Liam Payne Dead at 31: Relive the Story of His Life in Photos

The music world is grieving the loss of Liam Payne.

The former One Direction member died Oct. 16 at age 31 after he fell from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, local authorities confirmed to Telemundo. He was 31.

Payne was born on Aug. 29, 1993, in West Midlands, England, to Karen Payne and Geoff Payne. The youngest of three—his older sisters are Nicola Payne and Ruth Gibbons—he grew up participating in sports, particularly cross country running and boxing.

He rose to prominence in 2010 on The X Factor after being grouped with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik to form One Direction. After placing third on season seven of the competition series, the group signed a record deal with Simon Cowell’s company Syco Records and the following year they topped charts round the world with the release of their debut single “What Makes You Beautiful” in September 2011. Their first album as a group, Up All Night, was released that November.

And a November release and subsequent tour became a yearly occurrence for the quintet for several years, with the group launching Take Me Home in 2012, followed by Midnight Memories in 2013 and Four in November 2014. 

However, five years after forming, One Direction had a massive change as Zayn announced his departure in March 2015, citing a desire to pursue life as a “normal 22-year-old.” The group continued on as a quartet, with the rest of the band stepping in to take on his parts.

"Liam stepped up to do the high notes,” Harry told Entertainment Weekly in 2015. “He kicks them in the bollocks every show. He doesn't hold back."

One Direction ultimately went on what they described as a temporary hiatus in 2016, with the band members each going on to pursue solo projects. Payne released one solo album LP1 in December 2019.

At the height of his time in One Direction, Payne dated dancer Danielle Peazer for two years before reconnecting with his childhood friend Sophia Smith, with whom he was in a relationship from 2013 to 2015. 

In 2016, Payne began dating singer Cheryl Cole, with whom he welcomed son Bear in March 2017 before their breakup in 2018. One year after his breakup from the former X Factor judge, Payne began dating model Maya Henry, to whom he was engaged twice—first in August 2020, which ended in June 2021, and again in late 2021 before breaking up in May 2022. 

Around this same time, Payne opened up about his struggle with substance abuse and suicidal ideation, describing himself while in One Direction as an “angry person.”

“It was really, really, really severe. It was a problem,” the singer said during a June 2021 episode of the Diary of A CEO podcast, per Billboard, two years before entering treatment for alcohol abuse. “It was only until I saw myself after that I was like, ‘Right, I need to fix myself.' I just didn’t like myself very much, and then I made a change.”

Payne found love with influencer Kate Cassidy in 2022, after she confessed to manifesting their relationship when she was just 10 years old. Hours before his death, Payne shared a photo to his Snapchat of the pair smiling in a mirror selfie while wearing their swimsuits.

Keep reading for Liam Payne’s life in photos.

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