In the wake of Liam Payne’s death, a leading figure within the music industry has called on measures to be introduced to stop youngsters being pushed into pop stardom.
Payne was 31 when he died on 16 October after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A preliminary autopsy reported that the singer died as a result of the injuries he suffered from the fall.
Numerous tributes have been paid to Payne from his One Direction bandmates to former partner Cheryl, who decried the coverage of his death by some media outlets.
Payne was 16 when he became a member of One Direction on The X Factor, but Guy Chambers, the former songwriter for Robbie Williams, now wants the music industry to stop working with talent under the age of 18.
“I do think putting a 16-year-old in an adult world like that is potentially really damaging. Robbie experienced that, certainly,” Chambers told The Observer.
Chambers added: “I have four children, so I think about this a lot. I know in Robbie’s case, with Take That, there wasn’t any proper protection set up to look after what were teenage boys.
“That was a long time ago, but I don’t see much sign of change. There is not much more real care taken, that I have observed, from people involved in the big television talent shows.”
He continued by saying: “I would suggest that people should not be in a boyband until they are 18, and the industry should stick to that, too.”
In a powerful message, Williams, 50, said that Payne’s struggles with being under the spotlight were similar to his own, and that he tried to reach out and support him.
“I still had my demons at 31. I relapsed. I was in pain. I was in pain because I relapsed. I relapsed because of a multitude of painful reasons. I remember Heath Ledger passing and thinking ‘I’m next’. By the grace of god and/or dumb luck I’m still here.”
Williams, who has long been vocal about his own experience with the difficulty of fame, as well as alcohol and drug addiction, then listed different lessons for people to take away from Payne’s death, such as “we don’t know what’s going on in people’s lives” and “be kind.”
“BEFORE WE REACH TO JUDGEMENT, A BIT OF SLACK NEEDS TO BE GIVEN,” he wrote in capitals. “BEFORE YOU TYPE ANYTHING ON THE INTERNET, HAVE A THINK ‘DO I REALLY NEED TO PUBLISH THIS?’ BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE DOING. YOU’RE PUBLISHING YOUR THOUGHTS FOR ANYBODY TO READ. EVEN IF YOU DON’T REALLY THINK THAT CELEBRITIES OR THEIR FAMILIES EXIST.
“THEY F***ING DO. SKIN AND BONE AND IMMENSELY SENSITIVE.”He continued: “The internet will unfortunately carry on being the internet. The media will unfortunately carry on being the media and fame will carry on being fame.
“As individuals though we have the power to change ourselves. We can be kinder. We can be more empathic. We can at least try to be more compassionate towards ourselves, our family, our friends, strangers in life and strangers on the internet.”
He added that even “famous strangers need your compassion”.
Williams concluded by calling Payne a “handsome talented boy” and said his death was a tragic and painful loss for not only his family and friends, but the rest of the world.
