Former One Direction member Liam Payne has died after falling from the third floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to local police reports.
The singer was 31.
Alberto Crescenti, head of the state emergency medical system, said that Payne fell into a courtyard at Casa Sur Hotel in the Argentine capital city (as per AP).
It’s unclear if the fall was an accident at the time of writing, and authorities are investigating the circumstances of his death.
Payne was born in Wolverhampton, England, and first rose to fame as a singer on The X Factor in 2008. Initially cut from the show, he returned two years later and ended up in a boyband alongside Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik.
As One Direction, they reached third place on the show, and were subsequently signed to Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment.
One Direction went onto become one of the biggest boybands of the 21st century. They’re one of the highest-selling boybands of all time, selling over 70 million records worldwide.
They announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016, with all five members embarking on solo careers, to varying levels of success.
Payne debuted as a solo artist in 2017 with “Strip That Down,” a collaboration with Migos member Quavo, and the single made it to the top 10 in the US, as well as #3 in Payne’s home country. His debut album, LP1, arrived in 2019, becoming a top 20 hit in the UK.
Payne kept releasing solo music into the 2020s, including this year’s single “Teardrops,” which was accompanied by an acoustic version.
Away from music, Payne was vocal about his struggles with substance issues and suicidal thoughts. In 2023, he revealed that he had completed more than three months of sobriety.
“I’m sober now, over 100 days,” he told IFL TV. “I feel amazing, I feel really, really good and the support from the fans has been really, really good, so I’m super happy.”
More details to follow as this story develops.
