—Aye, so there you go. He gets on the phone to me and he says, will I sort it all?
—Sort it all?
—Well, he says, Zach Crystal knows nothing about woodland maintenance, he’s a star. Can you put together a team of lads? He says the guy wants a mansion, recording studio and a tree house in the middle of the Whispering Wood. I just says, ‘Aye mate, no bother.’ It was mad, but I didn’t say so. I just said aye. I think he liked that.
So Craig put out the word to local contractors and assisted Team Crystal with finding the best site for the Crystal Forest mansion. Money was no object.
—He wanted the forest disturbed as little as possible. I liked that. Of course, we had to do some clearance work, but it was minimal. He wanted the place right in the middle, as far away from everything as he could. Now, what a lot of folk don’t know is that up there, it’s not just a load of trees. It’s dangerous. The woodland’s ancient, the ground’s mountainous, there’s all sorts of gullies and pits and dips, rocks and caves. I think that’s why he wanted it there, to make it hard for people to get to. I mean, the guy was a multi-millionaire megastar, so I don’t blame him, do you?
Craig tells me he didn’t really see himself in charge of anything; he was just helping out. But as time went on, he realised how he was seen by Zach Crystal’s team.
—I’m just a guy, you know? I’m nobody really, and then suddenly all these people in suits and shades are talking to me. I’m now attending meetings with the big players. Suddenly I’m someone, you know? Someone important.
The construction of Crystal Forest was quick. Craig never spoke to Crystal himself; everything was done through James Cryer on behalf of the star.
—I said to him, I says, you know about the story of the wood? The curse, all that? He laughs. He says that Mr Crystal knows all about it and that’s why he’s here, and that was that. Fair enough, I thought. So long as he pays my wages, I’m not questioning it. Maybe that would be good for the place, you know? This great big project might finally bury that daft old story.
The remote location of Crystal Forest meant that a new road had to be constructed to access the site. Craig oversaw it all. He tells me that, to this day, you could place him anywhere within the five hundred acres of woodland that compromised Crystal Forest and he’d be able to navigate out of there. By the end of the construction, Craig was offered a permanent contract as Zach Crystal’s head of security at Crystal Forest. He was given accommodation in the mansion, in the staff quarters, food and board all paid for, and a wage on top of that.
—About sixteen months, give or take, it took to get that place built. The recording studio a bit longer, but he was living there permanently by 1999. And I had signed the contract for my new job.
—How much did you see Zach Crystal himself, during the construction work?
—Oh, never. We never saw him. Everything was done through his man, Mr Cryer. People ask me all the time, they say ‘Were you close to him? Were you two friends?’ – but this was the biggest star on earth we’re talking about. The guy was on tour and all that, wasn’t he? He did come though, when the place was ready. He came to see us, and that’s when I met him for the first time. I was a little bit starstruck. Who wouldn’t be? He’s this skinny, soft man with long hair, dressed like something out of a fantasy story. He was like a little kid, running around the place. But he was polite, he was respectful. He was actually a decent bloke, I thought. At first.
He knew my name, which was mad – knew who I was. He thanked me over and over again for the hard work and sorting it all out.
There was a party with champagne and all that, one evening. A grand opening. But actually, it ended up not so grand.
—How do you mean?
—Well, you would think, wouldn’t you, a guy like that would have a big party, invite all his famous pals? It would all be vol-au-vents and eating sushi off naked women and that. Instead it was … strange.
—You were invited?
—I mean, that was strange in itself, no? That I was there. I thought so at first but – and I’m being honest here – I didn’t realise just how … important I’d become…
Craig is a modest and unassuming man. He’s come from a traditional, hard-working background, but he’s no stranger to wealthy landowners and the like. By the time Crystal Forest was finished, though, he says he was shocked and actually slightly embarrassed at how much money he’d earned.
—I rented a suit, you know? A decent one. Got a shave and a haircut and that. I thought I was going to be hob-nobbing with the rich and famous.
Craig tells me the Crystal Forest opening party was nothing of the sort. First off, there were barely any other people there, just Zach Crystal’s executives, his head of marketing, managers, drivers. It was an odd assembly of people, as if it were a work do. In fact, that’s what Craig thought it was at first, a pre-party get-together for Crystal’s internal people. It was only later that he realised this was it – this was the party.
—Like, there must have been twenty people, thirty tops. All these business guys – aides, managers, personal assistants, runners. We were all milling around this massive room, drinking fizz, eating nibbles. It was amazing, but it was also … What’s the best word? Awkward. That was how it felt. It felt like one of those parties where no one shows up.
Zach Crystal was always known as rather reclusive. He was an enigma, hidden up in his mysterious forest, away from the world. But it still seems rather sad that at the opening of his new home, the only people he had invited were those that were paid to be there.
—Oh and Naomi of course, his sister, she showed up too. Alone. I remember seeing her looking about, as if she was freaked out by it all too. She was glammed up in a pretty dress, her hair done and everything. I think she was embarrassed. I think she felt a bit daft.
—What about Zach Crystal himself – did he seem perturbed in any way by the oddness of the party?
Craig shifts in his chair and scratches his head. Before the interview officially started, we talked at length about the fact that Craig is a former employee of Zach Crystal and about how much he feels comfortable talking about. Many, many newspapers and television documentaries have approached Craig, asking for his opinions about the star. He says, however, there’s always been an agenda, and he’s worried, he tells me, that what he says might be twisted to suit one. All I can do is give Craig my assurance that I’m not here to do anything of the sort. He says he’ll talk to me as I’m the first person not to offer him money – ‘As if after working for him, I’d need any more.’
Craig tells me that, yes, there were things that he found strange about Zach Crystal, and now, in the aftermath of what happened and in view of the ongoing investigation and with the survivors of Crystal’s voices finally being heard, he’s starting to question what he saw. Ultimately, Craig has not formulated an opinion about his former employer. The money he received working for Zach Crystal has homed and clothed Craig and his family for the rest of their lives, and this means there’s a degree of loyalty to Zach Crystal still in Craig’s heart.
That said, he’s not here to speak out in defence of Crystal, either.
—He showed up about an hour after Naomi arrived. He’d been up in the tree house part, you know? He was all dressed up, as usual, a face full of makeup and wearing this mad cloak, like he was a king. He was quite a … He was quite something, quite a sight. And yeah, he was acting a bit off, a bit strange. I thought he might be on something, you know? He was like a kid, really hyperactive; laughing really loudly, fluttering around the groups of people, a social butterfly sort of thing. I tell you what he reminded me of – a wean; a little girl on her birthday party, all full of cake and overexcited, you know?
—So he thought it a success?
—Aye, and I think something else too: I think he thought all these folk that worked for him were his friends, his mates. All these guys in suits, all the managers and strategists and marketing bods. I might be wrong, but tha
t’s the impression I got.
—Did he interact with you much?
—He came and said hello, shook my hand. He had this nervous energy coming off him. I was still pretty starstruck by him, to be fair. I couldn’t help myself. It felt like he’d graced us with his presence. There was something else I noticed too – how the other guys acted round him, like he was … They were all falling over themselves to laugh at his shite jokes and listen to his daft wee stories. They couldn’t get enough of it.
—They were all on the payroll though, right? It was in their interests, no?
—Aye but it was more than that. It was weird, like I say. Maybe it was cos you never saw him, maybe it was cos of his get-up, all that makeup and costume perhaps. But it was like they were all desperate, really desperate, to impress him, for him to speak to them.
There was something else too – something else that happened that night and, I mean, I don’t want to speak ill of the dead or nothing…
—It’s OK – I believe many people have already spoken ill of him.
Craig looks up at me, lines of confusion crumpling his brow, then he shakes his head.
—No, not him, not Mr Crystal. It was Mr Cryer. It felt like he was Mr Crystal’s only actual, genuine mate, like, his only real friend. But I dunno, after what’s been coming out, I wish maybe I’d said something earlier.
—What happened?
—So I go for a piss, right? Toilets are down a long corridor, and as I’m just about to turn the corner, I hear someone kicking off, really going for it, you know, but in a whisper. Someone’s getting told off. Now the carpets are brand new, thick, and they don’t hear me coming, so I go sneaking along, wondering who’s getting it, you know? Cos I recognise the voice, the one doing all the sort of whisper-shouting. It’s Mr Cryer. He’s going off his head but as quiet as he can. He’s having a go at someone about a message, a text message or something. All I heard was, ‘Get it sent, get a fucking chopper over there.’ I dunno what he’s on about.
—Who was he telling off?
—So I just start whistling away, walking round the corner like I’m just away for a piss, you know? I come round the corner, and Mr Cryer’s got this fella up against the wall by his neck. It was one of the kitchen staff, one of the cooks – the Spanish one. Geraldo Bravo, he was called.
As soon as Cryer sees me, they jump apart, stand up straight. Cryer’s still got his hand on the guy, but it’s like in school, you know, when you and your pal are having a bit of a rammy and the teacher comes along and you give it ‘Och, he’s ma best mate sir’. And you pretend you’ve got your arm round him. It was like that. I just nod and walk past – none of my business, you know?
Anyways, about an hour later, this load of young lassies turn up, these teenagers, out of nowhere. It was mad. At first I thought that something bad was going on – all these guys in suits, you know? But it turns out it’s Geraldo’s teenage niece and a load of her daft mates.
—Why do you think they were there?
—Honestly. I don’t know. Maybe they were fans? Maybe they were there to make it more like a party? I didn’t like it though. It made things even more uncomfortable, all these blokes and these teenage girls all dressed up and giggling and that. It was just weird.
—What did the girls do?
—Oh, they got taken up to see the tree house with Mr Crystal. They couldn’t believe it.
—Did that seem odd to you?
—Not at all. I’m telling you now, it didn’t seem dodgy or wrong or anything. It was like those lasses were being taken to meet their hero. Mr Cryer was there too. It was all above board.
—And how do you feel about it now?
—After what’s coming out about Mr Crystal? Yeah, maybe it does seem wrong. Maybe it was wrong. But … it’s hard to explain. It was like, everyone was there, all his people, all Mr Crystal’s top staff and even his sister. It just felt … I mean he wouldn’t do anything bad would he? That would be crazy with everyone there.
Craig says this was the first time that he ever felt uncomfortable at Crystal Forest, but at the time he thought this sort of thing was perhaps normal and it was just him who felt odd.
—That night, at that party, I really started thinking about whether I wanted this job after all. I nearly quit there and then. I thought, this isn’t me, this isn’t for me. But I never said nothing, you know? I thought, here’s me, green behind the ears, sweating through a rented suit. I don’t know about famous people, about these sorts of showbiz parties.
In the end, Craig stayed; the money and the freedom to work in his beloved forest was just too much to turn down. As Crystal’s star ascended higher and higher, Craig began seeing, from an insider’s perspective, how things worked in the Crystal camp.
—Mr Cryer, he was just … I mean, Mr Crystal was the star, but Mr Cryer was the driving force behind him; he sorted out everything, he was on everything. Like a plate-spinner, you know? When you’re as big as Mr Crystal was then – and that was his heyday wasn’t it, ninety-nine onward? – when you’re that big, you have to fend off a lot of shite. Mr Cryer was the one who made it his business to do just that. He was like an attack dog. Any journalist, anyone had anything bad to say against Mr Crystal, and James Cryer was all over it. I saw the guy just get scarier and scarier. You didn’t fuck with him. No one fucked with him; no one dared. He and Naomi Crystal, they were the ones not to be messed with.
By 2004, James Cryer had amassed a team of private investigators and lawyers known internally to Crystal Forest staff as the ‘Bastard Squad’. James Cryer, Craig tells me, actually read an internal email from a member of staff, referring to them by that name.
—It was written by the head housekeeper. She was a mess – she thought she was going to get sacked, sued, kicked out on her arse. Mr Cryer just thought it was funny. I think he liked it.
—They enjoyed their fearsome reputation? Encouraged it?
—It just happened gradually, you know? I think that party was the first time I saw it. Yeah, everyone knew you didn’t mess with Mr Cryer and Ms Crystal. You did what they said, no questions. They knew everyone’s business, all the staff – where we were supposed to be and when. You didn’t mess about at Crystal Forest. It was regimented, like the army up there.
—Sort of like a dictatorship?
—Aye, but it was all about keeping everything right for Mr Crystal, you know? The guy didn’t do interviews, didn’t talk to journalists or telly, so they had to manage his image. They had to keep the money coming in, keep the tours going, the albums selling. We all had to sign stuff saying we wouldn’t talk to the press. We all knew if we did that they would ruin us.
As Craig says, the Bastard Squad spent a great deal of time attacking any voices critical of Zach Crystal with threats of huge lawsuits, all of which they won. They had enough money behind them to hire the best legal team, and publications would back down or else settle out of court. Because Crystal would rarely do interviews with the press and because he was such a huge star, there were many, often ludicrous stories coming from the media about him, about drugs problems, debts, failed relationships, the usual headlines that seem to dog the world of pop.
It was around 2004 that Zach Crystal’s work with young people in the care system began to be leaked to the press. Craig tells me that this was all the doing of chief aide James Cryer. As we heard in the last episode, Crystal would often visit residential homes and hospitals to brighten the days of the children staying there. Crystal would also make huge donations to these homes and institutions and buy much-needed equipment and resources. Before 2004, all of these donations went unmentioned, he would never announce them, but after Jessica and Lulu, photographs of Crystal visiting these places were taken by Crystal’s own PR team and given to the press. In each photo, Crystal is surrounded by balloons, toys and smiling faces. It’s interesting to note that all of the children he’s pictured with happened to be female and around the ages of twelve to fifteen.
—Mr Cr
ystal was so big it was hard for anyone to get close to him. He even had a decoy. Not many people know that, but he employed a guy who looked exactly like him to go out the backs of places into cars, sometimes, try and draw the crowds away.
No one was close to Mr Crystal. Well, no one except Mr Cryer, that is, until he died, of course.
The body of James Cryer was found by Naomi Crystal early in 2018. It’s thought Cryer took a fall from a steep ridge in a dense part of Crystal Forest, not far from the house. An inquest ruled Cryer’s death as accidental.
Before we come to the last few years of Craig Kerr’s involvement with Zach Crystal, there are a few more significant events in the singer’s life I want to discuss. The first was his accident in 2004.
—Oh aye, I remember that well; took a tumble didn’t he? Leaped off a box in rehearsal and slipped. Broke his leg. He was up in Raigmore for a few days. I remember that cos we had to turn that dance studio into a physio room while he was away.
Zach Crystal had to undergo surgery for a displaced fracture on his right tibia after slipping in one of Crystal Forest’s studios. It was a significant injury, which required a good deal of physical therapy. The South American leg of Crystal’s tour ended up being cancelled. Crystal himself caused pandemonium at Raigmore hospital in Inverness, with many fans and the media camping out in the car park to get a glimpse of the star. Crystal himself would often sit at the window, wearing a surgical mask and sunglasses, waving to the fans, and was regaled with cheers of adulation as he was discharged, James Cryer and his personal bodyguard helping him into a black limo, one leg in a cast.
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