Agency Report
The death of former One Direction star Liam Payne has sparked a debate about the duty of care in the music industry, particularly for young people.
In one of the most powerful tributes to the singer, who died at the age of 31 after falling from a hotel in Argentina last week, TV personality and former X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne said: “We all let you down.”
Osbourne said Payne was “just a kid” when he “entered one of the toughest industries in the world, and asked: “Who was in your corner? Where was this industry when you needed them?”
More than 25,000 people have now signed a petition saying the entertainment industry “needs to be held accountable and be responsible to the welfare of their artists”. Osbourne herself wasn’t a judge when Payne found fame on the show – he first auditioned at the age of 14 in 2008 before returning two years later and becoming part of One Direction. The rest is history.
While the boy band went on to achieve phenomenal success across the globe, Payne himself acknowledged that it came at a cost.
He admitted he used alcohol to cope with the level of fame “because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on”.
US star Bruce Springsteen is among those who have spoken in recent days about the negative impact of the pressures of fame.
He told the Daily Telegraph that “young people don’t have the inner facility or the inner self yet to be able to protect themselves from a lot of the things that come with success and fame”.
“So they get lost in a lot of the difficult and often pain-inducing [things]… whether it’s drugs or alcohol to take some of that pressure off,” he said.
“I understand this very well from my own experience, as I have done my own wrestling with different things.”
Robbie Williams also acknowledged that he struggled with his own demons when he was 31. “By the grace of god and/or dumb luck I’m still here,” he said.
The former Take That star called for more kindness and empathy from the public towards famous figures who might be going through difficulties. “Even famous strangers need your compassion,” he wrote.
Could the music industry do more to help fledgling artists, and are things now changing?
Robbie Williams’ frequent collaborator, songwriter Guy Chambers, told the Observer the industry should hold back from working with performers who are under 18.
“I do think putting a 16-year-old in an adult world like that is potentially really damaging. Robbie experienced that, certainly,” he said.
Chambers added: “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.”
JLS star Oritse Williams, who also found fame on The X Factor, told BBC Breakfast there “isn’t enough duty of care”.
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