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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Vanessa Thorpe Arts and media correspondent

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

One Direction members, from left, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson in New York in 2013.
One Direction members, from left, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson in New York in 2013. Photograph: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

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.

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