Former One Direction star Liam Payne passes away at 31

Liam Payne, a former member of the boyband One Direction, has died after falling from a hotel window in Buenos Aires, according to police there. He was 31.

Payne’s death occurred Wednesday at a hotel on Costa Rica Street in the Palermo neighborhood, according to a statement from police.

Buenos Aires police said that personnel from the 14B Police Station went to the hotel on Wednesday afternoon after receiving a 911 call about an aggressive man who was possibly under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The police’s statement did not identify that person as Payne.

Payne was seen in Argentina attending his former bandmate Niall Horan’s concert on October 2, according to videos posted to social media from the show. He had recently celebrated his 31st birthday in the UK, according to videos posted to his Snapchat.

Payne was born in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, and is the youngest of three. He is an alum of the City of Wolverhampton College, where he studied music technology. Payne was best known as a member of the famed British boyband One Direction. The band, which also included Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, and Horan, first formed in 2010 after each member appeared on the UK version of the reality competition show “The X Factor.”

“I’ve always loved One Direction since I was little,” said 18-year-old Juana Relh, another fan outside Payne’s hotel. “To see that he died and that there will never be another reunion of the boys is unbelievable, it kills me.”

With his meteoric rise to fame, Payne had said that it took some time to adjust to the public eye.

“I don’t think you can ever deal with that, it’s all a bit crazy for us to see that people get in that sort of state of mind about us and what we do,” he said in a 2013 interview with the AP after recounting an experience where a fan was in a state of shock upon meeting him.

After the group’s dissolution, Payne — like each of his erstwhile bandmates — pursued a solo career, shifting toward EDM and hip-hop. His 2017 single “Strip That Down,” featuring Quavo, reached the Billboard Top 10, and stayed on the charts for several months. He put out an album “LP1” in 2019, and his last release — a single called “Teardrops” — was released in March.

Liam Payne had a 7-year-old son, Bear Grey Payne, with his former girlfriend, the musician Cheryl who was known as Cheryl Cole when she performed with Girls Aloud. She was an “X Factor” judge during One Direction’s season, although their relationship began years later. Payne was previously engaged to Maya Henry, from August 2020 to early 2022. Henry released a novel earlier this year that she said was based on their relationship.

This story has been updated with additional information on Harmozy.