Liam Payne, former One Direction member, died at 31 after falling from Argentina hotel room. Here’s what we know.
Liam Payne died Wednesday in Buenos Aires, leaving fans around the globe mourning the former One Direction singer — and grappling with chaos, conspiracy theories, and controversy in the wake of the 31-year-old’s death.
Argentine police confirmed that Payne, who came to Buenos Aires two weeks ago to attend a concert by his former bandmate Niall Horan, had died after falling from the third story of his hotel. The BBC obtained the transcript of two 911 calls that were made from the hotel with concerns for Payne’s safety shortly before his death. Authorities later clarified that Payne died as a result of injuries from the fall.
In a joint statement posted to Instagram, the former members of One Direction — Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik — said that they were “completely devastated” by “the loss of our brother, who we loved dearly. The memories we shared with him will be treasured forever.”
As a member of the massively popular UK boy band, Payne achieved a very rare level of global fame, but faced addiction struggles that he spoke about publicly following the band’s breakup. His last single, “Teardrops,” released in March, left fans speculating about his mental health. Just days before his death, Payne had received a cease-and-desist order from his ex-fianceé Maya Henry.
The premature death of any public figure is a collectively mourned tragedy, but when a large and devoted fandom faces this kind of loss, the ripple effects can be intense. Often, fans in this situation are met with what psychologists term disenfranchised loss — when there’s a lack of community support system for this grief because the “loss” of a celebrity or an intense parasocial relationship isn’t one that society tends to recognize as real or legitimate.
In such a context, fans look online for other fans to share their experience with, which can lead to plenty of confusion and chaos. The circumstances of Payne’s death contributed to the spread of misinformation about what happened, as did coverage by tabloid media. Who is Liam Payne, and how did he become famous?
Payne initially auditioned for the fifth season of The X Factor in 2008 with a rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon.” He was just 14. (Girls Aloud member Cheryl Cole, with whom he would go on to share a child, served as one of the judges at the time.) Payne was dismissed and brought back to the show twice before being cut by executive producer and judge Simon Cowell. However, Cowell encouraged him to come back in a couple of years.
At 16, Payne tried out again for the competition’s seventh season in 2010 where his Michael Bublé-inspired cover of “Cry Me a River” earned him a standing ovation from Cowell. He failed to advance as a solo act but received a fateful second chance when guest judge Nicole Scherzinger suggested that he and his future bandmates — Styles, Horan, Malik, and Tomlinson — compete as a boy band under Cowell’s mentorship. One Direction made it all the way to the finals before coming in third.
Throughout their time on the show, the group accumulated a fervent international following on social media, especially Tumblr. Soon after the competition, they signed with Cowell’s Syco Entertainment and released their single “What Makes You Beautiful” from the album Up All Night in 2011. The album was notably successful in the United States, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. They became the first UK group to top the US charts with a debut album, marking a new British invasion.
Throughout their time as a band, One Direction released five albums — their final record excluding Malik, who exited the group in 2015 — and two concert films, One Direction: This Is Us and One Direction: Where We Are. In 2015, they released their final album, Made In The A.M., before each remaining member embarked on a solo career. What’s been happening since 1D’s split?
A year after One Direction’s final album, Payne released his solo single, “Strip That Down” featuring Quavo, from his first and only album LP1. The R&B-tinged track was fairly successful, peaking at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 3 on the UK Singles charts. However, LP1 received largely negative reviews.
