The music manager Jazz Summers, who has died aged 71, was best known for developing the pop duo Wham! – George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley – who under his guidance became a worldwide phenomenon in the early 1980s, and the first western group to tour China. Summers moved on from Wham! to work with a long list of successful musicians, including Coldcut, the Orb, the Soup Dragons, Lisa Stansfield, Soul II Soul and, in more recent years, Snow Patrol, Badly Drawn Boy, La Roux, Scissor Sisters and London Grammar. Between them his artists sold more than 60m albums and 72m singles worldwide, and amassed more than 100 top 40 chart hits worldwide across the globe.
The main vehicle for his music business activity was Big Life Management, the company he set up in 1986 with Tim Parry, and a record company, also called Big Life, created in the same year. But the force behind his success was an abrasive, often intimidating persona and a combative loyalty to his acts. Gary Lightbody, singer with Snow Patrol, described Summers as “a lion” who could “make grown men cry”. But he saw Summers as “essentially a kind man with a big heart” and said: “If you’re part of his pride, he will fight to the death for you.”
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