The battle for a name and a £25,000 legal victory

Cultures · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: When the Sisters of Mercy fractured, a fierce dispute erupted over band names and royalties. What began as a musical split escalated into a legal race to claim ownership, involving a high-stakes battle for a publishing advance and a fight to decide who truly owned the band's identity.

The dissolution of the original Sisters of Mercy lineup in the mid-1980s triggered a complex legal and creative conflict. Following the tour for the debut album, First and Last and Always, core members Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams departed to form a new group called the Sisterhood. This move sparked a dispute with frontman Andrew Eldritch, who argued the name was too similar to his own band and fan community.

The conflict centered on a race to secure a £25,000 advance from publishers, which was offered to the first member of the group to release new material. Eldritch attempted to preempt his former bandmates by releasing a single under the name Sisterhood. While some accounts suggest the dispute was settled without court intervention, Eldritch has claimed he won the £25,000 in civil court after English courts ruled that ownership of a band name required a formal release.

This period of instability defined the band's evolution. While Hussey and Adams eventually formed The Mission, Eldritch continued the Sisters of Mercy with a shift toward atmospheric, keyboard-oriented rock. This era produced the 1987 album Floodland, which featured contributions from Jim Steinman. Despite the internal friction and legal battles, the band achieved significant commercial success in the mid-1980s, sustaining their momentum until they halted new recordings in the early 1990s due to further disputes with East West Records.

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