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Rolling Stone Magazine: Remembering Sydney Archer Styles

Rolling Stone Magazine

Remembering Sydney Archer Styles.

It has officially been ten years since the world said goodbye to one of the worlds greatest names in rock and roll; Sydney Archer Styles.

The front woman of record breaking rock group 'Eighteen Four' on the Eighteenth of April, 1998 after a short battle with lung cancer. Sydney's life and impact on the music industry was recently celebrated by a remembrance show held at Wembley stadium where Eighteen Four played their greatest hits, alongside Sydney and Harry's daughter, Harley Styles.

The one night only Wembley show sold out in less than one second, making it the concert with the most demand for tickets in the world so far. This show also broke  numerous records, including being the most streamed concert in history with nearly one billion television streams, on top of the 80,000 in person tickets sold.

Harley Styles, daughter of Sydney and Harry, joined members Jamie, Myles, and Harry on stage for the show, and many have named Harley as the spitting image of her mother. Her stage presence and vocal skills have been compared to her mothers, some fans have even gone as far as saying it was as if they were watching Eighteen Four perform with the late Sydney herself.

Rolling Stone were able to conduct exclusive interviews with many significant figures in Sydney's life in order to write a piece that celebrates who Sydney was as a person, following the record breaking remembrance show. We were able to speak to her sister Jasmine Paul, Jamie Hart, Myles Ritter, Nick Mitchell, Harley Styles and Harry Styles in one of the most intimate interviews about Sydney's passing yet.

Each interview was conducted as per the interviewees request, and final edits have been shared with all of those involved in this article. The purpose is to shine light on the type of person Sydney was, and nobody could do so like those that truly knew her.

Jasmine Paul
Sister of Sydney

Jasmine:
Sydney is one of the people I admire most in life. She is my little sister and I couldn't be more proud of the person she had become. We didn't have an easy upbringing, and yet she remained the biggest ray of sunshine for her entire life. That is what I find so special about Sydney, her ability to take everything in her stride and how much joy she found in other people's smiles.

You grew up really close, you actually introduced Sydney to Harry, Jamie and Myles is that right?

Jasmine:
Yeah I was in their school class. Sydney and I had a hard time at home, I'd bring her out with my friends so she wasn't alone and they're great people. They tried distracting Sydney from it all, tried making her laugh but she never did until Harry noticed her watching him play guitar. He taught her to play then. They all loved her back then as much as they do now, treated her like a friend rather than my little sister and I'm so grateful for that. She was shy, didn't talk to them much, barely even to Harry when he'd try to teach her but they coaxed her out of her shell eventually. It's a really beautiful story actually.

What would you say makes Sydney who she is, 'the worlds greatest rock and roll star' according to Rolling Stone?

Jasmine:
Sydney is one of the most determined people I have ever met. She was stubborn, and my god was it frustrating but I think it was admirable how well she knew herself and how she'd stand up for what she wanted. Sydney loved performing too, evidently. She loved making music and she loved it because it made people happy, because there were people who had fallen in love with their songs so it was her dream to play to the people who shared the same love. There are so many traits of Sydney's that the whole world could learn from, she truly is an inspiration and my kids always looked up to her. She is the greatest example of knowing your worth, but also respecting, and loving people unconditionally. All she ever wanted is to love people, and to make people happy and she did that through music.