Liam Payne, Former One Direction Member, Dies at 31

Liam Payne, a former member of One Direction, has died. He was 31.

Payne died after falling from the third floor of a hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to state police reported by ABC and CNN.

Per CNN, Payne fell fell from a balcony on Costa Rica Street in the Palermo neighborhood.

Born on Aug. 29, 1993, in Wolverhampton, England, Payne rose to fame after his audition for the fifth season of The X Factor in 2008, in front of judges Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Dannii Minogue and Louis Walsh.

After moving past the first round of competition following a performance of Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon,” Payne was eventually placed in the newly formed boy band that would be called One Direction, mentored by Cowell, with fellow bandmates Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik.

While they group didn’t win that season of The X Factor, they became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time, known for hits like “What Makes You Beautiful,” “Night Changes” and “Steal My Girl.” The group then went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016, after Malik had departed the band a year prior.

Payne later signed to Capitol Records U.K. in 2016, and released his debut single “Strip That Down” featuring Quavo the following year.

In addition to collaborating with other top artists, including DJ Zedd and J Balvin, his music had been streamed over two billion times as of 2018.

He also released his debut EP First Time in August 2018 and then first solo studio LP1 the following year. Payne has had multiple songs land on the Billboard Hot 100 chart including “Strip That Down,” which peaked at No. 10. Other tracks such as “For You” with Rita Ora, “Get Low” with Zedd, and “Bedroom Floor” also made their way onto the chart.

Payne shared son Bear Grey Payne, born in 2017, with his ex-girlfriend (and X Factor judge) Cheryl Cole. He was currently dating influencer Kate Cassidy.