Liam Payne, former One Direction member, dead at 31 after falling from balcony
Liam Payne, the British pop singer best known for being a member of the era-defining boy band One Direction, died Oct. 16 after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, The New York Times reports. He was 31.
Alberto Crescenti, the director of emergency services in Buenos Aires, confirmed Payne’s death. Crescenti reported that Payne suffered a fractured skull, according to Deadline. The circumstances of Payne’s fall from the hotel’s third floor were unclear, and his death is under investigation.
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Payne was born Aug. 29, 1993, and grew up in Wolverhampton, England. While appearing on the talent show “The X Factor” in 2010, Payne was assembled into a group with fellow contestants Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik that, under the guidance of Simon Cowell, became One Direction. The group’s debut single, “What Makes You Beautiful,” and album, “Up All Night,” were released in 2011, and shot them to international teen idol status as they became the biggest boy band in a decade. Their first four albums debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, a feat they are the only group in the chart’s history to achieve. They sold out arenas all over the world and are one of the biggest-selling pop groups of all time, with over 50 million records sold. Their best-known songs include “Live While We’re Young” and “Steal My Girl.” Payne was one of the group’s principal songwriters. The band went on indefinite hiatus in 2016.
After One Direction’s split, Payne embarked on a solo career. His debut solo single, “Strip That Down,” reached the top 10 on Billboard Hot 100 in 2017. His only solo album, “LP1,” was released in 2019. He released a single called “Teardrops” earlier this year, which was meant to be the first single from his planned second studio album.
One Direction’s rise and fall was meteoric, and Payne, who was just 16 when he became famous, talked about struggling with drug and alcohol addiction and suicidal ideation during the band’s peak. He went to rehab after appearing intoxicated on Logan Paul’s podcast in 2022 and said in the summer of 2023 that he had been sober for more than six months.
Payne’s survivors include a 7-year-old son, Bear Grey Payne, whose mother is singer Cheryl Cole, along with his parents, Geoff and Karen Payne, and two older sisters, Ruth and Nicola.
As a member of One Direction, Payne won seven Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, six Billboard Music Awards, seven American Music Awards (including Artist of the Year in 2014 and 2015), and 28 Teen Choice Awards.
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