Ken: I remember the phone call when I heard about AJ’s record deal. It just wasn’t the kind of thing that happens to people like us. Grace told me and she was all excited and the money they were offering was just crazy. I asked to speak to AJ, and she put him on. I said, ‘So you want to be a pop star?’ And he said he guessed he did. I could imagine him standing there, shrugging. I used to watch him onThe Friday Showwhen I was lonely. He’d shot up and he was such a good-looking kid and I could see why they wanted him, I really could. I told him that it would be a lot of hard work and not all parties and fun. He said he knew that, but I’m not sure he did, really. I asked how he felt about people recognising him on the street, and he said that already happened. I didn’t know that, hadn’t thought about it. It was a reminder of how much I didn’t know. When I talked to Zak, he sounded kind of sad but he said it wasn’t about the record deal. After I got off the phone with them, I just sat on the couch drinking a beer without the TV or any music on, and I thought about AJ being a real star. And Iknew, I just knew, that it wouldn’t lead to anything good. But I knew, too, that Grace wouldn’t listen to me if I said that.
Zak: It felt like it all happened really fast. One day AJ was on a TV show and got recognised a bit, and then the next, he was a star. This one day, it was summer and he and I went to the beach after school. His first single, ‘Ice Cream’, had come out a week or so before and gone straight into the charts at number four. It was massive, but I hadn’t realised the impact it would have. We were mobbed by teenage girls, asking for his autograph, just wanting to touch him, really. We ended up going home after half an hour because it was just too much, you know? I think it was a bit of a shock for both of us, that this was how it was going to be now.
Grace: They made an album and got a single out really fast. The first time I heard ‘Ice Cream’, I didn’t think it was going to be a hit. Shows what I know.
Ken: I started to hear AJ’s songs on the radio when I was at work. It was the strangest thing. And I loved it, because it helped me feel connected to him, but I was scared of it, too. Of how fast it all happened.
Grace: Next thing we knew there was a US tour being organised and I had to pull him out of school altogether. The record company organised for a tutor to travel with him, but I usually went too. Zak was old enough to stay on his own. Sometimes he came, but he had schoolwork to do, so often he didn’t.
Zak: That sucked, to be honest. I spent a lot of time alone. I was old enough to look after myself, yes, but I was still too young to be fending for myself. Once I had this party, and it got a bit out of hand, and I was preparing myself for Mom to be mad when she got back, but she didn’t even notice. It was like she couldn’t see me.
Ken: I used to call the house and it was usually Zak who answered, and sometimes he’d tell me he was home alone and I’d say ‘huh’ and I’d think about the two of us, both on our own but thousands of miles apart, and it seemed like we’d got something wrong somewhere along the way.
Zak: By the time he was fifteen, AJ was the biggest pop star in the world. Even saying that now, I can’t believe it. Even having lived through it. He just had the perfect combination of looks and talent and that thing you can’t describe or really put your finger on. He was just a star. Once he was, it was hard to see how he’d ever not been. How we hadn’t known forever. I think most of the time he loved it, but sometimes he’d come into my room and he’d look like he was on the edge of crying, and I’d ask what was up and he’d say nothing. He used to ask if we could just lie on my bed and listen to some music and pretend we had different lives to the ones we had. I remember him saying that, and thinking about how many people would have killed to have what he had, to be where he was. But I’d do it, all the same. I’d put onNevermindby Nirvana and we’d lie back and close our eyes, our shoulders touching on my narrow bed. He used to talk about Kurt Cobain, how he died at twenty-seven. Just like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison. He said he sometimes thought he wouldn’t even make it that far.
Grace: Fame has its downsides. Of course it does. But the upsides outweighed them, no question. AJ was living every teenage boy’s dream. Girls and money and fame. He could buy anything he wanted. He bought us a house, bought three fancy cars – one for me, one for Zak, and one for him to drive when he was old enough. That cracked me up. He was living the high life. Lapping it up. Loving every single minute of it.
Ken: I felt like they were moving further away from me as time passed. They were already so far, geographically, but as AJ’s career really blew up, there were more and more people around them who I didn’t know. People who were spending a lot of time with my family. Managers and security and God only knows what else.
Grace: The staff was something I hadn’t thought about, but when you’re making the kind of money he was making then, you need a team behind you. We had a bit of trouble with managers. We couldn’t keep them, for some reason. I’m not an idiot. I know AJ could be a bit of a pain, but these people seemed to quit so easily. Then we found Maggie.
Zak: Maggie was great. She knew how to handle AJ and she always seemed to have time for Mom and me, too. She used to come over for dinner every Wednesday night and we’d talk about what was going on with AJ’s stuff, but she’d also ask about school and how basketball was going and treat me like my stuff was important too. Her and Mom got on great, and AJ had this quiet respect for her.
Ken: One day I got this call out of the blue and it was from AJ’s new manager, Maggie. She said she knew our pathsprobably wouldn’t cross but she was going to be a part of AJ’s life and she wanted to introduce herself to me. I really appreciated that. It made me feel like I was a part of it all, for a while.
Maggie: I’d been in the talent management game for a while by the time I started working with AJ. He was a good kid at heart. Moody, demanding, impossible to please. All of that. But underneath it all there was a scared little kid, I think. Getting to know Zak helped me understand AJ, and talking to Ken did, too. I liked Grace, but I could see how she’d pushed him, how she was still pushing him. And I had this sense that it might all end badly. AJ liked being famous, liked having teenage girls trailing behind him everywhere he went, of course he did. But sometimes he came to my office and closed the door and said he just needed an hour away from it all. And I understood that. He was so goddamn young.
The first time we went to Europe, I tried to prepare him for the fact that he was just as big over there as he was in the US. But I don’t think he believed me. He hadn’t left the States before. And then we got off a plane in France and we were jetlagged, our body clocks all messed up, and there was this crowd of girls outside the hotel. I remember he said that these girls lived on the other side of the world from him, that he didn’t even speak the same language they did, but they knew his name and his songs and wanted a piece of him. It was hard to take in.
The travelling was pretty punishing. People talk about these young stars getting all these opportunities, flying all over the world at such a young age, but that’s all bullshit. That kid was on planes, in hotel rooms, rehearsal spaces and auditoriums. There was no sightseeing. No culture.We were on our way to a radio interview once and in the car he asked me which country we were in.
Zak: I was there when he came up with the theme park idea. We were hanging out at home. He couldn’t really go anywhere by then without his whole entourage. I’d made us packet mac and cheese because it was his favourite – had been ever since he was small – and he was telling me about the tour that had just been confirmed for the following year. It was going to be the biggest one yet, all huge stadiums in huge cities. He asked if I would come. I said I would. And then he went off on this rant about how he never got to actually see any of these places or do anything fun and how he was sick of fancy hotel rooms with windows that didn’t even open.
He went quiet for a bit, and we put MTV on, watched some girlband jumping around, hair flying. I knew AJ had kissed one of them. Maybe two. Then he turned to me, eyes wide, and said what if we stayed somewhere cool instead. I asked him where. He said maybe a theme park. I laughed. I thought it was a joke. But the next day he went to Maggie with it, and before I knew it, the wheels were in motion. I mean, it was a crazy idea, really. That’s what happens when you give a teenager a lot of money and a lot of power. No one could say no to him. Maggie was pretty good at calling out his bullshit but even she knew he was paying her wages and he could stop at any time. I thought of the whole thing as this out-of-control car, which is ironic really, given how it all ended.
Danny: And that’s where we’re going to leave it for this week, but be sure to tune in next week for a sweet love story. Can you guess who it might involve? If you’ve everbeen a teenager, you’ll relate. Thanks for listening toWhat Happened That Summer?Don’t forget to leave us a review if you’ve enjoyed listening.
SamJBakeford
Well, John seems like a dick #WhatHappenedThatSummer
LucyLou
My God, I used to go to Wildworld as a kid. I couldn’t believe it when I heard AJ Silver had died there. It was like hearing Madonna had died at the Spar. Hearing Sebastian describe the place brought so many memories back. Adventure City was my favourite! #WhatHappenedThatSummer
DeanoJones
Wow, AJ’s mum is not coming out of this well, huh? #WhatHappenedThatSummer
The_Paul_Wilson
I always thought people who ran theme parks were absolutely raking it in. Things are never what they seem, huh? #WhatHappenedThatSummer
Smithy562
I never knew there was a connection between AJ Silver and Alex Robb! Small world #WhatHappenedThatSummer
KatwithaK
