Jazz Summers dead: Daring manager of Wham!, The Verve and Snow Patrol, dies at 71

The legendary music manager had been fighting suffering from lung cancer since 2013

Pop giant: Jazz Summers (Rex Features)

Jazz Summers, the "visionary" manager who masterminded the careers of some of Britain's biggest music acts including Wham!, Snow Patrol, the Verve and Klaxons, has died at the age of 71.

Summers, whose roster of artists sold more than 60 million albums and 72 million singles worldwide, had been fighting suffering from lung cancer since 2013. He was described as a “master of artist development” by a spokesman for Big Life Management, the company he co-founded by Summers in 1986. The spokesman 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.”

Following the announcement of his death on Saturday, the music industry paid tribute. The Futureheads, one of the bands signed to Big Life Management, tweeted: “Jazz Summers meant the world to the four of us. He had a huge heart and was full of vital energy to always make things happen. RIP, Jazz.”

James McMahon, editor of Kerrang! magazine, said Summers was “one of the all time great music business personalities”.

Summers joined the army at the age of15 before turning to music. In 2003, he won the Peter Grant Award, and the Strat Award at the Music Week Awards in 2007. He is survived by his wife Dianna and his three daughters.