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.

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.

One Direction to the world

The band were quickly signed to Cowell's Syco label and by September 2011 they released their first official single What Makes You Beautiful. It was an immediate success, debuting at number one on the UK charts and was certified platinum six times by the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA).

By the time their debut album, 2011's Up All Night, was released the band were international superstars, hounded by hundreds of screaming 'directioners' wherever they went.

Delegated as the unofficial leader of the band, Payne told The Guardian in 2021 that that responsibility and pressure of being in the biggest band in the world led him to drink heavily.

"Doing a show to however many thousands of people, then being stuck by yourself in a country where you can't go out anywhere — what else are you going to do? The minibar is always there, " he said.

A month after Up All Night's release, One Direction set off on their first international tour with an overwhelming 54 stops. Their Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne shows sold out within three minutes.

Between 2011 to 2015, One Direction released five albums and embarked on four world tours, which took its toll on Payne.

"We had an absolute blast but there were certain parts of it where it just got a little bit toxic, it's difficult when you have the level of fame that we had in the band," Liam told Men's Health Australia in 2019.

"When you're doing hundreds and hundreds of [concerts] and it's the same 22 songs at the same time every single day, even if you're not happy, you've got to go out there,"

Payne contributed significantly to One Direction's songwriting, garnering more than 30 co-writing credits across their five albums.

After One Direction

On March 25, 2015 Zayn Malik announced his departure from the band before fulfilling their five album contract with Syco Records, citing his desire to live as a normal 22-year-old as the reason for his leaving.

One Direction would release one more album as a quartet, 2015's Made In The A.M. but declined to tour the record. In 2016, the band announced that they were going on indefinite hiatus.

Appearing on The Diary of A CEO podcast in 2021, Payne revealed his relief at the band's break up due to his mounting drug and alcohol problems.

"The day the band ended, I was like, 'Thank the Lord,'" Payne said. "I know a lot of people are going to be mad at me for saying that, but I needed to stop or it would kill me."

In May 2017, Payne released his first solo single Strip That Down featuring rapper Quavo. Payne's venture into solo material came just months after the birth of his first and only son Bear with singer Cheryl Cole, whom he dated from 2016 to 2018.

In 2019, Payne said he was in "a bad place" following Bear's birth.

"Becoming a dad at such a young age, it's such a difficult thing," he said. "And I think I built fatherhood up so much in my head that it kind of messed me up to start with.

Payne continued to release singles and collaborate with artists such as Rita Ora and Zedd in the lead up to his 2019 debut solo album LP1.

The album failed to crack the top 20 in charts worldwide and was largely criticised for being too generic with Pitchfork's Rawiya Kameir labelling Payne “another pop star flailing to find his identity amid trend-hopping production and half-baked lyrics.”

Payne went quiet on the music front after contributing a song to the 2021 Disney film Ron's Gone Wrong.

Revelations, apologies and a return to music

During his time away from music, Payne made a highly controversial appearance on Logan Paul's Impaulsive podcast in 2022 where he revealed the many reasons why he "dislikes" Zayn, that he threatened to fight one of the members while they were still together and that he had "outsold everyone in the band", a claim that was untrue.

The backlash from fans was immediate and days later, Payne walked back on the comments that pertained to Malik, saying that Malik was his brother and always will be in a series of tweets.

In later social media posts, Payne would reveal that he didn't leave his house for three months following the response to the interview.

"You guys know I'm sorry about all that stuff. I love my boys. Not sure what was going on with me other than I had a problem with me and I took it out on everyone else… never had a bigger chip on my shoulder and I'm really glad to lose it," he said.

In May 2023, Payne said that he was 100 days sober and working on his second album.

"I feel amazing, I feel really, really good, and the support from the fans and everything has been really, really good. I'm super happy," he said.

Payne wiped his Instagram at the start of 2024, in preparation for his new material and "a new chapter". Two months later he released his first solo single in three years, Teardrops which was co-written with former NSYNC member JC Chavez.

"Teardrops is about the vulnerability of heartbreak and the challenge of overcoming those moments," he said in a press release.

"This song marks the start of a new beginning. There's lots more to come in 2024."