters’ ridiculous demands, including two separate Rolls Royce limos so they didn’t travel with each other, and hair extensions flown in from America.

One row involved an assistant at their record label, who was assigned to help with the “day-to-day life” of the band. Jazz said Easther and Vernie had travelled to Los Angeles for a photoshoot, when Vernie decided to call her assistant in the middle of the night with an unreasonable demand. “Twenty minutes ago I ordered a hot chocolate. I'm a little worried, Sarah, because it hasn’t arrived yet. Can you find out where it is?” Vernie reportedly asked in a call from her room at the Peninsula Hotel in LA to her assistant, who lived in east London. Describing Vernie’s phone call as “nonsense big time behaviour”, he revealed the poor assistant was forced to go to her sister’s house across London to place a long-distance international call to find out where Vernie’s hot chocolate was.

Eternal were left as a two-piece following the departure of Louise and Kelle (Getty Images)

Jazz then recalled a meeting with the sisters ahead of the release of their album, Eternal, in 1999, but his run-in with Vernie ended his partnership with the pop band. Discussing payment after his work with the sisters, Vernie allegedly told their manager that “God was watching down on us”, and they wouldn't be paying Jazz anything. “Because the songs on this album were written after our previous manager and before you started managing us. So, we won’t be paying any management commission on these songs under any circumstances,” she declared.

The hugely successful girl band were set to reunite this year (Getty Images)

Furious, Jazz urged the sisters to reconsider, and after he was excluded from a meeting regarding their album at their record label, he decided he had no option: “That was the last straw. I had to resign.” He said he and his team “were celebrating the end of Eternal drinking champagne at ten in the morning,” and other members of staff at their record label had described the sisters as “Fester and Ernie”. Jazz added: “The public had decided they didn’t like them. It was simple. They’d been tyrants on TV and bitchy in the press.” He then shared his resignation letter in his book, in which he heaped praise on lead singer Easther, but joked he would “pray for” her sister Vernie. “It is with great pleasure today I resign as manager of Eternal. Easther, you have a wonderful talent, please look after it. Vernie, I shall pray for you,” Jazz quipped.

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Jazz was the founder of Big Life Management, and worked with hugely successful bands over the years including Wham! The Verve, Snow Patrol, and Scissor Sisters. His artists sold more than 60m albums and 72m singles around the world, including more than 100 top 40 hits, and was described by many as the “master of artist development”. He passed away in 2015 at the age of 71, after a two-year battle with lung cancer.

Emma Wilson