R.I.P.: Singer-Songwriter Liam Payne, Member of One Direction

Liam Payne (1993-2024)

Former One Direction singer Liam Payne was found dead outside a hotel in Buenos Aires after the 31-year-old fell from his third-floor room balcony, Argentine police said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the capital police said they were called to the hotel in the capital's leafy Palermo neighborhood where they were notified of an "aggressive man who could be under the effects of drugs and alcohol."

The hotel manager said he heard a loud noise at the back of the hotel, and when police arrived they found that a man had fallen over the balcony in his room, the statement said.

News that he jumped came from Pablo Policicchio, communications director for the Buenos Aires Security Ministry, who disclosed the findings in a statement provided to the Associated Press.

 

Payne rose to fame as a singer and songwriter for the British group One Direction, one of the best-selling boy bands of all time reports The NY Times.

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 a group, and each of the artists has since invested most of their time in their solo careers. Payne released a single under his name earlier this year.

Payne auditioned as a solo artist on the television show “The X Factor” in 2008. But he found even further success in 2010 when he was put together with four other contestants — Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson — for another round of auditions that eventually turned into One Direction.

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.