as numerous american r b solo artists duos and groups made their indelible mark in the genre in
the 90s there were also a few uk r b artists that did the same across the pond around the
same time eternal was one of them they looked good sounded good and were considered the uk's answer
to another popular foursome and vogue ironically like their american counterparts the group dealt
with their fair share of internal issues among the members that eventually tore them apart let's find
out whatever happened to british r b girl group eternal easther bennett and her older sister
vernette aka vernie along with kelle bryan and her friend and classmate louise nurding now known
as louise redknapp who all hailed from various parts of london england formed eternal in 1992
during their formative years easther and vernie's mother was a pastor so nothing but gospel music
was ever played in their home kelly also grew up in the church but her parents did allow
some secular favorites to be heard such as billie holiday sam cook and bob marley at the age of 11
louise won a scholarship to a performing arts school in london where she met her future eternal
colleague kelle bryan on her first day years later at the tender age of 15 they both found
themselves one night at a club where a strange man came up to louise and asked if she could sing
that man was record producer dennis inglesby and he would later become eternal's manager
he introduced louise to easther and vernie and after getting some studio time under their belt
they decided that they needed another member to complete the group
louise automatically volunteered kelle as to be expected with manufactured groups the girls
first needed to see whether or not they would get along with one another as friends before
venturing into any kind of business deal so over the course of the next year they did just that
but it wasn't so easy in the beginning in the british reality documentary series
the big reunion in 2014 kelle spoke about her first impression of the sisters saying
the girls just seemed quite standoffish i remember just looking at lou thinking have i done something
or is there something i don't know i talked to lou about it and i'm just like is it me
or is this you know is this a bit hostile i'm not really sure what's happening here i was thinking
oh maybe the dynamics already there and you know i'm a new person coming in and you know you're
kind of thinking of all different reasons for it always and forever eternal's debut album dropped
november 28 1993 it became a commercial success selling over one million copies in the uk alone
a first by a female group going four times platinum and yielding six top 20 singles
the first being the lead single stay which put the group on the international map by
also breaking the top 20 charts in australia ireland france new zealand canada and the u.s
even though their voices were taking them to the top of the charts their look was also a
major contributing factor to the attention and opportunities available in good ways
and bad 2019 kelle spoke about it on british talk show loose women saying i think at the
time in the early 90s it was really groundbreaking for a start to have a band that had you know was
biracial or interracial in any way shape or form so it was groundbreaking in that sense because it
was before you know the bands that came afterwards and even at that time it was seen as quite taboo
we'd have so many difficulties with like magazines and things like that publications
saying oh we can't because you're a majority black band so therefore you can't go on the
front cover of the magazine there were emails and documentation to support that where they would say
the reason that we can't have you on the front cover is because of this or that and we would
challenge that and say but why not and they would say well because black people don't sell magazines
no matter how much success a singing group achieves it's only natural that one or two
or all of the members at some point may decide to strike out on their own to pursue their dream of
making it big as a solo artist louise ended up being the first to give it her best shot
she left the group in 1995 just before the release of their second album
even though there was much speculation from the press about there being a fallout
the remaining members have always maintained that even though they were disappointed to see her go
their friendship was very much intact and they were all very proud of her solo accomplishments
she released three hit albums over the next five years her biggest hit to date is the track naked
of her debut solo album of the same name released in 1996. she married her longtime boyfriend
football player or soccer for some jamie redknapp two years later and they went on to have two sons
before divorcing in 2017. in january 2020 she released her first studio album in nearly 20 years
heavy love over the years louise has also kept herself busy outside the world of music
with substantial work as a television presenter being the face of numerous advertising campaigns
and launching a makeup line at the time of the making of this video her tell-all autobiography
you've got this and other things i wish i had known is scheduled for release on march 4th
2021 after louise's departure the trio reinvented themselves and forged ahead with their next effort
two years later power of a woman it produced four hit singles including i am blessed
which they performed for pope john paul ii at the vatican that same year
even after two hit albums and having just enough fingers to count the number of hits between them
there was still one thing that eluded them the number one spot they would finally achieve that
with i wanna be the one a duet with bb winans from their third album before the rain released
in 1997. later that year eternal's greatest hits package was released which would seem premature
for most artists with only three albums under their belt but they had already accumulated enough
hits at that point to make it a worthwhile project the numbers were great and the fans were great
but things were terrible between kelle easther and vernie the internal issues that had been present
since the very beginning finally came to a head when kelle was controversially dismissed by the
bennett's sisters via facts from their solicitor there are definitely two sides to this story
kelle's and the bennet sisters both parties do acknowledge that there was a major communication
breakdown kelle felt she was the odd man out while the sisters had each other to lean on easther and
vernie were actually told by the record label in management that kelle requested that she record
her vocals for their third album separately in england when the group was set to do it in the u.s
they also claim that as far back as the second album the motivation for kelle to even do that
project was financially driven also over the years the sisters maintain that kelle constantly
voiced her desire to leave the group so they decided to go ahead and give her what she wanted
for a probably record-breaking amount of time the bennett sisters did replace kelle with another
artist by the name of tj arlette it clearly wasn't meant to be since she ended up quitting after only
a few days and easther and bernie carried on as a duo eternal's fourth and final album came in 1999.
there was very little promotion surrounding the release and it didn't do well on the charts
they were however able to squeeze out one last top 20 hit with what you're going to do the album's
first and only single sisters easther bennett and vernie bennett were the only members left
when the group disbanded in 2000 however three years later the sisters plus kelle made a brief
comeback for the second series of the itv2 reality show the big reunion they were able to sit down
and talk face to face for the first time in more than a decade and hash things out this led
to the group performing a number of select gigs before disbanding once again the following year
easther married irish boy band boy zone member shane lynch in 1998 they divorced two years later
she continued her music career only for a short time recording several cover songs
including the diana king hit shy guy which was released as a single in 2002
the single mom also worked at a top london hotel spa as a beauty therapist
vernie stepped out of the limelight as well and went back to school to finish studying law
and has since become a practicing lawyer she currently lives in london with her husband and
their two children kelle was diagnosed with lupus in 1998 but that didn't stop her from releasing
her first solo single higher than heaven the following year she did work on a solo album but
it was never released also during this time she founded her own media brand and finally returned
to her first love acting in 2010 she married jay gagian and the pair has two children together
unfortunately by 2016 doctors discovered that the lupus had spread to her brain
and she eventually lost the ability to walk speak and function on her own this awful turn
of events would take anyone down and it did take kelle down but not out less than one year later
she would give a very emotional and inspirational tedx talk in peckham
south london about her determination to not allow lupus to run or ruin her life thanks for watching
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