Don’t let under-18s join pop bands, says leading songwriter after Liam Payne’s death

Under-18s should not be pushed into pop stardom, one of the UK’s leading songwriters has said, in the wake of the tragic death of former One Direction star Liam Payne.

As Payne’s father, Geoff, arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to arrange the repatriation of his son’s body, fans were still taking in the news of the 31-year-old’s fall from a third-floor hotel balcony. Many also joined the Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy, an ex-partner, in decrying the lurid coverage of Payne’s death scene in some news outlets.

Speaking this weekend, Guy Cham­bers, the songwriter and friend of Robbie Williams, has called for the industry to hold back from 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,” he told the Observer.

The need for better protection for vulnerable young male pop stars has gained urgency in the aftermath of Payne’s death, prompted by criticism of the music industry’s treatment of the former teenage star, who had spoken of his struggles to find mental stability after his sudden fame as a member of One Direction.

The band was formed on ITV’s The X Factor in 2010, when a 16-year-old Payne came back for a second audition on the talent show and joined up with Harry Styles and fellow members. One of the show’s judges was Tweedy, with whom he later had a child, Bear, who is now seven. Payne had first auditioned for the show aged only 14.

Louis Theroux, executive producer of the upcoming BBC series Boybands Forever has spoken of the perils of “getting everything you dreamed of, and it not being what you imagined”.

Theroux’s new series, which goes out on BBC2 in the middle of next month and was made with his wife, Nancy Strang, will look at both the dramatic highs of gaining instant fame and the contrasting depths of despair it can prompt. With “searingly honest” contributions from Williams, formerly of Take That, and Brian McFadden of Westlife, it focuses on the earlier years of the boyband ­phenomenon in Britain and Ireland, from the 1990s to the late 2000s.

Talking about his year-long work on the show, Theroux said the artists will discuss their “highs and lows” over three episodes that centre “on a generation of young men and their managers, who were wildly successful and also immensely vulnerable, having the times of their lives and, also, in some cases, cracking up.”

Due to the death of Payne, issues the series examines have already prompted leading names in the British music industry to urge action.

Chambers said: “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.”

Chambers, who co-wrote the hits Angels and Let Me Entertain You with Williams, believes the entertainment business should set new standards: “I would suggest that people should not be in a boyband until they are 18, and the industry should stick to that, too.”

These worries are echoed by Mike Smith, the former music industry boss at Warner/Chappell, who has also worked at EMI and Columbia. “I am not sure if it is something for ­legislation, but the longer a young person can postpone a career in music the better,” he said.

“Of course, there is nothing wrong with forming a band in your teens, but my admiration goes out to anyone who comes out of an early professional career in good mental shape. I signed a young Irish band called the Strypes once, and I was uncomfortable with the level of responsibility I felt. People are still immature at 16, so the very thought of going through all that madness when you have no idea who you are yet is alarming.”

However, Smith, who has worked with many bands and singers, including Blur, Robbie Williams, Supergrass and Arctic Monkeys, as well as the X Factor winner Matt Cardle, believes there is now much more caution about handling young singers and songwriters.

“When I was at Warners in 2018, we did improve on this. We set up a fund in the contract of our songwriters to cover their mental health care because we were seeing around 25% of them suffering anxiety or depression – and these were not even the frontline pop stars.

“Around that time, the major music companies were all doing similar things to help – taking people on to the payroll to advise the artists and their staff. That wasn’t around early enough for Robbie, I know, but it is better now, partly because we are having the conversations about it.

“I don’t think I really understood it earlier. But what hasn’t changed, of course, is the incredible pressure these young artists are under. Everyone expects you to be living your best life, but then you find you can’t function. People want you to be happy all the time and you are constantly scrutinised.”