Liam Payne's life in pictures: One Direction, his solo career and relationships
For years, he was one of the most recognisable young men on the planet.
Now, Liam Payne is being remembered as a "gentle, beautiful soul" following his sudden death on October 17, 2024 (Australia time). He was just 31.
The former One Direction star died after falling from the third floor of his hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to state police, as reported by CNN.
Payne is survived by his son, Bear Grey Payne, who he welcomed in March 2017 with Girls Aloud star Cheryl, his parents, Karen and Geoff, and his two older sisters, Nicola and Ruth.
Continue to look back on Payne's incredible career and life in pictures.
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Born to Karen and Geoff Payne on August 29, 1993, Liam Payne was raised in Wolverhampton, England with his two older sisters.
Frequently ill as an infant, doctors discovered when he was four that one of Liam's kidneys was scarred and dysfunctional, which required ongoing medical treatment through his youth.
He also faced bullying while at school, but still had the confidence to audition for The X Factor in 2008, when he was just 14.
READ MORE: One Direction star Liam Payne dies aged 31
Judges Simon Cowell, Cheryl, Dannii Minogue and Louis Walsh liked the youngster's performance of Frank Sinatra's Fly Me to the Moon.
They agreed to take him through to the Boot Camp stage, where he was cut before Cowell asked him to return.
Though Payne was cut again, Cowell urged him to "come back in two years" and try again. That advice would go on to shape Payne's life and career in unimaginable ways - in fact, listening to those five words is what helped make him a star.
In 2010, Payne returned and auditioned a second time, performing Michael Bublé's version of Cry Me a River in front of Cowell, Cheryl, Walsh and guest judge Natalie Imbruglia, famous for her song Torn. All four were rapt with his performance and Cowell even gave the return talent a standing ovation.
Safe to say he was through to the next round.
Everything changed ahead of the judges' houses round of the competition, where Payne was almost cut, only for another guest judge – Pussycat Dolls star Nicole Scherzinger – to suggest pairing him with four other contestants to form a boy band that would go on to be the biggest on the planet.
READ MORE: Stars pay tribute to One Direction star Liam Payne who has died aged 31
Payne was paired with four other young male contestants: Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik.
They were given just two weeks to get to know each other and adapt to singing as a group, rather than five solo artists, before the make-or-break moment where they had to sing in front of the judges as a quintet.
Their performance of Torn would go down in history as the moment One Direction was truly born.
Not only did the boys make it through to the next stage of The X Factor, they made it all the way to the final stages, placing third overall in the 2010 series.
Though Payne and his bandmates didn't win the competition, Cowell knew they had massive potential and signed them to his label Syco Entertainment. It was one of the best career moves he ever made.
In September 2011, One Direction dropped their first single What Makes You Beautiful. Calling the track an instant hit would be an understatement.
The song exploded around the world and remains their best selling single, per Billboard. It also catapulted the band to international fame and One Direction's debut album, Up All Night, was a massive commercial success when it released in November 2011.
Though Payne didn't plan to become part of a boy band, the success was rolling in and the teen star seemed thrilled. Little did he know, this was only the beginning of a years-long hot streak that would see him and his bandmates become the most recognisable young men on the planet.
In 2012, One Direction kicked off their Up All Night Tour, travelling around the UK and Ireland before expanding the tour to include international shows in North America and Australia.
As well as touring, the boys were working on new music and released their second album, Take Me Home, in November 2012. It reached number one in over 35 countries, proving One Direction wasn't going to be a one-hit wonder.
Though the success was exciting for Payne and his bandmates, they were all still very young and the pressure of reaching such heights so quickly was immense.
Tomlinson was the eldest band member, but Payne was widely viewed as the most mature by fans and seen as a guiding force for the younger members.
From 2013, he found support with girlfriend Sophia Smith.
The pair had been friends since childhood, so Smith knew Payne before he was an international superstar and was as new to the world of red carpets and paparazzi as he was.
Sadly, their romance ended in 2015, which was a difficult year for Payne on a professional and personal level.
READ MORE: Liam Payne remembered as a 'gentle, beautiful soul' by Richard Wilkins after sudden death
In 2014, One Direction was massive and travelled to Australia to perform at the ARIA Awards. Nine's Entertainment Editor Richard Wilkins remembers the pandemonium that greeted the band's young stars wherever they went.
"They had millions and millions of fans around the world," he tells 9honey Celebrity.
"Their voices blended beautifully, and they had a superb vocal coach ... who toured with them, they recorded on the road, they were brilliantly managed. The biggest songwriters in the world were pitching songs at them, so they had thethe pick of the bunch.
"They just had a tiger by the tail, and they knew how to work it. It was genuine hysteria when they were out and about."
But in 2015, one member caused a different kind of hysteria - and it wasn't Payne.
On March 26, 2015 (Australia time), a statement shared to One Direction's official Facebook page confirmed Malik was leaving the band. Fans lost it.
"After five incredible years Zayn Malik has decided to leave One Direction," the missive, shared while the band was in the middle of their fourth and final world tour in March 2015, said.
There were some tensions around the split, with Payne telling GQ in November 2019 that he, Styles, Horan and Tomlinson didn't hear much from Malik in the years after he left One Direction.
"I think with Zayn's particular exit and the way he chose to go, we haven't really heard from him since he left," he said.
"He didn't even say goodbye, if I am being honest. It was a really sordid scenario, from our side certainly. A bit strange. It's difficult."
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