By Thomas Mitchell
Former One Direction star Liam Payne has died outside a hotel in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, local police have confirmed.
The 31-year-old British musician was found dead after falling from the hotel’s third floor, according to local media. Citing officials, leading newspapers La Nacion and Clarin reported that police were called to the hotel in the capital’s leafy Palermo neighbourhood in response to an emergency call that cited “an aggressive man who could be under the effects of drugs and alcohol”.
Former One Direction member Liam Payne has died in Buenos Aires, aged 31 Credit: Getty Images
Who was Liam Payne?
Liam Payne was a former member of One Direction, the British boy band formed on The X Factor. Payne rose to global fame as part of the since-disbanded pop group, alongside Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson.
The boy band finished third on the British version of The X Factor music competition show in 2010, and the group broke up in 2016 as its members pursued different projects, including solo careers.
How did he die?
Newspaper La Nacion is reporting that, according to emergency services, Payne was found dead after falling from the hotel’s third floor.
Alberto Crescenti, head of the state emergency medical system, said Payne fell into a courtyard of the Casa Sur Hotel in the trendy Palermo neighbourhood of Argentina’s capital.
What happened to One Direction?
After being formed by Simon Cowell in 2010, One Direction quickly became a cultural juggernaut. In September 2011, they released their debut single, What Makes You Beautiful.
The song reached No.1 on the UK singles chart after becoming the most pre-ordered Sony Music Entertainment single in history. The group continued to have enormous success until Zayn Malik announced his departure from the band in March 2015. The following January, the remaining members – Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan – announced One Direction was going on an indefinite hiatus.
What had Payne been doing in recent years?
As with the rest of One Direction, Payne had pursued a solo career, releasing his debut album in 2019 titled LP1. In March, he released his LP Teardrops. Payne had a son, born in 2017, whom he parented with former Girls Aloud singing group member Cheryl Cole.
Why was he in hot water recently?
Payne had been back in the headlines recently following accusations from his former fiancee, Maya Henry, that he had repeatedly contacted her. According to The Sun, Henry had allegedly issued a cease and desist notice. The pair were together between 2018 and 2022.
Payne had also attracted concern for his increasingly unusual posts on social media, including strange interactions with fans while attending fellow One Direction member Niall Horan’s concert in Argentina last month.
Following the reaction to his posts, Payne made a statement on social media explaining his reason for attending Horan’s live performance.
“We’re going to Argentina,” he wrote on Instagram. “One, because we want to. Two, because we want to. And three, because Niall Horan’s playing down there and I think we might just go and say ‘hello.’”
Payne admitted: “It’s been a while since me and Niall have spoken. We’ve got a lot to talk about and I would like to square up a couple things with the boy. No bad vibes or nothing like that but we just need to talk.”
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