One Direction Star Liam Payne Dead After Fall in Argentina

Liam Payne, a former member of the boy band One Direction, was found dead in the courtyard of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday evening, according to a report. CNN And Nationboth of which cited local police.

The singer died after falling from the balcony of his hotel room on the third floor. Argentine authorities reported this. Good morning America that Payne was staying at the CasaSur hotel in an upscale area of ​​Palermo.

Witnesses told TMZ that Payne was acting erratically in the hotel lobby earlier Wednesday. The tabloid reported that after he smashed the laptop, it had to be carried back to the room.

This was announced by a representative of the Ministry of Security of the Municipality of Buenos Aires. Associated Press in a statement that Payne “threw from the balcony of his room.”

An official cause of death was not immediately confirmed pending an autopsy and investigation.

Alberto Crescenti, head of Bueno Aires' public emergency medical system, said in a short televised address that Payne appeared to have suffered a basal skull fracture after falling from a height of 13 to 14 metres.

Crescenti declined to answer further questions about the incident, including whether the fall was intentional or accidental.

Hours before news of his death broke, Payne posted numerous photos and videos to his Snapchat story. The messages were quickly deleted (it is unclear by whom), but not before they were archived and published online by his followers.

At least one photo shows him posing with girlfriend Kate Cassidy, who accompanied him when he flew to Argentina last week to attend former bandmate Niall Horan's concert.

Payne's appearance on the show on October 2, where he was filmed cheering and dancing to the music, sparked heated debate online. In a Snapchat video posted before the flight, Payne said he was going to Argentina to “say hello.”

“It's been a while since Niall and I spoke,” he said in archived version clip. “We have a lot to talk about. And there's something I'd like to discuss with the boy. No bad vibes or anything. But just, uh, we need to talk.”

Payne and Horan formed One Direction with bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson in 2010. The five were brought together by judge Simon Cowell after they auditioned separately for X factor.

Joining forces to compete as a group, the nascent boy band ultimately finished in third place. They signed to Cowell's entertainment label and achieved worldwide fame the following year after releasing their first single, “What Makes You Beautiful.”

Payne originally auditioned for a British reality show in 2008, at the age of 14, he sang a cover of Frank Sinatra's “Fly Me to the Moon”, which did not advance him beyond the first round. Returning two years later, this time it was Payne's version of Michael Bublé's “Cry Me a River” that earned him a spot in One Direction.

“He wasn't quite ready… two years ago, but then I told him, 'Come back in two years and you'll be a different person,'” Cowell, who gave Payne a standing ovation, told his fellow judges. “I got it right.”

One Direction became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time, releasing their first four albums in 2011. Stay up all night2012 Take me Home2013 Midnight Memoriesand 2014 Four– all debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

The group went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016, several months after Malik left the group to pursue a career as a solo artist. All of his former bandmates eventually followed suit. Payne, for his part, made his solo debut in 2017 with “Strip That Down,” a simple synth-bass track written for him by Ed Sheeran.

“Honestly, I wasn't going to do a solo project. I was just going to get into songwriting and keep going and do it,” Payne said. Billboard at that time.

“But then I thought, ‘You’ve been trying to do this since you were 14. It would be ridiculously stupid to turn down the opportunity to make a deal.” After leaving the group we had some good opportunities. I had to do something.”

Payne is survived by his seven-year-old son, Bear Gray Payne, whom he shared with ex-girlfriend and musician Cheryl Cole, who worked X factor judge a season of One Direction.

Payne also dated and was briefly engaged to former model Maya Henry. The couple divorced in early 2022, after two years of marriage. Earlier this year, Henry published a novel that she said was based on her own life. People that an unnamed ex-partner forced her to have an abortion.

“If it was up to me, I wouldn’t do it,” Henry said. “But on the other hand, if I had made a different decision, I would have lost the person I loved. There were definitely difficult conversations about it.”

Earlier this month, Henry claimed on TikTok that Payne had been constantly texting her, as well as her family and friends, since their breakup. Earlier this week, a British tabloid Sun reported that Henry turned to a lawyer in an attempt to keep her ex-fiancé from communicating with her.

“Maya Henry last week issued a cease and desist order to Liam Payne following the emergence of new and disturbing information,” a rep for the author told the publication.