“Liam James Payne, songwriter and guitarist, former member of the group One Direction, died today after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Palermo”, a district of the Argentine capital, police said in a press release.
Police responded to “a call to 911 (the emergency number) reporting an aggressive man who may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” the statement continued.
A few minutes after the announcement of the death of the British singer, many fans and curious people gathered silently in front of the door of the “Casa Sur” hotel where the death was noted, under the surveillance of a dozen police officers .
“I’m in shock, I can’t believe it. I live five streets away and I thought I had to be there,” Martina Di Lalla, 23, told AFP , who says she was a One Direction fan when she was a teenager.
“I feel like it’s a part of my adolescence that’s been lost,” said Lena Duek, 21, saying the group’s melodies accompanied her from the ages of 12 to 16, and that she hoped One Direction would get back together one day.
Open investigation
Liam Payne was, along with Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Harry Styles, one of the members of the boy band formed in 2010 and which enjoyed dazzling success.
According to the head of emergency, Alberto Crescenti, Liam Payne had “very serious injuries following his fall”. “We noted the death, there was no possibility of resuscitation,” he declared on local television.
He said emergency services had been called at 5:04 p.m. local time (8:04 p.m. GMT) and that a medical team had arrived seven minutes later but could only “notice the death of this man” before discovering “later that ‘he was a singer in a band.
An investigation into the causes of death has been opened.
The British Foreign Office has confirmed that it is in contact with the Argentine authorities over “the death of a Briton”. A ministry spokesperson, however, declined to comment on the matter.
According to Billboard magazine, Liam Payne attended a concert by ex-One Direction, Niall Horan, in Buenos Aires on October 2.
Reactions from personalities began to pour in on social networks.
“So devastated by the news of Liam Payne’s passing. Love and condolences to his family and loved ones. RIP my friend,” ex-model and singer Paris Hilton wrote on X.
Alcohol problems
One Direction was a product of the television show “The X Factor”, which went on to become one of the most lucrative boy bands in the world.
“I remember him, then a 14-year-old, turning up for The X Factor audition and blowing us away by singing Sinatra,” the show’s host, Dermot O’Leary, wrote on Instagram. below a photo of him and Liam Payne.
The fairly smooth and light pop group released in 2016, like every year since 2011, its fifth and final studio album, “Made in the AM”.
The announcement in 2016 of a break in the group’s career, never formalized as a separation, upset millions of fans.
Liam Payne then announced that he was working on a solo album, following in the footsteps of other band members.
His solo single, “Strip that Down”, reached number three on the UK charts and number ten on the US Billboard Top Songs chart. In December 2019 he released his first solo album “LP1”.
Born August 29, 1993 in Wolverhampton, Liam Payne is the author of several songs from One Direction’s discography.
In recent years, Liam Payne has openly spoken about his problems with alcoholism and the difficulties associated with fame.
In a 2023 video posted to his YouTube account, he admitted to being admitted to a rehab center for his alcohol addiction: “I kind of became someone that I didn’t really recognize anymore. And I’m sure you don’t recognize him either,” he said then.
Last year, he announced that he was working on a second album and had just released a new single in March 2024.
