Like an uncherished relic of the past, former child stars and young bands quickly go from being highly promising future commodities to social media jibes of water cooler retrospection.
The perils of fame are often considered to be the defining element of a young musician’s downfall. Such a story is all too familiar.
Long before his untimely death in 2009, Michael Jackson found fame with the Jackson 5. Unlike his siblings/bandmates, Michael went on to achieve the success that we all know of today.
But why did his siblings disappear into a relative musical oblivion while Michael reached new heights? Varying degrees of talent is no doubt a contributing factor, but the stresses of fame might just be the prevailing one.
The disappearance of many once young and fabled musicians is caused by a multitude of factors independent of the amount of talent they display and the number of screaming teenagers they encourage.
The list of young acts that couldn’t transcend beyond their youthful years is enormous. Search the net for any of the above and you’re likely to find yourself in a YouTube vortex of So Fresh CD proportions.
Gold Coast outfit Operator Please were singing about ping pong in 2007 before disappearing some time after the release of their second album, Gloves, in 2010.
Hip-hop acts like (the now not so) Lil’ Bow Wow, Kriss Kross, and Another Bad Creation are today reserved for nostalgic conversations at 90s dress up parties while The Barnes’ children band The Tin Lids are lucky to be pulled out in time for the festive season.
So why is it that young acts like Sister2Sister, Gabriella Cilmi, and t.A.T.u. seemingly fallen off the face of the earth?
“It’s that maturation that is a decisive factor in whether acts can succeed beyond that of their youthful beginnings.”To begin with, let’s just state the obvious: a lot of these kids have stage parents forcing them into careers at a young age.
History tells us that Beethoven was abused into playing piano by his father. While there were no gossip rags back in the day, as far as we know the German composer didn’t shave his head and attack a car a la Britney Spears. The ‘Oops I Did It Again’ singer was also pushed into a pop career by her parents.
If it isn’t the parents who are the pushy ones, there’s usually a greedy member of management looking to exploit the kid for a buck, thinking with dollar signs in mind. Chewing up young acts for all they’re worth and then spitting them out is easily one of the ugliest practices within the music industry.
Complimenting this, there is no doubt that starting a music career early also can also deprive young musicians of a stable education. The experience of developing as a person through your terrible teens amongst hoards of other terrible teens allows you to develop as a functional member of society.
The importance of education hasn’t been lost on all artists who have been given the opportunity to expose their music to the world before they were legal, and indeed it seems the ones that follow through with their schooling and let themselves develop end up being more successful than those who don’t.
Indie four-piece Bombay Bicycle Club first broke through while they were in high school by winning the ‘Road To V’ competition in 2006. The British outfit slowly simmered afterwards releasing EPs independently and embarking on small tours. The band, who have since released three albums and toured the world, waited until they graduated from high school to release their debut album in 2009.
Young Australian musicians like Lisa Mitchell and Matt Corby took a similar route after being tempted by the allure of a reality TV singing contest. They first found fame via Australian Idol, but wisely waited until they had come of age to embark on their respective music careers, which have been flourishing.
Ballarat band Howl won another talen competition Triple J Unearthed High, a contest for secondary school students. Now called Hunting Grounds, the six-piece waited a number of years to release their debut, In Hindsight. The years in-between the initial Triple J exposure and the release would have undoubtedly allowed the band to craft a better album.
It’s that maturation that is a decisive factor in whether acts can succeed beyond that of their youthful beginnings There also has to be a moment where the previously dictated child star takes control of their own career.
Even The King Of Pop himself had to make the leap from writing about his pet rat on ‘Ben’ to making the stubborn decision of crafting his own music, which resulted in the sexy disco grooves of Off The Wall.
“By taking control over their musical futures Jackson, and Wonder defied the trend of fading into obscurity and avoided watching the novelty factor of their youth ware off as they disappeared.”If MJ didn’t take that step of maturity by choosing to produce and write his own music there is no telling just how much his future legacy would have suffered.
Another artist who took control, and who is one of the chief examples of a child star turned international music sensation is Stevie Wonder. While many people remember the soul singer for his later hits like ‘Superstition’ and ‘Higher Ground’, Wonder first found fame at age 13 by becoming the youngest ever artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Fingertips (Pt. 2)’.
Known at the time as ‘Little Stevie Wonder’, come 1972 the musician had successfully demanded creative control from Motown Records.
While the label were initially scared that they would lose their one-hit wonder the singer evolved and became not only one of Motown’s but the world’s biggest acts. Wonder has won a record twenty-two Grammy Awards.
By maturing at the right time and taking control over their musical futures Jackson, and Wonder defied the trend of fading into obscurity and avoided watching the novelty factor of their youth ware off as they disappeared.
Silverchair are a local example of a band succeeding and indeed flourishing past their youth and they too took artistic control form a young age.
At the collective tender age of 15 the three-piece won a competition through SBS. In that same year Silverchair released their debut album, Frogstomp, which charted across the globe and to think it was all before they could legally drink.
The band’s evolution and transition into manhood saw the band achieve even more international success. Their five records combined have sold over six million copies worldwide.
They may have gone on indefinite hiatus in 2011, but each member still pursues music as recent news of Daniel Johns working with Luke Steele on a “Talking Heads” inspired album proves.
Today there are numerous barely legal acts that will face the challenges of youth that all of the aforementioned went through.
Snakadaktal are only recently out of high and the indie pop five-piece are expected to release their debut album soon. San Cisco released their self-titled debut last year and are currently touring across the globe despite only just become old enough to vote. The Findlay sisters, more commonly known as Stonefield, have an age gap of 13-21 with Holly being the youngest. They too plan to release their debut album in 2013.
The question is, which of these bands will fade and which have an esteemed discography ahead of them?
Only time will tell, but you can count on the fact there will be many more young bands and child stars that will continue to prompt questions like; where are they now? Why did they leave us? Are they really a barista now?
