British singer Liam Payne, who died at age 31 in Argentina, rose to fame at a very young age as a member of the teenage group One Direction, before attempting a solo career, while battling alcohol problems.
• Also read: Death of Liam Payne: the “erratic” singer transported to his room just before
• Also read: Former One Direction member Liam Payne dies at 31
Liam Payne has spent half his life in the public eye and frenzied media attention, particularly during the height of his career with One Direction. As soon as his death was announced, from a fall from the balcony of the hotel where he was staying in Buenos Aires, fans flocked to him, messages flooded into social networks.
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Born in 1993 in Wolverhampton in central England, Liam Payne made his name at just 16 years old, with smooth hair and twink looks, during his second attempt at the talent show The X Factor in 2010.
After several tests, the judges decide to bring together five candidates, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson, to form a group. The five teenagers call themselves One Direction and the group places third on the game show.
Although they did not win, their catchy pop songs and romantic ballads, as well as their advantageous physique, made One Direction a phenomenon group adored by teenage girls and they quickly found themselves swept away by gigantic worldwide success.
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In six years, they have achieved record album sales (more than 70 million sold), triumphant tours and numerous awards.
Liam Payne was “central” within One Direction, “he always had this incredible, soulful voice”, commented the host of the show The X FactorDermot O’Leary, sur ITV.
He notably composed Story of my Life, Night Changes et Midnight Memories. He nicknamed himself “the man of the first sentence”, because he sang almost all the first sentences of the songs of One Direction’s first album, Up All Night.
“Stuck in deep water”
In 2015, Zayn Malik left the group, which went on hiatus the following year, upsetting their millions of fans.
Like his ex-companions Harry Styles or Zayn Malik, Liam Payne then began a solo career, with a first single Strip That Downwhich reached third in the United Kingdom, then an album, LP1released in 2019.
Last year, he announced that he was working on his second album, including the first single Teardrops was released last March.
Liam Payne died after falling from the third floor of the hotel where he was staying in Buenos Aires. While the circumstances still need to be clarified, police said they received a call reporting “an aggressive man possibly under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”
The singer had several times spoken about his difficulties in managing his fame, notably after his separation in 2018 from the mother of his son, Cheryl Cole, singer of the group Girls Aloud, and had confided in his alcohol problems.
“I kind of became someone I didn’t really recognize anymore. And I’m sure you don’t recognize it either,” he said in a video uploaded in 2023 to his YouTube account.
Referring to his anxiety and unease, he said in 2015 in an interview with the magazine Esquire: “It’s kind of like you’re stuck in deep water and you’re thinking, ‘Well, it would be really nice to get out now.’”
But last year, after a break, he said he was ready to resume his career in hand, in a video entitled “I’m back”, where he claimed to be sober.
“I feel like I have a better handle on life now and everything that eluded me,” he added.
Recently, a former girlfriend, Maya Henry, with whom the singer was in a relationship between 2019 and 2021, accused him of harassment. Since the announcement of the singer’s death, the model has been violently attacked on social networks.
