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Industry mourns the legendary artist manager Jazz Summers

By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 17 August 2015

Following a gathering of the Manchester music community on Friday night to celebrate the life of Tony Wilson, one of British music’s greatest ever mavericks and entrepreneurs, this weekend the UK music community learned it had lost another of its true greats, as legendary music manager Jazz Summers died aged seventy one, after living with lung cancer for over two years.

A statement from his company Big Life Management said: “The music industry has lost one of its most vibrant, most notorious and most brilliant characters. A champion of new music, a non-conformist and a visionary, Jazz Summers will be greatly missed. He was a master of artist development. His ability to hear a song and recognise its power and potential brought him huge success across several decades”.

Amongst the artists Summers managed and worked with during his long music career were
Wham!, Lisa Stansfield, Soul II Soul, The Verve, Badly Drawn Boy, Snow Patrol, Klaxons, La Roux, Scissor Sisters and London Grammar. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, he collaborated with, supported and inspired many people working in music, in the UK and beyond.

Summers was also a former Chairman of the Music Managers Forum, and the trade body said this weekend: “The management community worldwide is today mourning the death last night of Jazz Summers after a long illness. Jazz was a one-off – they broke the mould after his creation. His style was unique in a world of mavericks and individuals and was outlined in his recently published autobiography ‘Big Life’ named after his last management company. He will be missed by all whose lives he touched”.