Easther Bennett

Easther Bennett was born in London, England on 11 December 1972. In 1993, she formed the all-girl group Eternal with sister Vernett, or Vernie Bennett for short (born 17 May 1971), Kéllé Bryan (born 12 March 1975) and her school friend, Louise Redknapp (nee Nurding) (born 4 November 1974), and in October of that year reached No. 4 in the U.K. charts with their debut single "Stay". The album from which the single was taken, 'Always and forever' outsold that and peaked at No. 2 in December, shifting a million copies, and making them the first all-girl group to do so. A string of top 10 smashes followed, but on 17 July 1995, Louise quit the band to become a successful solo artist. The trio re-invented themselves later that year with the feminine anthem 'Power of a woman' and an album of the same name reaching 5 and 6 respectively. In August 1996, Eternal were asked to record a song for the Disney motion picture the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and featuring Eric Clapton on guitar the single reached No. 4. It was the first single to be taken from their third album 'Before the rain' (no. 3, March 1997) which also spawned their only U.K. chart-topper with the soulful duet with BeBe Winans: 'I wanna be the only one' and a Greatest hits album was released later in '97. In 1999, the band effectively folded after the shock announcement that Kelle had left after being unhappy for some time, again to pursue a solo career, which only produced one forgettable single. Although in November, the duo's last single to date 'What'cha gonna do' was released, it was their lowest charting release, peaking at just 16.