Liam Payne: One Direction singer swept up by teenage stardom

Liam Payne, who died aged 31 after plunging from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, spent more than half his life in the public eye as a member of one of the world’s most successful boy bands.

The singer from Wolverhampton in central England was first unsuccessful in his audition on the hugely popular television talent show “The X Factor”.

But he hit gold on the programme in 2010, aged just 16, joining Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik — and One Direction was born.

Over the next six years, the group enjoyed global fame and legions of screaming fans, selling more than 70 million copies of their five albums. They went on four world tours and won nearly 200 awards.

Payne, described by former X Factor host Dermot O’Leary as “a joy… polite, grateful and… always humble”, was said to be the “driving force” behind some of One Direction’s most loved songs.

He penned “Story of My Life”, “Night Changes” and “Midnight Memories” among others, and once referred to himself as the “first verse man” — singing the coveted first verse of most of the songs on the band’s first album “Up All Night”.

After Malik left One Direction in 2015, the band went on an “indefinite hiatus” a year later, prompting Payne and the others to start solo careers.

Payne met with early success with his debut solo single “Strip That Down”, released in 2017, reaching number three on the UK Singles Chart.

Last year, he revealed he was working on a second solo album, having delayed a planned tour due to health problems, and released his last single “Teardrops” in March 2024.

– Charity –

Payne, who fell from a third-floor hotel balcony in the Argentinian capital on Wednesday, was in the city to watch his former bandmate Horan in concert.

While the exact circumstances of the fall are unclear, police said they responded to a report of “an aggressive man who may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol”.

He leaves behind a son from a previous relationship with the Girls Aloud singer Cheryl.

News of Payne’s death left fans distraught. “I feel like it’s a part of adolescence lost,” said one, Lena Duek, 21, outside the hotel.

She described One Direction as the soundtrack of her teenage years and had been hoping for them to reunite.

British anti-poverty charity Trussell praised Payne for his “compassion and kindness” for supporting their foodbanks. Chief executive Emma Revie said he funded more than 360,000 meals during the pandemic.

– Anxiety, frustrations –

Payne’s death came as he faced heavy criticism on social media following an interview in which his ex-partner Maya Henry accused him of being abusive.

In the interview this week, Henry said Payne would tell her he was “going to die” as a manipulation tactic. The Daily Mail reported Henry obtained a “cease-and-desist” order against Payne.

In recent years, the singer opened up about his struggles with alcohol and dealing with fame at such a young age.

“I’ve found in my life at the moment, because of the way things have happened, that everything’s kind of fast-forwarded,” he told Esquire Magazine in 2019.

Speaking about anxiety and losing his sense of self, he added: “It’s a bit like being stuck out in deep water and you’re just going ‘well, it would be really nice to get back now’.”

However, after taking a break, Payne said last year he was ready to return to music career in a video titled “I’m Back… “.

In it, he said he was sober and apologised for taking out “frustrations” with his career on “everybody else”.

“The rest of the boys really stuck by me when I needed them most, they kinda came to the rescue,” he added.

“I feel like I’ve got more of a grip on life now, and everything that was getting away from me.”