Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Liam: There was a dark, stalkery thing going on... it can take a toll
Hothouse Flowers frontman on downside of fame
MUSICIAN Liam O Maonlai has revealed his stalker hell at the height of his fame.
The Hothouse Flowers singer said he was offered security due to crazed fans who had become obsessed with him.
Singer Liam, 56, recalls the band’s heyday on RTE’s Keys to My Life opening up about the impact fame had on him.
He said: “There was a dark, almost stalkery thing going on with a few people.
That, even subconsciously, can take its toll. And I remember at one stage someone saying, ‘We are going to have to talk about security now’, and I just kind of said ‘no thanks’.”
Dubliner Liam, who shot to fame with the 1988 hit Don’t Go, reflected on how he tried to make things work with his first wife and the mother of his son, Aoife Tunney.
The dad-of-two now lives in Dundrum, South Dublin, with his French partner, Marion, and their nine-year-old daughter, Pema. He added: “It’s tough when you hit a painful place like that.
“We gave it a run, we talked, we went through therapy, and then we just sat down and said ‘Ok, I think we have given it our best ‘.
“And I moved out and we took it from there.”
The singer said despite touring the world and being a household name, he is still gigging to pay his bills.
Liam added: “It was a time when merchandising was really becoming part of the merry-go-round that was being in a band.
“The band is a cash cow for a lot of people and very often the last people on that food chain is the band itself.
“There are a lot of people who have made a great living out of that band.
“I probably should have a nice house, I shouldn’t be but I’m still paying rent and the gigs still keep going, I’m still hungry.”
Keys To My Life airs tomorrow on RTE One at 8.30pm.