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

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

Speaking this weekend, Guy Chambers, the songwriter and friend of Robbie Williams, called on the industry not to work with talent under the age of 18. “I really think that placing a 16-year-old in such an adult world is potentially very damaging. Robbie certainly experienced that,” he told the newspaper Observer.

The need for better protection for vulnerable young male pop stars has become urgent in the wake of Payne’s death, prompted by criticism of the music industry’s treatment of the former teen star, who had spoken of his struggle to find mental stability following his sudden fame as member of One Direction.

The band was formed on ITV’s The X Factor in 2010, when a 16-year-old Payne returned for a second audition on the talent show and joined Harry Styles and other 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 at the age of 14.

Louis Theroux, executive producer of the upcoming BBC series Boy bands forever has spoken about the dangers of “getting everything you dreamed of, and it’s not what you imagined.”

Theroux’s new series, which debuts on BBC2 in the middle of next month and was made with his wife Nancy Strang, will look at both the dramatic highs of achieving instant fame and the contrasting depths of despair it can cause. With ‘searingly honest’ contributions from Williams, formerly of Take That, and Brian McFadden of Westlife, it focuses on the early years of the boy band phenomenon in Britain and Ireland, from the 1990s to the late 2000s.

Speaking about his years of work on the show, Theroux said the performers will discuss their “highs and lows” in three episodes that focus on “a generation of young men and their managers, who were hugely successful and also hugely vulnerable, with the times of their lives and, in some cases, also panic.”

Due to Payne’s death, issues explored in the series have already prompted leading names in the British music industry to call for action.

Chambers said: “I have four children, so I think about this a lot. I know that in Robbie’s case, with Take That, there wasn’t proper safeguards set up to look after teenage boys. That was a long time ago, but I don’t see many signs of change. Not much real care has been given to the people involved in the major television talent shows, from what I can tell.”

Chambers, who co-wrote the hits Angels and Let Me Entertain You with Williams, believes the entertainment business needs to set new standards: “I would suggest that people shouldn’t be in a boy band until they’re 18, and the industry should stick to that. , at.”

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

“Of course there’s nothing wrong with forming a band in your teens, but my admiration goes out to anyone who emerges from an early professional career in good mental shape. I once signed a young Irish band called the Strypes and I wasn’t comfortable with the level of responsibility I felt. People are still immature at 16, so just the thought of having to go through all that madness and having no idea who you are is alarming.”

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 that much more care must now be taken when dealing with young singers and songwriters.

“When I was at Warners in 2018, we improved this. We set up a fund in our songwriters’ contracts to cover their mental health care, because we saw that around 25% of them were suffering from anxiety or depression – and these weren’t even the pop stars on the front line.

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

“I don’t think I really understood it before. But what has not changed, of course, is the incredible pressure these young artists are under. Everyone expects you to live your best life, but then you find yourself unable to function. People want you to be happy all the time and you are constantly scrutinized.”