After the death of Liam Payne at 31, music industry figures are debating the duty of care for artists who find fame at a young age - some have suggested an all-out ban might be the solution. As tributes poured in following the death of the death of One Directon singer Liam Payne on 16 October, the machinations of the music industry stopped for a beat. Here was yet another musician who had experienced stratospheric levels of fame from a young age – Payne was 16 when his boyband was formed on the UK reality TV competition The X Factor in 2010 – which had a devastating impact on his mental health, and who used drink and drugs in a bid to self-medicate.
In a 2019 interview with Esquire Middle East , Payne explained the pressures of being constantly subjected to global public scrutiny: "It's mainly mentally where you struggle with it. It's the getting ready and always knowing that you might be photographed. I'll get days where I just don't want to leave my house.
Even if it's just going to the shop...
I would sweat because I wouldn't know whether I was doing the right thing or not." He added: "Unfortunately, it does happen to everybody in this industry." The British songwriter Guy Chambers saw disturbing parallels between Payne's story and that of his former long-term musical partner, Robbie Williams – who joined the boyband Take That aged 16 in 1990.
Williams suffered debilitating panic attacks from early on in his career, also leading to his own well-documented issues with.