Liam Payne, the English singer-songwriter best known as one-fifth of the massively successful British/Irish boy band One Direction, is dead at age 31 following an apparent fall from his room on the third floor of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Wednesday.
[UPDATE 10/17/24, 12:45 p.m. ET]: While there was initially speculation about whether the fall was intentional or accidental, a statement by responding police officers to The Associated Press notes that Payne “had jumped from the balcony of his room.”
Per an emergency call obtained by CNN’s Argentine affiliate Todo Noticias “Staff at the hotel had requested urgent police assistance shortly before Payne’s death Wednesday. … ‘We have a guest who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol,’ the hotel manager said on the call. ‘He breaks things up. He is tearing the whole room apart.’ … The manager told the call operator that because Payne’s room had a balcony, “we’re a little afraid that he’ll do something.”
That quote aligns with a separate report from TMZ which alleged that “Liam had been acting erratic in the hotel lobby earlier — he smashed his laptop, and had to be carried back to his room.”
Payne had been filmed in Buenos Aires on October 2nd attending a concert by his former One Direction bandmate, Niall Horan. Per TMZ, “Liam Payne and his girlfriend Kate Cassidy arrived in Argentina on September 30, posting several social media posts together showing them having fun on vacation. We’re told she left Argentina on the 14th. Liam stayed behind, and checked into the CasaSur Palermo Hotel.”
Liam Payne spotted at Niall Horan’s show in Argentina tonight. pic.twitter.com/SC2waeOshL
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 3, 2024
One Direction—comprised of Payne, Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik—was assembled as part of the U.K. TV program The X Factor in 2010. The singing competition show grouped them together after all five members unsuccessfully auditioned as solo acts. While One Direction did not ultimately win the show, the group was later signed by longtime The X Factor judge Simon Cowell to a record contract with Syco Records.
The boy band quickly exploded in popularity and, largely thanks to their following on social media, developed an obsessive global audience as teen idols. One Direction released five albums (2011’s Up All Night, 2012’s Take Me Home, 2013’s Midnight Memories, 2014’s Four, and 2015’s Made in the A.M.) that spawned a series of hit singles. Malik left the group in 2015. While many of the band’s early songs were written by teams of pop songwriters, Liam Payne, along with Louis Tomlinson, took on increased songwriting roles on the group’s later records. In 2016, the band began an “indefinite hiatus” to allow its members to pursue solo projects.
During its relatively brief tenure, One Direction mounted four world tours, two of which played exclusively to stadium crowds. The group’s 2014 Where We Are Tour was the world’s highest-grossing tour that year and the 15th highest-grossing tour of all time, per Billboard.
Liam Payne had been vocal about the substance addiction and mental health issues he developed to cope with fame. He has noted on various occasions that he abused alcohol and prescription pills during his time on the road with One Direction. In the summer of 2023, Payne said he was marking six months of sobriety after completing in-patient treatment.
Payne’s name had floated into headlines earlier this week following reports that he had been issued a cease-and-desist letter barring him from contacting his ex-fiancée, Maya Henry, after he allegedly went to extreme lengths to contact her, her friends, and her family. Earlier this year, Henry published a novel, Looking Forward, which she said was fictional but “definitely inspired by true events.” The book includes various graphic descriptions of a toxic and mentally abusive relationship.
In an October 6th TikTok video posted by Henry, she explained, “Ever since we broke up he messages me, will blow up my phone, not only from his phone, it’s always from different phone numbers too, so I never know where it’s gonna come from,” Henry said in the video. “He’ll create new iCloud accounts to message me – it’s always a new damn iCloud account.”
Liam Payne released his debut solo album, LP1, in 2019 and earlier this year stated that he was working on a follow-up. In March, he released a new single, “Teardrops”, which he noted was “born from many tears. Some are mine. Others are not.”
In a statement obtained by various outlets including BBC, Payne’s family said, “We are heartbroken. Liam will forever live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul,” his family said. “We are supporting each other the best we can as a family and ask for privacy and space at this awful time.” Liam Payne is survived by his 7-year-old son, Bear.
The post Liam Payne, One Direction Singer, Dead At 31 After Fall From Hotel Balcony [Update] appeared first on L4LM.
