PRIZE FIGHTER
“As a woman in music, having
the support of a strong female leader
like Sarah Stennett is essential.
I’m so blessed to have someone as
badass as her in my corner.”
—BEBE REXHA
My Billboard Moment
Stennett photographed
by Michele Thomas on
Sept. 15 at First Access En-
tertainment in Los Angeles.
THE LEGACY
Lil Peep’s Come Over When You’re Sober,
Pt. 2 earned 523 million on-demand
audio streams in the United States,
according to Nielsen Music.
Rexha’s “Meant to Be” with Florida Georgia
Line set a new record on Billboard’s Hot
Country Songs ranking, with 50 weeks at
No. 1.
Beer has scored two Mainstream
Top 40 singles to date: “Home With You”
(No. 22) and the Offset collaboration
“Hurts Like Hell” (No. 26).
Sarah Stennett
CO-FOUNDER/CEO, FIRST ACCESS
ENTERTAINMENT
The talent manager from Liverpool,
England, is known for her work with such
pop stars as Bebe Rexha, Rita Ora and Madison
Beer, but managing the legacy of the late Lil Peep
— born Gustav “Gus” Åhr — has become her
most defining project to date. In November 2018,
a year after his death from an accidental drug
overdose, Stennett worked alongside his estate to
release his first posthumous album, Come Over
When You’re Sober, Pt. 2. The set earned the art-
ist his highest peak on the Billboard 200 (No. 4).
Stennett recalls the bittersweet milestone.
It’s a great privilege to have access to a
brilliant young mind like Gus. The first time
we listened to the album in New York, it was
very emotional. He had put so much work into
completing it in difficult circumstances. That is
so true to him; I was so proud.
Gus wanted to be successful and appear in
Billboard, be on the charts, no question. But I
didn’t have any expectations. I’ve had acts get
No. 1s and make Billboard chart history — from
Iggy Azalea [a former client] to Bebe Rexha —
and you chase it. But we didn’t chase this. It was
rightfully where it should be.
This Billboard [200] chart’s status is so signifi-
cant. During Christmas of 2016, I was in Bogotá,
Colombia, and on one of the walls of a café,
somebody had done a mural of the Billboard
charts. I remember thinking how strange that
was, but it is the chart. [When Sober hit No. 4],
I can’t say it was a celebratory moment; but it
just felt like exactly what should happen with an
album like that. —AS TOLD TO NICK WILLIAMS
116 BILLBOARD • SEPTEMBER 28, 2019
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