Liam Payne

The tragic and unexpected death of Liam Payne, a previous member of the boy band One direction, shocked the entertainment industry. He died on Wednesday, October 16th, 2024 at the age of 31 years old, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It’s believed that he fell from the third floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel, days after attending his former bandmate Niall Horan’s concert. His death was a surprise to even his closest friends and family. His girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, who was with him in Argentina prior to his passing, said on her YouTube Channel that “Nothing about the past few days have felt real.” 

Liam Payne began his career in a boy band called One Direction including other members Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, and Louis Tomlinson. The English-Irish band was formed in 2010 and found immediate success having various hit songs and albums. Some of their most famous songs were “Night Changes”, “Story of My Life”, and “What Makes You Beautiful”. When together the band won many awards including several Billboard Music awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Teen Choice Awards, and American Music Awards. Their last performance together was on their tour, “On The Road Again Tour,”  in October 2015 in England.

One year after the band split, Liam Payne released his first single called “Strip That Down” which was co-written by Ed Sheeran and Steve Mac (one of the most successful British songwriters and producers). The song reached Top 3 in the UK and Top 10 in the US. He released other songs which were successful and in 2019 he teamed up with Ed Sheran for “Stack It Up.” That same year, Payne released his only solo album called LP1. Some say the lack of stability in his personal life may have contributed to his lack of solo success. 

After the separation of the band, Liam Payne had a difficult time. He struggled with both alcohol and drug addiction. “It was a little bit dark and twisted towards the end of it,” he said in an interview with Us Weekly, referring to the first few months after the split of the band. In 2021, he revealed he had suicidal thoughts. The years that followed the split were a constant battle with drug addiction, until he announced last year that he had been sober for 100-days following a treatment program. The one bright thing in his life was his 7-year-old son, Bear, that he co-parented with his ex, Cheryl Cole. They shared a strong bond even after their time together ended, and Cole praised him as a dad on many occasions. 

Payne appeared happy during his friend and fellow bandmate’s concert on October 2nd, in Argentina, and enjoyed the time with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy. She had left Buenos Aires two days prior to Payne’s death. Us Weekly reports that while Cassidy was there, Payne “was acting erratic, drunk on drugs and alcohol” on the day of his death. A hotel employee told the media that he “was trashing property around the hotel lobby minutes before his death,” and Reuters reported the “prosecutor’s office found narcotics and alcoholic beverages inside his room and several destroyed objects and furniture.” NBC later reported that the initial toxicology report had found “multiple drugs” in his system, including “pink cocaine,” which is a mix of ketamine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and opioids. Despite the name, it rarely contains any cocaine, and gets its pink color from food coloring. It has strong side effects such as hallucination, anxiety, and increased heart rate. The preliminary autopsy report from Argentina, according to NBC News, found that Liam Payne died from “polytrauma” and “internal and external bleeding” from 25  injuries all over his body.

Friends such as his past bandmates from One Direction and Ed Sheeran have paid tribute to Liam Payne and shared statements on social media. The former One Direction members released a statement concerning Liam Payne’s death: “We’re completely devastated by the news of Liam’s passing. In time, and when everyone is able to, there will be more to say. But for now we will take some time to grieve and process the loss of our brother, who we loved dearly.” 

Many memorials were held to honor Liam Payne and his tragic death. One of which was a candlelit memorial held by nearly 400 fans at NYC Washington Square Park, having candles, flowers, pictures, lettersall honoring the singer. Another memorial was at the Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park, London where fans from all over the country came to pay tribute to Liam Payne. Similar to the Washington Square Park memorial, fans placed letters, teddy bears, balloons, flowers, and other things to commemorate his death. 

More recently, on November 7th,  three people were arrested and charged with “abandonment of a person followed by death” and “supplying and facilitating the use of narcotics.” Two of the people charged and arrested were accused of supplying him with drugs during his stay. One was a hotel employee, and the other was a suspected drug dealer. The last person arrested was a person staying with him. None of the people’s identities were released.