Former One Direction singer Liam Payne died when he fell from a hotel balcony in Argentina on Wednesday. Video / AFP / Getty
Buenos Aires police have confirmed British singer Liam Payne, former member of the group One Direction, died on Wednesday after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Argentina.
”Liam James Payne, composer and guitarist, former member of the band One Direction, died today after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Palermo,” the police statement said, reported AFP.
Local newspaper La Nacion reported on Wednesday that the 31-year-old British musician was found dead after falling from the hotel’s third floor, it said, citing emergency services.
AFP reports witnesses telling local media that Payne had fallen from his CasaSur Palermo Hotel room just after 5pm on Wednesday night.
Investigations into Payne’s death are understood to be ongoing.
Photos of Payne’s body published to TMZ have since been removed by the media outlet. The site faced backlash for the “ghoulish and indefensible” images, with fans calling them “deplorable”.
Police and paramedics outside Casa Sur Hotel in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina on Wednesday, October 16. Photo / Getty Images
In the days before his death Payne had been posting videos to his Snapchat of his time in Argentina, accompanied by girlfriend, influencer Kate Cassidy, revealing they’d been sleeping in, horseriding and sampling local cuisine. “We’re enjoying ourselves here,” he said. Cassidy returned to Florida two days ago with the couple’s dog Nala, posting about the journey on social media, while Payne remained in Argentina.
The couple have been romantically linked since 2022.
Representatives for his ex-fiancée Maya Henry told The Daily Mail she was “obviously in shock”.
Payne had been in the midst of a struggle with ex-partner Maya Henry. This week Metro reported he was facing legal action from the model, 23, who had “issued a cease and desist letter” and claimed he had been “ceaselessly contacting her, using different iCloud accounts to continue to reach out”.
The couple broke up in 2022. The pair went public with their relationship in 2019, with Payne proposing in 2020, before they split for the first time in 2021, with Payne saying he had “not been very good at relationships”.
In 2023 Payne was rushed to hospital with severe kidney pain while visiting Lake Como in Italy. The incident came after he’d been forced to cancel the South American leg of his tour due to a “serious kidney infection”, which previously saw him hospitalised.
Liam Payne and Maya Henry attend an Elton John party in Hollywood together in 2022. Photo / Getty Images
“We still have so much love for each other as a family,” she announced on Twitter. “Bear is our world and we ask that you respect his privacy as we navigate our way through this together.”
Liam Payne and then-partner Cheryl Cole in Cannes in 2016. Photo / Getty Images
Payne rose to international stardom as one-fifth of the English-Irish boy band One Direction, who formed and placed third on the seventh series of The X Factor in 2010.
The band soon became teen idols, often sparking widespread hysteria among fans. The group is one of the best-selling boy groups of all time.
One Direction has sold over 65 million albums worldwide and netted four UK number-one singles and four number-one albums.
Born in Wolverhampton, England, in 1993, Payne was just 14 when he first auditioned for The X Factor in 2008, moving past the first round after performing Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon.
Payne was first eliminated at the Boot Camp, until host Simon Cowell - who would later sign One Direction to his record label - changed his mind and asked Payne to return. He was eliminated again at the judge’s houses, but was encouraged by Cowell to come back “in two years” - which he did.
Liam Payne seen during filming of The X Factor at Fountain Studios, London, in 2010. Photo / Getty Images
He auditioned again in 2010 and was put into the group with Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles. They went on to release five studio albums: Up All Night (2011), Take Me Home (2012), Midnight Memories (2013), Four (2014), and Made in the A.M. (2015).
A 2013 documentary, One Direction: This Is Us, followed the group on their Take Me Home tour. Directed by Morgan Spurlock (who died in 2024 age 53) it featured footage of the group’s lives on tour and at home, interviews with the band and their closest collaborators, and 3D concert footage.
Payne went public with how gruelling the experience was.
“We were definitely overworked. I had no personal life, I learnt nothing about myself,” he told Jessie Ware’s Table Manners podcast, confirming he had sought therapy. “I just lived so long as this reclusive pop star who was afraid of people, who just stayed inside all the time. I needed to stop, definitely. It would have killed me.”
Payne told the Daily Starnewspaper he “hated” his life when he was in One Direction. “I just wanted a burger with my parents,” he said. “I cried my eyes out. I thought, ‘I can’t do this’.”
Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson of One Direction in New York City, 2013. Photo / Getty Images
After the band’s dissolution, Payne embarked on a solo career - releasing the hit single Strip that Down in 2017 and his debut album LP1 in December 2019.
At the time of writing, Payne has more than 4.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify as a solo artist. His 2017 single Strip that Down, featuring Migos rapper Quavo,has been streamed over a billion times on the app, and sold 11.5 million copies worldwide. Payne has sold more than 23 million singles and three million albums as a solo artist, and has been streamed nearly 6 billion times, according to Capitol Records.
Throughout his solo career, he also released collaborations with Rita Ora, J Balvin, French Montana, Dixie D’Amelio, and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie.
Payne had been pursuing his solo career in recent years. Photo / @liampayne
In 2023 Payne admitted he was in “bad shape” the previous year, revealing he’d spent 100 days at a Louisiana-based wellness clinic. He had also been open about his mental health, and revealed he found solace in art and poetry.
Payne had also been public about struggling after the break up of One Direction.
“I went into therapy a couple of years after leaving. I kind of went off the rails a little bit and just couldn’t really figure out what was making me sad,” he told GQ. “I went into therapy a couple of years after leaving. I kind of went off the rails a little bit and just couldn’t really figure out what was making me sad. So, you know, my team got somebody around to help me through a couple of different, difficult things that I was going through.”
He also revealed struggling with substance abuse. “I was drinking too much and getting into really bad, bad situations,” he told the outlet. “And I hit a peak moment where I knew the drinking was going to get me; I needed to do something about it.”
Payne discussed his journey to sobriety in a 2023 Youtube video, “There is a point when you hit rock bottom and you realise you have got to do something different as whatever you are doing right now isn’t working for you,” he said. “There is no point trying to be a dad when you have nothing to teach.”
Taking to YouTube he apologised for his past behaviour and revealed that his One Direction bandmates had supported him during difficult periods. “The rest of the boys have really stuck by me and when I needed them most they kind of came to my rescue, even Zayn.”
The bandmates had a falling out following comments Payne made during an interview with Logan Paul for his podcast, for which Payne later apologised.
He’d also revealed the members feuded during the early years of their fame. “At first we didn’t get on at all. We absolutely hated each other,” Payne told Hits Radio in 2019. “We hid it well.”
Last year fans began speculating that a One Direction reunion was on the cards after Payne told The Sun On Sunday they had “started a new group chat”, with Horan and Tomlinson also helping Payne record his album in LA.
