Jazz Summers, manager of bands including Wham!, Snow Patrol, La Roux and the The Verve, has passed away at the age of 71 following a two-year battle with lung cancer.

"The music industry has lost one of its most vibrant, most notorious and most brilliant characters," Big Life Management posted on its website Saturday. "A champion of new music, a non-conformist and a visionary, Jazz Summers will be greatly missed."

Summers co-founded Big Life Management with Tim Parry 29 years ago. He also managed Lisa Stansfield, Soul II Soul, Badly Drawn Boy, Klaxons, Scissor Sisters and London Grammar, among others. Summers and Parry also managed Big Life Records, which released music from the likes of The Orb, Yazz, Coldcut, De La Soul and The Soup Dragons, Billboard reported.

Summers was born on March 15, 1944. He joined military school at the age of 12 and enlisted in the army three years later, serving as a radiographer in Hong Kong and Malaysia. Together with manager Simon Napier-Bell, Jazz helped Wham!, which was formed by English duo George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, break in America in 1985 and become the first western pop group to perform in China, according to BBC News. 

A number of musicians paid tribute to Summers via social media. Snow Patrol lead vocalist and guitarist Gary Lightbody tweeted "So sad that Jazz Summers has passed away. He believed in Snow Patrol when few did and was a huge reason for our success. Thank you Jazz."

Culture Club singer Boy George wrote "Heartbroken to hear that my friend and ex-manager Jazz Summers has passed away. He was a formidable force of nature! A fighter till the end."

Summers is survived by his wife Dianna and daughters Katie, Rio and Georgia.