He was the fresh-faced 14-year-old whose appearance on The X Factor catapulted him to global stardom.
But today, there was an outpouring of grief and shock as Liam Payne, one of the most recognised boy band singers of all time, died suddenly aged 31.
A talented singer from Wolverhampton, Payne shot to international fame with One Direction before embarking on a solo career in 2017 when the band took a hiatus.
After reaching stratospheric fame at such a young age, Payne – like many childhood stars – had spoken candidly about his struggles with mental health and addiction to alcohol.
In the days leading to his death, Payne was seemingly enjoying life again as he flew to South America with his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, to see his former bandmate Niall Horan perform in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 2.
During a two-week holiday, he ‘reunited’ with Horan and spent time with his adoring fans, posing for photos and hugging one who told him ‘you saved my life’.
But on October 12, it seemed the long-haul holiday had become too much for Ms Cassidy, who admitted ‘I just need to go home’ before she flew back to Florida, leaving Payne behind in Argentina.
Just four days later, the luxurious holiday ended in tragedy as the pop star plunged to his death after falling from a third floor balcony at his Buenos Aires hotel.
It comes as:
September 30 – Payne and his girlfriend arrive in South America
September 30: Liam Payne and his girlfriend Kate Cassidy arrive in Argentina and were due to ‘stay for five days’.
October 2: Payne goes to former bandmate Niall Horan’s concert, where he sings and dances with Ms Cassidy. He is reunited with Horan afterwards.
October 12: After spending two weeks in Argentina, Ms Cassidy returns home to Florida, but Payne stays and later checks into the Casa Sur hotel alone. She says they were only meant to stay for five days and that she was ‘so ready to leave’.
October 14: It emerges that Payne’s ex-fiancée Maya Henry has served the star with ‘cease and desist’ papers. Lawyers say they were issued ‘last week’.
October 16: Payne posted on Snapchat in the hours before his death, sharing photos of himself with Ms Cassidy as well as videos in which he said it was a ‘lovely day here in Argentina’. Ms Cassidy jokes that they are ‘losers’ for lying in until 12pm. They appear to be videos from earlier in this trip.
Payne is acting erratically before plunging to his death from the third-floor of the hotel.
A ‘final’ picture of him appears to show him leaning against a wall near a lift while returning to his room.
Payne had arrived in South America with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy on September 30, staying in Argentina for two weeks after only planning to spend ‘five days’ there.
The couple had jetted off to Buenos Aires where Horan was on tour – as he told fans he ‘would like to square up a couple of things’ with his former bandmate.
Payne announced he and Ms Cassidy were flying to Argentina ‘One, because we want to. Two, because we want to. And three, because Niall Horan’s playing down there and I think we might just go and say ‘hello’.’
He admitted: ‘It’s been a while since me and Niall have spoken. We’ve got a lot to talk about and I would like to square up a couple things with the boy. No bad vibes or nothing like that but we just need to talk.’
October 2 – Payne attends Niall Horan’s concert
Payne appeared to be in high spirits during Horan’s concert – singing, dancing and wrapping his arms around his girlfriend’s shoulder and tenderly kissing her on the head.
Payne, who was partying in a box with Ms Cassidy, excitedly captioned one picture with: ‘We’re here (smiley face emoji)’.
The former One Direction star also showed his support for his pal as he shared several videos and snaps of him performing on stage to thousands of fans.
He captioned them with: ‘So happy I got to see Niall in concert (love heart emoji).’
Later, after Niall took to the stage, the singer jammed out to the musician’s solo performance of One Direction’s 2014 hit Stockholm Syndrome.
After the show, he excited One Direction fans by sharing a selfie of the pair with the caption ‘Reunited’ followed by a love heart.
October 2 – 16 – Meeting fans and enjoying his holiday
On the surface, it looked to be a positive holiday, with Payne meeting dozens of his adoring fans during the trip, including one who told him: ‘You saved my life.’
In the heartwarming video, Payne is seen pulling the fan in for a warm embrace before they pose for a photo showing off their matching arm tattoos.
The fan shared more clips from the day, including one in which Payne asked fans for help with his Spanish and another which saw the singer waving to the crowd from a distance.
In one poignant clip, a fan asks ‘Are you okay Liam?’ to which he replies ‘Yeah I’m good.’
The couple also revealed how they had been having lie-ins every morning and had been enjoying activities such as polo while in South America.
October 12 – Payne’s girlfriend goes home
Liam Payne told his fans how his girlfriend was leaving Argentina during his chaotic final days.
Just 48 hours before his death, Ms Cassidy shared a video on TikTok revealing they had originally planned to stay in Argentina for ‘five days’. Her boarding pass indicates that she travelled back to Miami on October 12.
‘I was just like, I need to go home,’ she said in the video, which documented her flight back to the US.
‘Honestly, love South America but I hate staying in one place for too long. And we were supposed to be there for, like, five days, turned into two weeks.’
‘I was so happy to be home,’ she added on TikTok. ‘It was so relieving.’
Ms Cassidy also noted how her seat on the flight home was 1D – a reference to Payne’s former band.
October 14 – Payne’s ex-fiancée launches legal action
On the same day Ms Cassidy’s going home video was posted, it emerged that Payne’s ex-fiancée, Ms Henry, had started legal proceedings against Payne, accusing him of obsessively contact and ‘weaponising’ his fans against her.
Lawyers for the star told on Monday: ‘Maya Henry issued a cease and desist last week to Liam Payne following the emergence of new and concerning information.’
Following confirmation of his death, a source close to Ms Henry said: ‘Right now she is obviously in shock.’
Just last week, Ms Henry – the daughter of multi-millionaire personal-injury lawyer Thomas J. Henry – claimed he had gone to extraordinary lengths in an attempt to contact her in a video to her TikTok followers.
‘Ever since we broke up he messages me, will blow up my phone, not only from his phone, it’s always from different phone numbers too, so I never know where it’s gonna come from,’ she said.
‘He’ll create new iCloud accounts to message me – it’s always a new damn iCloud account. Every time I see one pop up on my phone I’m like, ‘here we f***ing go again.
‘Also, he will email me… not only me, but he’ll blow up my mom’s phone. Is this normal behavior to you?’
Last week the model also accused Payne of playing on the loyalty of die-hard One Direction fans across social media to pillory her.
Payne made his first public appearance with Ms Henry in 2019 before their stop-start three-year relationship came to an end in 2022, almost a year after the former couple called off their engagement.
October 16 – Payne posts a flurry of videos before falling to his death
On the day of his death, Payne posted several social media videos, including one where he jokingly called his girlfriend a ‘loser’ for going home.
The star’s final Snapchat post showed him happily posing with bikini-clad Ms Cassidy as they looked into a mirror.
And further videos show him enjoying a late breakfast with Ms Cassidy, where he joked about his partner leaving her hat on the table.
He gave followers a tour of the room he was staying in with Ms Cassidy, who he had been dating since October 2022.
‘Haha, loser, weirdo,’ he joked in reference to her leaving Argentina.
‘Obviously, we’re going to go home and see our dog,’ he said.
Ms Cassidy joked about sleeping in every morning, saying: ‘We literally sleep in every day until like 12… we’re such losers.’ Payne replies ‘No’ and smiles at the camera.
In further videos before his death, Payne spoke to followers about his plans for the day, saying it was a ‘lovely day in Argentina’.
He added: ‘Today, we ride. We’re going to ride some horses. Think I’m going to play polo again, which is going to put me out of action for about six weeks.
‘It’s so hard to do, number one, my back and my neck from swinging that hammer around… or mallet, I think it’s called if you’re in the know. It hurts a lot, it’s very tough to do.’
The star also shared a photo of his hotel, writing: ‘Happy I got some time away’ followed by a heart emoji.
He shared a further photo with Kate captioned: ‘Quality time.
The videos appear to have been posted days after they were filmed, as they feature Kate who had returned home to Florida on October 14, with the singer checking into Casa Sur alone, sources told TMZ.
October 16 – Police rush to the hotel but Payne falls to his death
Police were called to the hotel at around 5pm following reports of ‘an aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol’, but when they arrived they heard a loud sound in the inner courtyard.
Payne died instantly from multiple injuries, including a fractured skull. Preliminary autopsy results revealed that his serious injuries led to ‘internal and external haemorrhaging’.
A hotel reception worker had made a distressing 999 call requesting ‘urgent’ assistance before Payne fell 45ft to his death.
The hotel worker made two calls, saying in the first: ‘We have a guest who’s off his head on drugs and is destroying everything in his room. We need someone to come.’
He then phoned back after the line went dead, saying: ‘I don’t know if the guest’s life is in danger.
‘The room has a balcony and we are afraid he might do something.’
Payne was said to have been ‘acting erratically in the hotel lobby and smashed his laptop’ before he ‘had to be carried back to his room’, according to local media.
Seconds later the employee, who identified himself as Esteban, added: ‘Just send an ambulance, only an ambulance.’ Workers had heard a loud sound in the courtyard before the singer’s body was discovered just after 5pm local time (9pm UK time).
A recording of the second call lasting about two minutes and leaked to local media overnight began with the 999 operator saying: ‘Hello, where is the emergency?’
The hotel employee replied: ‘Hello, good afternoon. I called just now but the line went dead. I’m calling from the CasaSur Palermo Hotel, address 6032, Costa Rica.’
The conversation continued as below:
Payne rose to stardom aged 16 after forming boy band One Direction on The X Factor in 2010 alongside Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Harry Styles.
His death has sparked an outpouring of grief, with shocked fans gathering outside after police cordoned off the area.
They were seen lighting candles and adorning the side of the road with flowers in an impromptu vigil as they paid tribute to the beloved music star.
Police in Argentina had received a call from a worker at the hotel urgently requesting help with an intoxicated guest, according to audio related to the case obtained from the Buenos Aires security ministry.
The worker said: ‘When he is conscious he is destroying the entire room and we need you to send someone.’
Emergency medical services director Alberto Crescenti said Payne had suffered ‘very serious injuries after falling from a third floor into an internal courtyard’.
‘We verified his identity using the passport he had,’ he added.