Former One Direction singer Liam Payne has died after falling from the third floor of a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Oct. 16. According to CNN, Payne was staying at the CasaSur in Palermo. He was 31.
In a statement obtained by the outlet, police arrived at the hotel on Oct. 16 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.
This news comes a few days after Payne attended former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan’s The Show: Live on Tour concert in Argentina on Oct. 2. During the show, Payne was spotted interacting with fans and dancing along to the music.
Ahead of Horan’s concert, Payne shared a series of videos on Snapchat telling fans he was on his way to Argentina to see the show with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy.
“I think we might just go and say hello,” he said in the clip reshared to X (formerly Twitter). “It’s been a while since me and Niall have spoken. We’ve got a lot to talk about. And I would like to square up a couple of things with the boy. No bad vibes or anything like that. But just, um, we need to talk.”
Before news of his death broke, Payne shared a photo on Snapchat of himself with Cassidy as they smiled for a mirror selfie.
Payne rose to fame in 2010 when he was grouped with Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson to form One Direction. The group competed on The X Factor together, where they finished in third place. After the show, Once Direction went on to have a massive career, releasing hit songs such as “What Makes You Beautiful” and “Story Of My Life.”
In 2015, the band announced their hiatus and each member went on to pursue solo careers. Two years later, Payne released his single “Strip That Down” and in 2019, dropped his album LP1.
While appearing on Jessie Ware’s podcast, Table Manners, in 2019, Payne opened up about his time in One Direction, detailing the hardships that came with being in the boy band.
“There’s no stop button,” he said. “You’ve got no control over your life. That’s why I lost complete control of everything.” Although he said the group’s disbandment was “really scary at first,” Payne was happy it ended. “I needed to stop.”
In 2023, Payne was planning a tour in Latin America but ultimately had to postpone it after being hospitalized.
“It’s with a heavy heart I have to tell you that we have no other choice but to postpone my upcoming tour of South America,” the 29-year-old singer wrote in the caption of a now-deleted post. “Over the past week I’ve been in hospital with a serious kidney infection, it’s something I wouldn’t wish on anyone, and doctors orders are that I now need to rest and recover.”