How Liam Payne and One Direction Made a Whole Lot of History Together

The story of Liam Payne's life will always include One Direction.

The singer died on Oct. 16 after falling from a third floor hotel room in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the local authorities from the Sistema de Atencion Medica de Emergencia told Telemundo. He was 31.

His death marks a tragic turn in the history of One Direction, which was formed in 2010 when Payne was grouped with Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik to compete together as a boy band on season seven of U.K.'s The X Factor.

"He would definitely shine," judge Nicole Scherzinger said of Liam during deliberations with Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh, as seen in behind-the-scenes show footage of how the group was formed. "He could actually, maybe, be the leader."

Walsh also went to bat for Payne at the time, saying the then-14-year-old had the "confidence" to be a star.

"He's good," the music manager noted. "He's consistent."

Indeed, Payne and the rest of One Direction went on to become music sensations. Though they finished third on The X Factor, they were quickly signed to a record label and released their debut album Up All Night in 2011.

"We got good at what we did," Payne shared in a 2022 interview on Logan Paul's Impaulsive podcast. "Once you knew what the people wanted, it's very easy to redo it again."

Liam stayed with the band until 2016, shortly after Malik left the group and One Direction released their fifth and final album Made in the A.M. Each member went on to find further success as solo musicians, with Payne keeping tabs on his former bandmates from time to time.

In fact, the "Strip That Down" artist forged a much stronger bond with Tomlinson after One Direction disbanded.

"He's my best mate now," Payne said on Impaulsive," but in the band, we hated each other."

To relive One Direction's milestone moments, keep reading.

Despite winning over audiences around the world, the band finished in third place behind Rebecca Ferguson and Matt Cardle in 2010.

The U.K. band made their Saturday Night Live debut in 2012 with an electric performance of their single "One Thing."

The band took home the coveted moonman trophy for Best Song of the Summer for their song "Best Song Ever." 

The band gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at live on the road of their This Is Us Tour with their concert documentary movie This Is Us. 

While attending the Royal Variety Performance in November 2014, the band met Prince William and Kate Middleton.

The band's Where We Are Tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2014, beating out Justin Timberlake, The Rolling Stones, Katy Perry as well as Beyoncé and Jay-Z's tours that year.

In March 2015, Malik announced that he was leaving the band to launch his solo career.

After releasing 2015's Made in the A.M. as a foursome, Styles, Payne, Horan and Tomlinson announced that One Direction would take an indefinite hiatus.

Tomlinson became a father to his son Freddie Reign in 2016. One year later, Payne welcomed his son Bear Grey with ex Cheryl Cole.

In 2020, fans suspected that a reunion of sorts was underway when Styles, Payne, Tomlinson and Horan all started following Malik on X—then known as Twitter—again.

Further fueling reunion rumors, Payne told The Sun at the time, "We've got a 10-year anniversary coming up so we've all been speaking together a lot over the last few weeks which has been really nice." 

Malik and his then-girlfriend Gigi Hadid welcomed daughter Khai in September 2020.

Payne attended the London premiere of Tomlinson's 2023 documentary All of Those Voices.

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