Liam Payne, ex-One Direction member, dies at 31

Liam Payne, a former member of the boyband One Direction, has died after falling from a hotel window in Buenos Aires, as reported by local police. He was 31.

According to a statement from police, Payne’s death occurred on Wednesday at a hotel on Costa Rica Street in the Palermo neighborhood. Buenos Aires police said that personnel from the 14B Police Station responded to a 911 call about an aggressive man potentially under the influence of drugs or alcohol on Wednesday afternoon. The police’s statement did not identify this person as Payne.

Payne was seen attending his former bandmate Niall Horan’s concert in Argentina on October 2, according to videos posted on social media. He had recently celebrated his 31st birthday in the UK, as evidenced by videos posted on his Snapchat.

Born in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, Payne was the youngest of three siblings. He studied music technology at the City of Wolverhampton College. Payne rose to fame as a member of the British boyband One Direction, which also included Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, and Niall Horan. The band formed in 2010 after each member appeared on the UK version of the reality competition show “The X Factor.”

“I’ve always loved One Direction since I was little,” said 18-year-old Juana Relh, another fan outside Payne’s hotel. “To see that he died and that there will never be another reunion of the boys is unbelievable, it kills me.”

With his meteoric rise to fame, Payne had said that it took some time to adjust to the public eye.

“I don’t think you can ever deal with that, it’s all a bit crazy for us to see that people get in that sort of state of mind about us and what we do,” he said in a 2013 interview with the AP after recounting an experience where a fan was in a state of shock upon meeting him.

After the group’s dissolution, Payne — like each of his erstwhile bandmates — pursued a solo career, shifting toward EDM and hip-hop. His 2017 single “Strip That Down,” featuring Quavo, reached the Billboard Top 10, and stayed on the charts for several months. He put out an album “LP1” in 2019, and his last release — a single called “Teardrops” — was released in March.

Liam Payne had a 7-year-old son, Bear Grey Payne, with his former girlfriend Cheryl, the musician previously known as Cheryl Cole from her time with Girls Aloud. Cheryl was an “X Factor” judge during One Direction’s season, though her relationship with Payne began years later. He was engaged to Maya Henry from August 2020 to early 2022. Earlier this year, Henry published a novel that she stated was inspired by their relationship.

This story has been updated by Honateez