Official Charts Pop Gem #35: Eternal – Crazy

This overlooked 1994 classic from one of Britain’s most successful girl groups was the last single before Louise left Eternal for good.

Pop Gems are those old favourite hits that were big news in their time but have somehow fallen by the wayside and out of popularity. Each week, we pick a different theme, but there’s one band that comes up again and again. While we love their hits, they never quite get past the final hurdle and get selected to be a Pop Gem. But this week was different. Eternal – it’s time.

When we asked for your girlband Pop Gems, Girls Aloud and Eternal were way out in front. Clearly the world still has a lot of love for Easther and Vernie Bennett, Kéllé Bryan and Louise Nurding (now Redknapp). We – no, YOU – decided it was Eternal’s moment at last, but which song to pick? I Wanna Be The Only One – their one and only, er, Number 1 – is still played regularly. Their debut Stay is far from a forgotten classic. Power Of A Woman is an anthem. And then some suggestions for another Eternal hit came in. Remember Crazy?

At fist glance, Crazy might not have as much going for it as other Eternal hits like Just A Step From Heaven or I Am Blessed. Crazy was the sixth – sixth! – and final single from Eternal’s debut album Always And Forever. It missed the Top 10, landing at Number 15 in December 1994. And, erm, it didn’t even have a video – the girls didn’t have time.

But when you look at it another way, it’s actually the most inspired choice. First, it was the only Eternal single to feature all four members on lead vocals. Secondly, it was Louise’s last single with the group before she packed up her harem pants and travelled down the long lonely road to solo stardom, presenting cookery programmes and being in adverts. And, thirdly, it resulted in this really quite brilliant performance on Top Of The Pops. The Pops!

The matching snowmen-esque outfits! The gilets! The dancing! The girls kind of look like they went raking in East 17’s wardrobe because they didn’t have time to nip to Top Shop on the way to the studio. In other words, perfect Nineties pop. And you can almost see the cogs whirring in Louise's head as she takes the lead vocals for the first time thinking: "Hmmm, I might be quite good at this, y'know."

Crazy may not have been the biggest of Eternal’s hits, or the one you'd think of first of someone mentioned the group, but it’s sweet, catchy (the "When it comes to you…" bit in the chorus is a terrific hook) and it’s a slice of pop history, the end of an era. And it is certainly the most fun the girls had as a four-piece. Eternal would, of course, go on to have more success once Louise left, including that Number 1 with BeBe Winans, I Wanna Be The Only One, and seven more Top 10 hits. Kéllé left the group in 1998 and sisters Easther and Vernie carried on as a duo for one more album before ending Eternal in 2000.

Louise dropped the Nurding and had 12 solo Top 40 hits on the Official Singles Chart, including 8 Top 10s, such as Naked and 2 Faced (best bit: “Hi Louise! All right? How’s it going?”). Kéllé enjoyed one Top 40 hit, Higher Than Heaven.

There have been rumours of a reunion for many years, and when ITV2 announced a second series of The Big Reunion, the show which got bands like Five, Atomic Kitten, B*Witched, Honeyz and 911 back together again, all eyes were on the different Eternal camps to see whether they’d bite. Louise has said she’s not involved but the other girls are doing the show. We can’t wait to see it – they had better do Crazy or there’ll be trouble.