After the death of Liam Payne at the age of 31, members of the British music industry paid tribute and shared their memories of the singer while attending the Pride of Britain Awards 2024.
McFly’s Tom Fletcher, Beverley Knight, JLS’ JB Gill, Clean Bandit and Chesney Hawkes all paid tribute, and commented on changes that can be made after the tragic loss. Report by Burtonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
McFly’s Tom Fletcher, Beverley Knight, JLS’ JB Gill, Clean Bandit and Chesney Hawkes all paid tribute, and commented on changes that can be made after the tragic loss. Report by Burtonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Yeah, obviously it's been an incredibly tough week.
00:04We worked with Liam, toured with him, wrote songs and so yeah, it's really, I mean, just
00:09heartbreaking news and yeah, I think, I absolutely think more needs to be done to protect young
00:14artists and so I really hope that this can start that conversation and yeah, obviously
00:24I think everyone's just in shock still.
00:26Can I ask, obviously you've worked with him over the years and toured with him, what were
00:30some of your fond memories, I guess, of being with him?
00:33We had some great memories. I mean, you know, all of the boys were so lovely to work with,
00:38especially back in the day when they were really young and fresh and new to the business.
00:42They reminded us a lot of ourselves and it was a great honour for us to get to, you know,
00:48work on their albums and then tour with them so yeah, we had some great memories.
00:54Liam was a Wolverhamptoner so I kept an eye on what he was doing and to see a lad so young
01:05with so much going for him to the outside world and to see where the other side of fame
01:14took him has broken my heart. We need more care for young people in the music industry.
01:24He was initially 14, 15 when he started, the 1D lads were babies and, you know, as minors
01:34there should be so much more care, so much more attention. In theatre there are chaperones
01:42for kids until they reach the age of 18. We should have the same in music.
01:48Kids need to be protected, they cannot just be a means of, you know, making money or generating money.
01:59They cannot, they have to be protected. Their mental health has to be looked after first and foremost.
02:06Absolutely, I think there's definitely something to be said for protecting artists full stop.
02:10You know, I think there's a lot of things that people don't see behind the scenes.
02:13They just see the glitz and the glamour, they see what goes on stage, they see the successes often
02:17but they don't see the everyday struggles and the things that people go through behind closed doors
02:22and of course, you know, it was devastating news. We had a great relationship with Liam.
02:27As you know, ourselves, JLS and the 1D boys, we performed a number of times together.
02:32Funnily enough, we knew Liam before he was in 1D because he was part of the 2008 X Factor journey
02:39even though he didn't go to the live finals. So yeah, it was a tough week for me last week.
02:44Marvin's spoken incredibly well about our relationship with him and his personal relationship with him as well.
02:50So it was a lot to process but, you know, one of the things, and Marvin mentioned this,
02:55one of the things I was just so proud about and of with Liam was that he actually got to live his dream.
03:01You know, if you knew him pre-X Factor and pre-One Direction, he was just a happy-go-lucky kid.
03:07Loved to sing, wanted to share his voice with the world and he got to do that.
03:11So that is the silver lining, I think, with this terrible news.
03:15Yeah, it's devastating. We weren't close. We'd met him a few times, just kind of cross paths, touring and things like that.
03:23But yeah, it's, I think, yeah, it's just, there's not really much to say. It's just so, so sad.
03:33Yeah, it's been a difficult week. I mean, yeah, we didn't know him well and we never collaborated.
03:40We were talking about collaborating in around 2018-19 but we never recorded anything.
03:46But yeah, it's just been so shocking and yeah, I wish that he'd had a better time.
03:59Going through this business is not an easy thing, you know.
04:02I mean, I feel for Liam and his family and it's just so, it does spit you out, this business, you know.
04:11And I feel like there needs to be more support for artists that go through, especially artists that, you know,
04:18go through these kind of reality shows where they're just kind of very famous for one minute and then spat out.
04:25And we all know that there have been casualties of that machine.
04:30And I'm hoping that, you know, with tragedy like this comes some kind of hope that the business is going to look after these people.