Boyzone's Mikey Graham wants record companies to bring in new duty of care standards to look after young stars following the death of Liam Payne.
The One Direction singer, 31, died on Wednesday (16.10.24) after plunging from the balcony of his hotel in Argentina and he previously admitted to struggling with substance abuse issues since shooting to fame in the 'X Factor' boyband when he was just 16 years old.
Now fellow singer Mikey - who also experienced boyband fame back in the 1990s - has called on music bosses to change the way they take care of vulnerable young people. In a post on X - previously known as Twitter - he wrote: "RIP Liam Payne. Such tragic news.
"I think it would be a wise move for record companies to have psychologists on their books from now on in his memory as a duty of care for the vulnerability of their young talent.
"Fame can be very damaging especially in today's world. Lots of money. Nobody to help. Lots of yes people. Nobody honest."
Liam previously opened up about his struggle with alcoholism and revealed the One Direction singers were often confined to their hotel rooms due to the level of their fame and he would have a "party for one" using the mini-bar.
During an appearance on 'The Diary of a CEO' podcast, Liam said: "I was worried how far my rock bottom was going to be. Where's rock bottom for me? And you would never have seen it. I'm very good at hiding it. No one would ever have seen it.
"There is some stuff that I have definitely never, never spoken about. It was really, really, really severe. And it was a problem. And it was only until I saw myself after that, I was like 'Right, I need to fix myself."
He added of his boyband days: "The problem was … the best way to secure us [the bandmembers], because of how big it got, was to lock us in a room. And, of course, what is in the room? A minibar.
"At a certain point, I just thought, 'Well, I'm going to have a party for one,' and that just seemed to carry on throughout many years of my life.
"It was wild, but it was the only way you could get the frustration out in the day."
Liam died after falling from a third floor balcony at the CasaSur Palmero hotel in Buenos Aires. Workers at the hotel
The singer's death was confirmed by Alberto Crescenti, the head of the state emergency medical system, who revealed the pop star plunged into an internal courtyard at the hotel.
Emergency services were called but they were unable to save the singer because of the severity of his injuries.
Crescenti told Argentina's Todo Noticias TV channel: "A few minutes later [an] emergency team arrived and confirmed the death of this man who we later learned was from a musical group.
"He had injuries incompatible with life as a result of his fall. There was no way to do anything."
Liam jetted to Argentina earlier this month to support his former bandmate Niall Horan, who was performing there. He was seen attending Niall's show with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, who is believed to have joined the singer on the trip but flew back to the US prior shortly before the tragedy.
