EXCLUSIVE: Former Bad Boys Inc star Ally Begg has lifted the lid on the music industry and shared his thoughts on why some former band members may suffer after fame
Over the years, the world has seen many pop stars rise and fall due to the nature of the mass conveyer belt that is the music industry. But the paths stars may take after fame, can sometimes lead them astray.
The tragic news of former One Direction star Liam Payne’s death still rocks the world after he fell to his death last year whilst under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and with more developments coming from the investigation this week, we spoke to someone who understands the struggles of being in a boy band all too well.
Ally Begg, 52, was a member of Bad Boys Inc in the 90s. The grouo was known for their big hits such as More to The World, Take Me Away and Don’t Talk About Live. Ally was in the band along with Matthew Pateman, Tony Dowding and David W Ross from 1993 to 1995.
The band was eventually dropped by their record label which Ally found very “frustrating” at the time, and felt as if the group were simply “put in the bin”. Despite being gutted over the way things ended with the group, Ally didn’t spend much time dwelling on the matter and focused on getting his life back on track post-fame.
He has since carved out an extremely successful career in football broadcasting but recognises that some ex band members aren’t so “lucky”. Ally told us: “I got lucky, because I think I had my own strength. I had my own willpower. I didn’t need to seek help. I didn’t need to turn to remedies. I believed in my own strength, and I think that’s what got me through.
“However, I found the whole process very challenging because I didn’t understand it. There was no duty of care. There’s no handbook to help you. I think what happens is people get chucked in, and you get thrown into the deep end, and it’s either sink or swim. And some people handle that complete upheaval in life, well, some don’t.
“And my life, and Matthew’s and Tony’s and David’s, our lives literally changed overnight. Thankfully, we had each other to sort of help us along and back each other up and be able to talk about the process of all of a sudden, becoming very, very famous.
“I wasn’t prepared to be on the front covers of Smash Hits. I wasn’t prepared to be on Top of the Pops. I didn’t really know how to handle it. And again, nobody talked us through it.
“We were just left on our own devices. So I can fully understand and appreciate why some feel the need to turn to a remedy to be able for them to cope with what is coming their way and their upheaval in life, be it turning to alcohol or be it turning to drugs, I understand, because for me, it’s a coping mechanism.
“For them, sadly, it’s a dark coping mechanism. And some people just don’t know where to go. And this is why, I think, particularly now the duty of care from record companies, from producers, from management companies, needs to seriously be looked at in the music industry as a whole.
“When you look at all these reality TV shows, which is basically a money making tool for producers, executive producers, format makers, nobody looks after the person who becomes the star. There’s nobody there to look after them, particularly when things start to go downhill, because the television show moves on. Then you get another set of wannabe pop stars that want to come in and get their 15 minutes of fame, and those that have had their 15 minutes of fame are just almost thrown in the gutter.
“And I find that very difficult because it shouldn’t be that way, and that’s why I think it’s very important, particularly now, that anybody who is out there that wants to be a pop star, or who has ambitions of becoming a pop star in whatever shape or form that may bring is that they fully understand what is going to be facing them, but for them to be able to understand that, they need to be educated, and they need to be educated by people who currently work in the industry.
“So I think that’s really, really important. And at the moment, I don’t think there’s anything in place to do that.”
In recent years, Ally has launched his own YouTube Channel which he dedicates to interviewing pop stars from the past to shed some light onto their journey in the music industry and with the hope of finding common ground with his guests, which have included stars from 5ive, Spandau Ballet, B*Witched and more.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
