Simon signed Liam, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, and Louis Tomlinson to his label, Syco Records, after One Direction was formed on The X Factor. He maintained a close relationship with Liam even after the group disbanded in 2015 and continued to serve as his mentor.
Liam died last October after falling off a balcony in Argentina, and unfortunately, in the aftermath, some people began suggesting that Simon could have done more during his lifetime to support him.
Appearing on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast earlier this week, Simon said he didn’t pay attention to the accusations. “I don’t read any of this stuff because if I did, you would just torture yourself,” he said. “The idea that you are essentially responsible for somebody’s life after you’ve signed someone? You can’t do that.”
Simon recalled seeing Liam a year before he died — and said nothing was concerning at the time.
“He came over to my house, and we spoke and — he looked amazing by the way,” Simon shared. “I said, ‘This is the best I’ve ever seen you. How are you?’ And we talked about his son, being a dad, and what that means. And I remember saying to him about music. I said, ‘Look, music is not everything by the way… don’t let it run your life anymore. Find something else that you’re passionate about, which will bring you happiness.'”
Simon said, if he had known what would happen, “of course,” he would go back to that moment, but at the time, “I felt really good about him. I thought, wow, you seem in a really good place, and I was trying to give him some good advice just about life in general… we just spent three or four hours talking, and I didn’t feel worried about him after he left.”
Simon added that he always encouraged Liam to reach out.
“I always say to anyone, ‘I’m here if you need me,'” he said. “When he reached out to me, it was not like, ‘Simon, I really need your help.’ It was just, ‘I just want to see you. I miss you.’ And I’m like, ‘Great, I miss you too, so let’s spend the afternoon together,’ and it was brilliant.”
Listen to the full episode here.