Liam Payne has been found dead aged 31 after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina according to local police. The former One Direction singer was staying at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel with TMZ reporting that witnesses saw him ‘acting erratically’ in the hotel lobby earlier in the evening.
No official details have been released about the singer's death nor the circumstances that led to it. According to reporters on the ground, police and other first responders are currently at the hotel. Payne had been in Argentina since attending Niall Horan’s concert earlier this month, where he reunited with his former One Direction bandmate.
Payne was just 16 years old when he rose to fame after appearing on The X Factor in 2010. Forming boy band One Direction with fellow members Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik, they became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time, selling over 70 million records worldwide. Embarking on four world tour, they currently hold the record for the highest-grossing tour by a vocal group and have won almost 200 industry awards. All five members embarked on successful solo careers after the band split in 2016. Payne’s solo career saw his debut single certify platinum in the UK and US, and he released new music earlier this month.
In 2016, he started dating singer Cheryl Cole and they had a son together, Bear, now aged seven, before splitting in 2018. He is currently dating influencer Kate Cassidy. Fans have began paying respects to Payne online.
This is a breaking news story, more details will be added as they are made available.