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.
