The One Direction star’s tragic crash sends shockwaves

Shockwaves swept around the world yesterday at the death of Liam Payne, who rose to fame as a member of British boy band One Direction and endured huge global fame as a teenager.

Fans, music industry figures and fellow musicians paid tribute to Payne, 31, who died after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina.

Buenos Aires police said Payne fell from the third floor of the Casa Sur Hotel in the Argentine capital’s fashionable Palermo district and suffered “extremely serious injuries.” Paramedics confirmed his death at the scene.

In response to an emergency call, police rushed to the hotel shortly after 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

In a 911 call, the hotel manager can be heard saying there was “a guest who’s overcome with drugs and alcohol…He’s destroying the entire room and, well, we need you to send someone, please.”

Payne was considered the sensible one of the quintet, which went from a TV talent show to a pop phenomenon.

In recent years he had admitted to struggling with alcoholism, posting a video on YouTube in July 2023 in which he said he had been sober for six months after treatment.

Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, who performed with One Direction in 2014, said he was “shocked and saddened”.

“We will miss him greatly,” Wood said.

The Backstreet Boys said in a social media post that their hearts go out to “directors around the world.”

Payne was one of five members of One Direction, which was formed after they each auditioned for the British singing competition The X Factor in 2010, two years after Payne’s first attempt to appear on the show. When he was just 16 years old, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson joined the band.

One Direction announced an indefinite “hiatus” in 2016 and Payne pursued a solo career, shifting toward EDM and hip-hop.

His 2017 single “Strip That Down” with Quavo reached the Billboard Top 10 and stayed on the charts for several months. He released an album, LP1, in 2019, and his most recent release, Teardrops, came out in March.

He is survived by Bear Gray Payne, his seven-year-old son with former girlfriend Cheryl Cole, his parents Geoff and Karen Payne and his sisters Ruth and Nicola.

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