One Direction’s Liam Payne was a prolific songwriter and a troubled star. We look back at his musical legacy

Singer Liam Payne, who rose to international stardom with boy band One Direction, has died aged 31 after falling from a third storey balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires.

One Direction were one of the biggest boy bands of the 21st century, selling more than 70 million records worldwide as of 2020. In 2014 they became the first group in history to have four albums debut at number one on the US Billboard chart.

Liam Payne (second from right) with his former band mates.

In March 2024, Payne released Teardrops his first solo single in three years, signalling a return to music with his second album.

From X Factor to One Direction Payne was born in Wolverhampton, England in 1993. His mother Karen was a nurse and his father Geoff was a tradesperson. He was their last child after his two older sisters Nicola and Ruth.

In 2008, Payne was the first of the One Direction boys to audition for UK X Factor when he was only 14-years-old.

"I think about singing all the time, I should really be concentrating on my [school] work but I just think about singing too much," the then-schoolboy said.

"It's a dream and I'd love to do it."

Singing Frank Sinatra's Fly Me to the Moon, judge and show creator Simon Cowell said that Payne had potential but that he was missing a bit of "grit or emotion".

Nevertheless, Payne made it through several stages of the competition but was eliminated before getting to the finals.

Two years later, in 2010, Payne returned to X Factor auditioning with Michael Buble's version of Cry Me A River.

"You're 16, right? I have to tell you that was absolutely extraordinary," Cowell said of Payne's second audition.

"The confidence, the swagger, the believability, the voice, the way you look. Absolutely on the money."

Payne initially was dropped early in the competition but was later put together with fellow teenagers Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik to compete as boy band One Direction.

One Direction eventually placed third in the competition but their fame would soon eclipse anything seen on X Factor.

Original Story link https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-17/liam-payne-death-argentina/104482620

Story by Caitlin Rawling and Tessa Flemming