Liam Payne 31, Falls Off Balcony to His Death
The NEw York Times
Liam Payne, who rose to fame as a singer and songwriter for the British group One Direction, one of the best-selling boy bands of all time, died after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires on Wednesday. He was 31.
His death was confirmed by Alberto Crescenti, the director of emergency services in Buenos Aires. The circumstances of the fall were unclear.
One Direction burst onto the scene in 2011 when the group’s debut single, “What Makes You Beautiful,” hit No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Five of its other songs reached the chart’s Top 10, including “Story of My Life,” “Drag Me Down” and “Live While We’re Young.”
The group, which had 29 total hits on Billboard’s Hot 100, would go on to release five albums and become one of the definitive boy bands of the 2010s, largely by eschewing the sleek precision and polish of an earlier generation of pop vocal groups.
One Direction announced in 2015 that it was taking a break from performing as an ensemble, and each of the artists has since invested most of their time in their solo careers.
“It’s just a break :) we’re not going anywhere !!,” Louis Tomlinson, one of the band’s members, posted on Twitter at the time.
But in January 2016, the band split, Us Weekly reported.
Mr. Payne released a single called “Teardrops” under his name earlier this year.
Mr. Payne auditioned as a solo artist on the television show “The X Factor” in 2008. But he found even further success in 2010 after trying out again with a jazzy rendition of Ella Fitzgerald’s “Cry Me a River.” He was put together with four other contestants — Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Tomlinson — for another round of auditions as a group, which eventually turned into One Direction.
Clarín, a news outlet based in Buenos Aires, reported that Mr. Payne had recently attended a concert by Mr. Horan, who was touring Latin America.
The band was brought together by Simon Cowell, the sharp-tongued English television personality and music executive — best known to American audiences from his time on “American Idol” — who tailored the group’s sound and songs to appeal to teenage girls.
Although the boy-band formula was nothing new in 2011, the appeal of One Direction’s members led to frenzied crowds outside pop-up concerts and movie deals.
When the group arrived in America in 2012 after the release of its debut album, “Up All Night,” “there was nothing security could do about the screaming,” Jon Caramanica wrote of a New York concert in The New York Times.
Liam James Payne was born on Aug. 29, 1993, in Wolverhampton, England, just outside of Birmingham.
Mr. Payne’s survivors include a 7-year-old son, Bear Grey Payne, his parents, Geoff and Karen Payne, and his two older sisters, Ruth and Nicola, The Associated Press reported.
He was one of the group’s standout singers, though One Direction as a whole underscored affability and casualness. He had several songwriting credits across the group’s releases.
Mr. Payne told Entertainment Weekly in 2015 that out of all of the songs he penned for One Direction, he was most proud of his contribution to the song “What a Feeling,” a Fleetwood Mac-inspired groove that he said he hoped people would play on long, serene drives down a coastal road.
Mr. Payne put out a solo album called “LP1” on Capitol Records in 2019, which was full of collaborations across the musical spectrum: the Latin music star J Balvin, the rapper Quavo, the electronic producer Zedd and more. His single with Quavo, the bouncy and flirty “Strip That Down,” reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. But in time, Mr. Styles would eclipse all other former One Direction members as a chart-topping pop star. In 2020, Mr. Payne teamed up with the Swedish producer Alesso for an EP.
The temptations that came with fame took a toll on his mental health, which he described in a 2023 video posted to his YouTube account about his decision to stop drinking. “I kind of became somebody who I didn’t really recognize anymore. And I’m sure you guys didn’t either,” he said.
He explained that he had spent 100 days in a rehab facility in Louisiana. “It’s good to be in this position,” he said. “I definitely don’t need those things anymore. The party’s over.”
“It feels to me like when we were in the band the best way to secure us, because of how big it got, was just lock us in our rooms,” Mr. Payne said on the “Diary of a CEO” podcast in June 2021. “Of course, what’s in the room? Mini bar. So at a certain point I thought well I’m going to have a party for one.”
In a May 2023 interview with iFL TV, he said he was working on a follow-up album to “LP1.”
“I’ve been making an album for a change, which is quite fun,” he told iFL. “It’s been good, I’m excited to bring it out, and I definitely want to tour this time, which is unusual. Because, I wasn’t sure I was going to tour for a long time. I was kind of over it a little bit, but I’m really excited to get back out on the road and go and see all the fans.”
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