Eternal

Eternal is a British R&B girl group from the United Kingdom, formed in 1992 and active from then to the present. The group is made up of Louise, Kéllé Bryan, Easther Bennett and Vernie Bennett. It belongs to the contemporary R&B, new jack swing and soul styles, and is one of the UK’s best-known girl groups of the 1990s.

Formation and members

The group forms in London, England. It consists of church-going sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett, alongside school friends Kéllé Bryan and Louise Nurding, who also uses the names Louise and Louise Redknapp. Louise and Kéllé both attend the Italia Conti Academy stage school.

Early success

Eternal finds wide recognition in 1993 and wins Best Group at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party that year. Its 1994 album Always & Forever becomes the first million-selling album by a girl group in UK chart history.

Albums and singles

After Louise leaves to pursue a solo career, Eternal continues as a trio. The second album, Power of a Woman, appears in 1996 and produces four top ten singles. In the same year the group records Someday, the theme song for Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is used internationally except in the United States, where All 4 One performs the theme instead.

The third album, Before the Rain, follows in 1997. It includes I Wanna Be the Only One with BeBe Winans, the group’s first and only number one single, and Angel of Mine, which Monica records for the American market and which reaches the top five. Stay gives Eternal a top 20 hit in the United States.

Kéllé Bryan leaves in 1998 for a short solo career, leaving the Bennett sisters to continue as Eternal. They issue one more single, Whatcha Gonna Do, in 1999 and also release a fourth self-titled album, before EMI drops the group in 2000.

Awards and sales

Eternal also wins a MOBO award for I Wanna Be the Only One. The group does not break through in the US, but its total global sales pass 9 million units.