One Direction singer Liam Payne has reportedly died. He was 31. TMZ reports that Payne died after falling from a balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He’d reportedly been in the South American country for a Niall Horan concert which took place earlier this month, and reunited with his 1D bandmates at the show.
According to TMZ, Payne died on Wednesday evening after falling from his third-floor room at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires. The outlet says several witnesses at the hotel saw the fall and confirmed it was Payne.
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TMZ reports that Payne’s body was identified by visible tattoos that matched the ones he was known to have. The outlet adds that witnesses claim the fall happened shortly after 5 p.m. in Buenos Aires.
It’s also reported that eyewitnesses alleged Payne had been behaving erratically in the hotel lobby earlier in the day. They claim he smashed his laptop and had to be physically taken back to his room.
At this time, TMZ reports that authorities have constructed a red tent around Payne’s body while they conduct their investigation.
Payne joined One Direction when he was only 16 years old — along with Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik — and is considered to have been one of the main songwriters in the band. The group launched on The X Factor in 2010 and soon became the biggest boy band in the world. Ultimately, One Direction broke up in 2015 after five studio albums, and the members went their separate ways.
Payne dropped his debut solo album, LP1, which featured the hit song “Strip That Down,” a collaboration with rapper Quavo. The track has more than one billion streams on Spotify alone. The album also featured the 2017 single “Bedroom Floor,” a solo track that’s considered to be a fan favorite.
Payne leaves behind one child, a son named Bear, whom he shared with ex Cheryl Tweedy. At this time, none of his One Direction bandmates have commented on his death.
