Deity Page 5

  Anyway. So you’ve got all that, his career is tanking. When was his last album? Nearly ten years earlier or something? He’s not on tour. Makes you wonder how much debt he was in. Maybe he ran off to Madagascar or something, I dunno, but wherever he is, he’s still looking for kids – he can’t help himself. So he’s online, on the apps, and that’s where we catch him.

  Maybe he realises it’s a trap, then maybe he works out what’s going to happen if it comes out that he’s a nonce. Now, don’t get me wrong, Zach Crystal’s not stupid; anyone that rich can’t be daft. So he creates this miraculous ‘comeback’. PR, innit? Good PR. Papers over the fact that he’s been chatting to kids online. So he gets his people to meet us, takes all our stuff, just because he can. Of course his fans are going to believe him over us. We were nothing to him. Ended up as just a stepping stone to revamp his flagging career, that’s all.

  And it fucking well worked, didn’t it? Until … well…

  —Until the fire. What’s your opinion on that, may I ask? Was it, like the fans think, suicide? Or is it possible that Zach Crystal was murdered?

  —Oh yeah, it’s possible alright. I imagine there was more than just me who had a problem with Zach Crystal.

  Ian’s right. The tide of public opinion against Crystal was at its lowest ebb in the lead-up to his disappearance. The reclusive, oddball star, hidden away in the remote Highlands of Scotland, in the constant company of teenage girls. It didn’t look good. There were rumours of spiralling debts, Crystal Forest a lavish expense that Crystal could no longer afford to run.

  Interestingly, when Crystal vanished; there was an upsurge in album sales. Ian and many others believe all of it was clever PR.

  —Ultimately, I believe that yeah, it probably was suicide. Do I think it was my fault? Well, I mean, I wasn’t the one trawling the internet for young girls; I wasn’t the one paying for first-class flights to Inver-bloody-ness, was I? I think the suicide theory is probably right – I’ll give Sasha Stewart that one, at least – but it’s not because of me. Well, it is, sort of. But you don’t kill yourself for no reason. I think he did it because he didn’t want to have to face up to what he was doing. I think it all got a bit too close to home. It was all going to catch up with him at some point, wasn’t it? Look what was happening.

  At around the time of Zach Crystal’s re-emergence, there were some rather unsavoury rumblings surrounding Crystal and alleged historical abuse claims.

  From my own, brief, amateur sleuthing, I can trace the emergence of the recent claims against Crystal to a reply to actress Alyssa Milano’s 15th October 2017 tweet that urged women to speak out against sexual assault:

  If all the women who have ever been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too’ as a status, then we give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.

  A reply by someone called Sammy Williams joined over 63,000 others. That number in itself is damning. It says a lot about the way our society was – and still is. Here’s Sammy’s reply:

  I was groomed online and assaulted by Zach Crystal when I was 14 yrs old #metoo

  Sammy’s tweet received almost no attention.

  At first.

  But when Crystal re-emerged in 2019, there were a great deal more of these accusations from a great deal more women, many of whom had been silenced in the past by lawsuits and NDAs. But there were also many other past accusations against Crystal that had been covered by the press at the height of his fame. Mostly the press painted the accusers as gold-diggers – wayward young girls who were out to get money from the star. The rebuttals from the Crystal camp were swift and decisive, and many of those accusers were driven underground by the vehemence of the Zach Crystal fan community.

  However, in more recent years, people began using social media to speak up against Zach Crystal anonymously. Crystal actually addressed these claims on his appearance on the Ruby Show on BBC One, speaking eloquently as he forcibly denied any wrongdoing on his part.

  There is a vast web of stories, claims and tangents to explore in the convoluted story of Zach Crystal. I hope to cover many of these as this series goes on. But there’s one last thing I want to ask Ian, something which I haven’t even begun to cover yet.

  —When Zach Crystal spoke to Ruby Rendall in 2019, there was something odd that struck me and a great many others who watched it.

  —Oh yeah. I mean all that weirdness from the fans it was like—

  —No … actually. Not that.

  —Oh yeah?

  —Yeah. It was something he said. He said he saw something in his future, a vision … a dark omen of some sort. I remember he used to talk a lot about that sort of thing.

  —I remember. You know what I think all that nonsense was? That was his conscience – not some forest ghost or whatever crap he used to spout. That was the embodiment of his guilt and his regret, and all the bad things he’d done in his life, coming for him. He knew. He knew it would come and bite him in the backside one day.

  Then it did. And he was too much of a coward to turn around and take responsibility for what he’d done. So he took the coward’s way out.

  And now that’s my fault.

  It’s a fucking joke.

  —Do you have anything you want to say before we finish, a message to those who are still hounding you?

  —Not really, no. Those people don’t listen. They’re deluded and dogmatic. They won’t stop because it’s easier to blame me than look critically at their hero, innit? It’s up to them to come to their own realisation about Zach Crystal. I just hope that those women get some kind of justice for what he did to them. That’s all I want.

  And so we reach the end of our first episode.

  There’s a lot here to get your head around, and I’ve barely scratched the surface. There’s a lot that we’ve covered and even more we haven’t. With every question, with every statement regarding Zach Crystal, more and more others are spawned. Hopefully, this episode has provided an overview of the case of Zach Crystal – his rise, his disappearance, his resurgence and the spectacular fall, to his death, and the accusations that have dogged his career.

  For those of you who are fans of Crystal and are still with me, I want to make something clear: at this point I am doing my best to remain neutral. It is hard, though. I have stirred a pot filled to the brim with rumours, whispers and stories. Throughout this series, we are going to look at the different sides of the Zach Crystal story. Six ways.

  Our first has been from a certain viewpoint, and I am aware that there are many more. There are extremes on all sides and I realise that in doing this, I’m not going to make any side happy. Is Ian Julius to blame for Zach Crystal’s death, and is he telling the truth? I don’t think I’ll be able to answer that question with any certainty.

  The thing is, we have no way of knowing what happened behind the walls of Crystal Forest.

  Because none of us were there.

  Perhaps this is why I’m making this series; because if I don’t, the Zach Crystal question is always going to be there. It’s always going to be burrowing under my skin, a parasite eating away at me. As it is for many of you.

  Next episode, to provide contrast, we’re going to speak to someone whose views on Zach Crystal are the polar opposite to Ian Julius’s. For every argument against Crystal, we should see the other side. Who you want to believe is up to you, but for me, I’m open to suggestion.

  I’ve been Scott King.

  Until next time…

  RUBY

  Episode 246: Zach Crystal

  Legendary Presenter Ruby Rendall’s exclusive interview with pop megastar Zach Crystal. More >

  1 hr 45 • 9pm 20th July 2019 • Available for 28 days

  RR: Wow. I just … there’s something about that song. I must have heard it a million times, I’ve danced to it a million times. [Sings] And now, our stars, they fall,

  ZC: [singing softly] I’ll try and catch them all…

  [At this, there is a huge well of screeching
from the studio audience that goes instantly quiet when Zach Crystal raises his hand.]

  ZC: It’s a song about trying to do so much, trying to catch all the falling stars – trying to save everyone from…

  [There is a loud shriek from an audience member at this.]

  RR: I know, I know, right? But anyway, as I was saying; seeing it here, now, with the video and with Zach Crystal sat opposite me, it just sends a tingle up my spine, like it’s the first time. You’re blushing.

  ZC: [giggling] I know. I told you, I’m quite a shy guy.

  RR: Welcome back everyone; just in case you didn’t notice, I’m Ruby Rendall and sat opposite me is actually Zach Crystal. Zach, you’ve said in the past that fame comes with quite a price, would I be right?

  ZC: That’s true. That’s so true, and people, they just don’t think about that. They see the money, they see all the hotels, the tours and they don’t realise how hard it is. I mean, it’s so amazing, I’m so lucky, but it all comes with a price.

  RR: You paid a hefty price, growing up didn’t you? I mean, you were performing from the age of twelve, with your sister.

  ZC: That’s right, The Crystal Twins. Naomi had begun joining me downstairs on those Sunday afternoons after we’d finished our homework. We began to sing duets together, while I played the keys. Our favourites were ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’ by The Righteous Brothers and ‘Hit the Road Jack’ by Ray Leonard. At first it was really hard to play and sing at the same time, but I remember Naomi saying to me, ‘Look at me instead of the keys. Trust your fingers.’

  And I did. The first time we played and sang through a song with no mistakes, I looked at my father and there were tears trickling down his cheeks. He was so proud of us. More than that, we were proud of us.

  We were only any good because of how much work we put in. We were always practising, rehearsing, getting it right, trying to be the best.

  RR: Did that take away much of having a normal life growing up. Did you two go to school?

  ZC: We were supposed to, but it was hard as our music career took off really quickly. We were always working, always writing songs and practising. My mother was supposed to home-school us, but to be honest, it was the music that was our focus. So, no, it wasn’t totally normal. We didn’t see other people, really. But that’s what made us what we were. I don’t regret any of it.

  RR: You were both doing very well in those early days, playing in pubs and bars. You guys were so young…

  ZC: That’s true. Naomi is older than me, but only by an hour. She always looked after me, back then, she was always so much more confident. She’s the same as a mother, now. She’s so protective of that girl, so loving. I found the bars and places so scary; all those people, all that noise. Nothing fazed Naomi though. She knew what she wanted, knew what she was doing. Naomi wasn’t scared to ask for things, where I was so shy. She’s still that way. She’s such a strong person and I admire her. We had to grow up quickly, both of us.

  RR: The ramifications of that must have been tough on you both.

  ZC: I think it was harder for me than it was for Naomi. I never really had many friends. I certainly never had a normal teenage-hood, you know? I never did what other teenagers did – going to parties, that sort of thing, working out who I was. It made me sad. I was sad a lot of the time. I was alone.

  RR: So here were Zach and Naomi Crystal, these two stars, bringing happiness to people all over the country with their music, and inside, you were sad?

  ZC: There was a part of me that just wanted to be by myself. I used to read a lot of books, sat in the back of the car, or waiting for the sound check in the dressing rooms, while Naomi was talking to people. I used to lose myself in these stories: The Famous Five books, The Secret Garden, Narnia, all of that. Places where young people escape into other worlds. I loved that idea. I still do.

  RR: Was there a part of you, Zach, when you were that age, that wanted to escape from it all? Is that why those stories resonated?

  ZC: I’ve always been a dreamer, always had my head in the clouds. Those books were an escape for me. The music business is a hard place. It’s cold. It doesn’t care.

  RR: How hard was that then, for sixteen-year-old you?

  ZC: Harder than you can imagine. I was in the spotlight the whole time. You would have thought I’d be used to it, but at that age, you just want the ground to swallow you up. However much I tried to blend into the background, I couldn’t. People just wanted a piece of me all the time – the fans. But don’t get me wrong, Ruby, I love them, I love all of them. All of you!

  [Cheering from the audience; someone shouts ‘Zach, I love you!’]

  ZC: I love you too!

  [This generates a great cascade of shrieking, which eventually quietens.]

  ZC: I mean it was the rehearsing, the practice, the song-writing, all of that stuff that goes on behind these scenes, you know? That was all in the way of me growing up, you see. It’s like being a footballer, I guess. People want you to be a certain way; you’re told you’re a role model. But that’s not your choice. You’re still young, seventeen, and you’ve got little kids looking up to you. That’s why I built the tree house in Crystal Forest, you see. I guess I’m trying to compensate. That kid who read all those books, always wanted to have a secret tree house, a clubhouse. It sounds silly, but it’s true.

  RR: And now you have. You bought five hundred acres in Colliecrith National Park, up in the wilds of Scotland. That’s where you write and record your music. Also where you live, right?

  ZC: Yeah. It’s a wonderful place. It’s an aspen forest far, far away from everything. The name comes from Gaelic – crith which means ‘shiver’ – because of the leaves of those trees. There’s magic up there, those trees are magical … the leaves.

  RR: Really?

  ZC: Oh yeah, you put one of those leaves under your tongue and it increases your word power. I’m telling you. But most importantly, it’s a place to escape to, when the work is done, you see? It’s my place, my private place. I’m a very business-minded person, you see, very busy all the time; recording and in meetings. That’s what I use the main house for, and when that’s done, I can escape into the tree house. People, especially the press, they find it funny, they find it weird, but they don’t understand, they’ve never tried to understand why.

  RR: I mean, it’s more than just a tree house, isn’t it? It’s a tree mansion.

  ZC: Ruby. It only has two floors…

  [Laughter]

  RR: So what is it you do in there?

  ZC: I sleep. It’s beautiful up there, you know? It was built around the trees, you see; all that ancient wood, all those leaves are on the inside and the outside. The colours are amazing – pale yellows and greens that stretch out over the mountains forever. It’s another world up there. There’s other-worldly things in there.

  [Zach is interrupted by screams from the audience – short, high yelping sounds, seemingly from individuals, then gradually spreading. The camera pans to the audience for a second. A few audience members are twitching in their seats, crying out with little yelps. The noises are spreading.]

  RR: Um … as you were saying, Zach…

  [The yelps are getting more and more frequent.]

  RR: This is just so exciting, I think, and it’s hard not to get carried away. Can we cut to…?

  [One or two of the yelps are cut short and there are muffled protests as some of the crowd are ejected. But the yelping increases and a BBC One logo appears on the screen:]

  Programme information – technical difficulties

  We are currently experiencing some technical problems with our live broadcast.

  We are looking into these and hope to have the issues resolved soon.

  [After a few minutes, the programme resumes.]

  RR: I think, for some, having you here, is just a little overwhelming. Can you carry on about your house up there in the wilderness?

  ZC: Of course, I have fairy lights everywhere a
nd a huge TV. It’s cosy – it’s so comfy up there, so wonderful.

  RR: Is that where you feel you can almost recapture that lost teenage-hood? You can be a kid again?

  ZC: Exactly. I do all sorts of teenage things up there, too, you know – watching horror movies, singing, reading. It’s a place I can escape to. I can be a teenager again, in the body of an older man.

  RR: You have visitors there too, that’s correct?

  ZC: I have an entire visitor’s suite in the main building. It’s luxury, you know? Like a five-star hotel, six stars, seven stars! There’s everything anyone could want – room service, a spa. Everything. I have people staying all the time. People from some of the hardest backgrounds. People who didn’t grow up with anything, or have lost their families. My doors are always open to people like that.

  RR: You work with a lot of disadvantaged young people. It feels to me that you can, to some degree, relate to their pain.

  ZC: That’s right. I want to give something back. That’s what I’ve always tried to do. There are young people out there who have lost their childhoods, their teenage years, because they had to grow up too fast, they had to be a carer or there was addiction in their family – there was death, pain, tragedy. I want to give those young people something back. I invite them to come and stay at Crystal Forest. They have it all. They escape their hardship for a few days.

  RR: There has been a lot of tabloid speculation over this, hasn’t there?

  [The remaining audience begin to boo loudly.]

  ZC: There has. It’s disgusting, the things they say about me. It’s disgraceful. You try and help people, and look what you get back in return. I try and give young people who have nothing, something, and I’m the bad guy. That’s why I don’t talk to the media, Ruby, that’s why I rarely have. Whatever you try and do, they will always want to make it into a headline, something awful. My sister’s daughter – my niece – lives with us at Crystal Forest. If I was what they say I am, do you think Naomi would let that happen? I don’t think so.