Singer Liam Payne, 31, died on Wednesday October 16 after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.
In the early 2010s, he was part of One Direction, a boy band revealed by the TV show “X-Factor”.
Since their separation in 2016, each of them had launched a solo career, with varying fortunes.
The sudden death of Liam Payne, this Wednesday, October 16 at the age of 31, shatters the dream of millions of fans of seeing the five members of One Direction together one day on stage. Candidates for the British telecrochet show “X-Factor” in 2010, these young singers aged 16 to 18 were brought together in a group by producer Simon Cowell. After finishing in third place, they would continue the adventure together, signing a lucrative contract with the major Sony Music. Within five years, 1D sold 70 million copies of their five albums, becoming one of the most popular boy bands of all time. In 2016, when Zayn Malik had gone off on a tangent a few months earlier, his four comrades announced their separation for an “indefinite” period. What has become of them since then?
Liam Payne
Like his comrades, the Wolverhampton native is riding the band’s notoriety with “Strip That Down”, a single which is enjoying great success all over the world. In 2018, he shared the duet “For You” with Rita Ora on the soundtrack of the third part of 50 Shades of Grey then released an EP titled First Time. It was only the following year that he released his first solo album, LP1. In the vein of Justin Timberlake, but less good, it received a mixed reception from the press and only reached number 17 in the British charts before leaving the top 50. In the United States, it was a flop. total. After crossing the desert, Liam announces a new opus in spring 2023, but has to give up a series of concerts following a kidney infection. Determined to get back in the saddle, he released the single “Teardrop” last March.
On the private side, Liam had a son named Bear Gray in 2017 with Cheryl Cole, one of the singers of the group Girls Aloud. We also know of a romance with Naomi Campbell in 2019, then with the American model Maya Henry with whom he was engaged twice, before breaking up for good in 2022. The fact remains that last fall, the young woman implicitly accused him of continuing to harass her by phone in a video posted on TikTok. In recent months, Liam has appeared with influencer Kate Cassidy. She also appears alongside him in the last photo he posted on Snapchat, an hour before his fatal fall from the balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires.
Harry Styles
He is, by far, the one who has had the most success in his solo career. In 2017, he hit the big time with “Sign O’ Times”, the first extract from an eponymous debut album that was more rock than the group’s compositions. After Fine Line and the hit “Watermelon Sugar” in 2019, he literally explodes with Harry’s House which won three Grammy Awards including that of album of the year 2023 under the noses of Taylor Swift and Kanye West. Who hasn’t hummed the chorus of “As It Was” while driving or wiggled their hips at a club to “Late Night Talking”?
The popularity of the youngest member of 1D exceeds that of music. Actor in Dunkirk by Christopher Nolan, he caused a sensation by becoming the first man to pose on the cover of the magazine Vogue…in a dress. While his real-false sexual ambiguity arouses some criticism from the LGBT community, Harry collects female conquests. He has been in a relationship with model Kendall Jenner, actress Camille Rowe, actress and director Olivia Wilde and more recently actress Taylor Russell.
Louis Tomlinson
In late 2016, Louis released his first solo single, “Just on Hold On”, a collaboration with American DJ Steve Aoki which reached number two in the UK charts. In 2017, he continued with two new tracks, preludes to an album that will never be released. The following year, he agreed to become a judge on “X-Factor”, the show which revealed One Direction. In January 2020, he finally released a record titled Walls. Alas! The Covid pandemic forces him to give up any promotion.
His second opus called Faith in the Future was released in 2022, giving him the opportunity to tour solo for the first time. On the private side, Louis is the father of Freddie, a little boy born in 2015 from his romance with a stylist. He was not spared from the drama either. After losing her 43-year-old mother to leukemia in 2016, her younger sister Félicité died of an overdose in 2019 at the age of 18.
Niall Horan
The Irishman in the group doesn’t waste any time either. Preceded by the single “This Town”, the album Flicker took first place in the British and American charts when it was released in the fall of 2017. In a more folk register than his comrades, this big fan of Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles continued with Heartbreaker Weather in spring 2020 but like Louis’, his tour was canceled due to the Covid pandemic. In 2023, he became coach of the American edition of “The Voice” and won the season with singer Gina Miles.
Forced to give up a football career due to a nasty knee injury, Niall is at the origin of numerous charity matches, notably for the benefit of Unicef. In 2018, he revealed that he suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorders which disrupted his daily life. At the time, he was coming out of a one-year relationship with American actress Hailee Steinfeld. He is now in a relationship with Amelia Wooley, a sales director who inspired The Showhis latest opus album released in 2023.
Zayn Malik
In the spring of 2015, more than a year before the official separation, he took a tangent on his own. He explained at the time that he wanted to lead a normal life but still said he was dissatisfied with the musical direction of the group. A fan of hip-hop and R’N’B, he published the album in 2016 Mind of Minepropelled by the single “Pillowtalk”. After an appearance on the soundtrack of the second part of 50 Shades of Greyhe continues with Icarus Falls in 2018. At the time, he also dabbled in the world of fashion under the leadership of his partner, the model Gigi Hadid. He launched his own range of shoes for the Italian brand Giusepp Zanotti and walked for Versace at Paris Fashion Week.
In September 2020, Gigi Hadid gave birth to their daughter Kai. But in the fall of 2021, the young woman leaves him when he hits her mother following a family dispute. Sentenced to 360 days of probation, he must follow an anger management and information program against domestic violence. This episode tarnishes his image even if he remains involved in many areas. In the fall of 2022, this son of a Pakistani immigrant distinguished himself by calling on British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and demanding free meals in schools. His fourth opus, Room Under The Stairswas released this summer.
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