EPALiam Payne in 2022
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 00:12
Former One Direction singer Liam Payne has passed away. Local authorities told Argentine media this. Payne, 31, is said to have fallen from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires.
A spokesperson for the Buenos Aires municipality said in a statement that Payne “threw himself from the balcony of his room.”
Police officers went to the hotel after a report of an aggressive man who was possibly under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Entertainment website TMZ reports, based on witnesses, that the incident happened shortly after 5 p.m. local time, and that Payne had previously exhibited erratic behavior in the hotel lobby. According to the witnesses, he destroyed his laptop and was carried to his room.
ReutersFans watch the forensic examination at the scene of the incident in Buenos Aires
Autopsy
Police have launched an investigation into the circumstances of Payne’s death. An autopsy is being carried out, a spokesperson for an Argentine health authority said. The spokesperson did not respond to questions from a journalist about whether it was an accident.
Payne was in Buenos Aires to attend a concert by fellow One Directon member Niall Horan earlier this month. Other ex-members of the band were also at that concert.
Liam James Payne came from Wolverhampton in England. He became known for his participation in the program The X Factor. Together with other participants in that talent show, he formed the globally successful formation One Direction in 2010, together with Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson. Their first album came out of nowhere to number one in the UK.
Solo projects
In 2016, One Direction broke up. Officially there was an indefinite break. Like other members of One Direction, Payne began solo projects. He released a solo album and was working on a second. Last year he was hospitalized with kidney problems, forcing him to pause that project.
Even during his time with One Direction, Payne was open about his battle with alcohol. In 2023, he announced that he had gone to rehab for that problem and had not used alcohol for 100 days.
Payne had a relationship with singer Cheryl Cole, known from the girl group, for two years Girls Aloud. Their son Bear was born in 2017. They broke up a year later.
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