Last week singer R Kelly was found guilty on charges of sex trafficking and jailed for thirty years. I won't lie - I was a massive R Kelly fan back in the day. His album 12 Play released in 1993 was the soundtrack to my mid-teen years. Right now I don't feel I can ever listen to that album again even though there are so many good memories associated with it. It was exactly the same when Ian Watkins was found guilty of abusing children. I was a huge Lostprophets fan, as were my siblings. We played their CDs all the time and I even went to see them in concert. Lostprophets' music always reminds me of certain times in my life and of my family, but again this is something I can't really listen to without feeling like it's wrong. But I am so glad that justice has been served to these fallen idols. We always say that money talks, and that the rich and powerful get away with so much but I'm glad that in these cases, no one got away with anything and people have been made to pay for their crimes.
But it's still a big shock for the public, that people whose work we admired could do things that were so heinous. Or on the other hand, have terrible things happen to them. We may think that in the world of celebrity and entertainment everything's very cushy and comfy but that's not always the case and over the years there have been many shocking things that have either happened to people in the public eye or been caused by them. The Jimmy Saville case; the murder of Gianni Versace, the tragic suicides of Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington are just some events that have left us stunned.
What big shocks that have rocked the entertainment world do you remember?
I think for me that would be the murder of Rebecca Schaeffer. She was an actress who came from Oregon - a state not too far from where I'm from, and a place that I've been to a million times. I used to watch her in a sitcom called My Sister Sam. Sadly Rebecca's career was cut short too soon as she was murdered by a man who had been stalking her. I was maybe 7 or 8 at the time and for me it was the first time hearing that a well known person had been murdered. Today stalking is taken pretty seriously and everyone knows the dangers of this kind of behaviour. But I'm not sure that was the case back then. Had it been so, maybe Rebecca would still be alive today.
There have been a lot of shockers. let's be honest. Be the Jimmy Savile case really did knock me for six. We grew up watching Jim'll Fix It. I even wanted to be on the show. He was also on Top Of The Pops and we listened to him on the radio. So not only was it a shock when he'd been accused of abuse, but it also opened the doors for a lot of other people in the public eye to be named. For a while it didn't seem as though a week had gone by without someone being accused. Rolf Harris was another that left me stunned. I know that some of the accused have been acquitted but it's shocked me that so many people I grew up watching would be accused of such heinous crimes.
Ian Watkins without a doubt! I was a fan of Lostprophets and so were a lot of my mates. Been to see them in concert and at festivals and everything. When I first heard the news of Ian's arrest, I at first thought that he'd unknowingly been with an underage fan. It never crossed my mind that he could be the man that we now know him to be. It made me feel sick when I heard about how he'd been abusing children and worse still, little babies. Not to mention grooming the mothers and gaining their trust. Watkins is definitely in the best place now where he can't hurt anyone ever again. I've not listened to anything Lostprophets since all this came out, and it sickens me that I was ever even a fan.
River Phoenix's death at the Viper Room in LA from an overdose. I was pretty young at the time but I do remember this very well as it was all over the news. And of course because the club belonged to Johnny Depp he was involved in all of this too. River was a very talented young man and he had the world at his feet. It really was very, very sad.
There's quite a lot actually that I remember. Some of them have already been mentioned. Princess Di's fatal accident, Jill Dando's murder, Michael Jackson's death, the suicides of Kurt Cobain, Chris Cornell, and Chester Bennington, the fatal shooting of Gianni Versace. There have been lots of shocking events affecting celebrities over the years.
I think one thing that really came as a surprise was Stephen Gately's announcement to the world that he was gay. I was a massive Boyzone fan but that was news to me! There's nothing wrong with being gay - that goes without saying. But this was back in the nineties where boyband members and teen idols had to pretend to be straight if they weren't. So for someone to take this step, knowing full well it could end their career was extremely brave. The New Kids are my everything (apart from my family that is!) and as we all know Jon Knight kept very quiet about his sexuality for many years, and for us Blockheads it brings us so much joy that he's open and honest about who he is and living his best life with his husband.
But Stephen was the first one to change all that. His boyfriend at the time was also in a boyband so the two of them were the first to come out which paved the way for many other celebrities - even if many teenage girls had their hearts broken! But the real shock occurred years later in 2009, ten years after he came out, when Stephen tragically passed away due to a heart condition. It was absolutely devastating. It didn't even matter if you were a fan of their music or not. The death of someone so young who had so much to give to the world was a real tragedy. Stephen did so much for gay rights and I hope that won't be forgotten.
It wasn't really my kind of music but a lot of the people I went to school with were big R Kelly fans. I wonder what they'd make of all this now.
But the two events that I remember which were desperately sad were Kurt Cobain's suicide and the disappearance of Manic Street Preacher's Richie Edwards. I liked both bands and listened to their music. I was still only a teenager when both incidents occurred. At that age, you think celebrities live a very cushy life where they're shielded from problems that most of us experience. These told me that that's not the case, and it's still so sad that well over twenty five years later we still don't know what happened to Richie.
I'm actually going to go with something current and say how amazed I am that the scandal involving Prince Andrew hasn't been more talked about. It seems the world is just too bothered with Megan and Harry. We've all seen what has happened to celebrities who have had their names linked with certain scandals - and a lot of the time it's before they've even gone to trial. Yet with Prince Andrew it's very clear that a lot of it is just being swept under the carpet. Do I think that Prince Andrew had anything to do with sex trafficking? No. Do I think he knew more than he's letting on? Yes. I think a man in his position had the power to do a lot more in order to help these young girls but he chose to ignore their plight.
When Michael Jackson died absolutely. I maybe wasn't the world's biggest Michael Jackson fan but I did like his music. Who didn't? And as we all new he was one of the biggest performers in the world. A real mega star. So when he died, it was like what the hell happened? I no people who were devestated like someone in their family died when the news broke that Michael had passed.
I know one of the most surprising bits of news I ever heard were that of Maggie Thatcher resigning! Don't get me wrong - I were delighted! A lot of us were. But we just never thought it would happen. It all started when Michael Heseltine challenged her for the party's leadership. And when she saw she were losing, she resigned! And funnily enough, Michael didn't become the next PM as some of us thought he would. But instead it were John Major. I realise that all this went on in the world of politics rather than the world of entertainment but it really did seem like a soap opera at the time.
It was the death of Princess Diana that left me stunned. The rest of the world as well. It seemed completely unreal. Diana was the most photographed woman in the world. She was always making headlines whether it was her charity work, her fashion sense, or her turbulent love life. And then suddenly she wasn't there anymore. It took us all a very long time to accept that we were never going to see this beautiful young woman again. Then there were all the conspiracy theories that her accident wasn't really an accident after all. While we may never know what really went on that night, one thing we know for sure is that the world has been a lot duller without Di in it.
I love my music and I too was a huge fan of R Kelly. I was 19 when 12Play came out and many of those tracks were being played in the clubs that I used to go to with my friends. So it brings back a lot of memories about that particular time in my life: uni; living up north; meeting new friends many of whom are still in my life now; getting more into travel. Sadly I don't think I'll ever be able to see any of R Kelly's music quite the same way again. It makes me quite sick when I think about some of the lyrics to his songs and what must have been running through his head as he wrote them. Take Age Ain't Nothing But A Number that he wrote for Aaliyah who he reportedly married while she was still underage. How ever did he get away with things for so long?
But another shocking event in the music world was the fatal shooting of Tupac closely followed by the death of Biggie. For those of use who loved our urban music these tragedies were very sad days indeed.