Liam Payne, former member of One Direction, died last Wednesday, October 16 after falling from a third floor in a hotel in Palermo. The artist had been enjoying the charms of Argentina since the beginning of the month, meeting with the rest of his former colleagues at the concert of one of them, Niall Horan.
Payne became known at just 14 years old, when he auditioned for the British reality show The X Factor. It was at that moment that his life would change radically for him, after Simon Cowell’s decision to scrap the idea of him being a soloist and joining him with four other boys – Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson. Niall Horan and Zayn Malik- to form a band: One Direction.
One Direction members, from left, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan performing on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ in New York
By signing his first record contract with Sony Music with the group, he fulfilled his dream of being a world-renowned singer and this not only allowed him to record five successful studio albums, with which he reached the top of the most important music charts, but also headlining four world tours.
However, that lifestyle was not easy for the young artist to endure. As One Direction gained fame, Payne developed mental health disorders such as agoraphobia or anxiety, as well as drug and alcohol addiction. Precisely his addictions brought him to a critical point during the group’s separation, after the departure of Zayn Malik, in 2017.
Liam Payne, on Instagram
The young artist faced a new challenge: leading a new life. Not only as a musician, where he would have to prove his worth and new style; but also facing a new challenge: being a father. The singer had a son, Bear (7), from his relationship with the British television presenter and singer Cheryl Cole. Because of him, Payne decided to enter a rehabilitation center.
A youth marked by success, abuse and addictions
The musician, a native of Wolverhampton, a small town near Birmingham, in the heart of the United Kingdom; He grew up in a middle-class family made up of two sisters as well as his father and mother, who showed him all their support when he showed interest in music as a teenager.
“Everywhere, my dad said I sang well,” Liam said in the One Direction documentary. This is Us. In 2008, the artist took his first steps in the world of entertainment and appeared in the successful The X Factorwhere he played Fly Me To The Moonwhich Frank Sinatra immortalized.
The artist, in 2010. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)
The then teenager surprised the famous jury of the program, then made up of Louis Walsh, Dannii Minogue, Cheryl Cole and Simon Cowell. However, his young age did not allow him to advance in the program. At 16, Payne returned.
In his second intervention, the teenager interpreted Cry me a Riverby Arthur Hamilton, with which he was applauded by the jury and the audience present. There he also met the rest of the members of One Direction, who performed as soloists, long before the band was even formed. After their first performance on the program, the group already had hundreds of fans. Simon Cowell knew something unprecedented was happening.
One Direction advanced to the final phase of the contest, but lost against Matt Cardle, one of mentor Dannii Minogue’s talents, and shortly after, despite the defeat, they signed a contract with Sony Music’s SYCO record label in which Cowell intervened after see the massive support the group received at the show.
The band began their successful – and multimillion-dollar – musical adventure, with five studio albums, four world tours, a documentary, 13 music videos and 200 awards in the four years they were together. At that time, Liam Payne was already mired in what he defined as “difficult and toxic moments.”
“The day the band finished I thought; ‘Thank God’. “I needed to stop or I would have died,” the singer confessed in 2016.
“I was very fortunate to have been able to sustain my career for so long, but things happened that I never talked about and that left scars on me. “It was severe,” he revealed, confessing that his alcoholism began when the team in charge of the band locked them in hotel rooms to “guarantee their safety” and took care of the minibar.
At the beginning of 2023, the artist disappeared from his social networks, worrying his fans, as it was his meeting point both for his promotions as a soloist and for the video blogs in which he told things about his most personal life. Months later, he reappeared on YouTube confessing that he had entered rehab again. After leaving the center, he spent six months without consuming alcohol.
Liam Payne became the father of Bearm, who is now 7 years old, with fellow singer Cheryl Cole.
“I needed to take a little time, because I didn’t recognize myself anymore. I didn’t have my phone for 100 days and I didn’t connect with the outside world either,” he revealed, stating that the hardest part had been turning his phone back on. “It was scary, but it’s good to be in this position, because I don’t need those things anymore. “The party is over,” he said.
Payne was going to sing in Argentina, at the Movistar Arena, on September 9 of last year, but a month before he had to cancel his visit. The reasons were his health problems, in this case a serious kidney infection for which he was recommended to rest.