Former One Direction singer Liam Payne has died after falling from a hotel in Buenos Aires, according to local police reports. He was 31 years old.
The British musician was found dead after falling from the third floor of the hotel around 5 PM, with emergency services confirming the incident.
”Liam James Payne, composer and guitarist, former member of the band One Direction, died today after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Palermo,” the police statement said, reported AFP.
La Nacion and Clarin reported that officials said police were called to the hotel in Buenos Aires’ Palermo neighborhood after receiving an emergency call about “an aggressive man who may have been under the influence of drugs and alcohol,” although the man was not identified as Payne.
Ambulance workers confirmed Payne’s death after he was found in the hotel’s interior courtyard, according to the reports.
Payne shares a son, Bear Grey, with ex-partner Cheryl Cole. Bear was born in 2017.
Payne rose to international fame as a member of the English-Irish boy band One Direction, which formed after finishing third on The X Factor in 2010. Originally auditioning as a solo act in 2008, Payne was grouped with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik during his 2010 audition.
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Together, they became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time, releasing five studio albums before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016, following Malik’s departure in 2015. After the group’s breakup, Payne pursued a solo career, releasing his hit single “Strip That Down” in 2017 and his debut album LP1 in 2019.
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.
