Liam Payne, One Direction singer, dead at 31
Liam Payne, a singer in the British-based boy band One Direction, has died in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was 31.
Liam Payne, a singer in One Direction, has died. He was 31.
Circumstances surrounding his death were not immediately made available, but local officials confirmed the singer fell from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, according to The Associated Press.
Alberto Crescenti, head of the state emergency medical system, said on Argentina’s Todo Noticias TV channel that Payne fell into a courtyard at the Casa Sur Hotel in Palermo, and declined to provide further information about the incident, the outlet reported.
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His fall resulted in "extremely serious injuries," and medics confirmed his death on scene.
Crescenti also told Todo Noticias that authorities were investigating the circumstances, and an autopsy would be conducted. Local media reports noted Payne was in Buenos Aires to attend One Direction bandmate Niall Horan's concert.
Payne recently shared Snapchat images while traveling in Argentina.
In 2008, Payne was discovered by Simon Cowell while auditioning for "The X Factor" when he was 14.
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Despite being cut, he returned to the show two years later, and was then placed with Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson to form a super group which later placed third in the competition.
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One Direction signed with Cowell after "The X Factor," and became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.
They found global fame for their hits, including "What Makes You Beautiful," "Story of My Life," and "Best Song Ever." The group released five chart-topping albums in the five years after competing on "The X Factor," and embarked on four world tours.
In 2021, Payne revealed more insight into his mental health and addiction issues at the peak of 1D mania. He told Steven Barlett on "The Diary of a CEO" podcast that his days were filled with "pills and booze."
"Yeah. There is some stuff that I’ve definitely never spoken about to do with it. It was really, really, really severe. It was a problem," Payne said. "In the band ... the best way to secure us, because of how big we’d got, was just to lock us in our rooms. What’s in the room? A mini-bar.
"So at a certain point I thought, I’m just going to have a party-for-one and that seemed to carry on for many years of my life ... It was wild, but it was the only way you could get the frustration out."
He turned to alcohol once again during the pandemic. "I did worry up until the last few months," he said. "I think a lot of people had this same sort of thing, alcohol. It was getting earlier and earlier and easier and easier to go to."
Payne had one child, a seven-year-old son named Bear, with ex-girlfriend, Cheryl Cole.