The text Liam Payne sent his father in 2010 read simply: ‘I’m in a boyband.’
That band was, of course, One Direction. And despite his understated excitement, there is no way the 16-year-old Wolverhampton schoolboy could have ever known quite how big it would become.
Along the way he’d play a part in reinventing the boyband concept for the modern era, with the group selling more than 70million records and winning the hearts of millions of ‘Directioners’ in almost every country on earth.
Yet there were lows alongside the highs, including battles with alcoholism and ill health that plagued Liam before his tragic death in Argentina yesterday – which leaves Bear, his seven-year-old son with Cheryl Cole, without a father.
Former One Direction member Liam Payne is pictured in Paris in March this year
Liam shared a seven-year-old son with his former girlfriend, the singer Cheryl Cole (pictured together in 2016)
The star with his fellow One Direction bandmates at the height of the group’s success in 2013
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Liam James Payne was born on August 29, 1993 at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton – the son of Karen, an infant nurse, and Geoff, a fitter at an aerospace firm. He had two older sisters, Ruth and Nicola.
Born three weeks early, he suffered frequent illnesses and was diagnosed with a problem with one of his kidneys. This established a routine of regular tests and hospital visits that would go on for years, with the young Liam at one point having 32 injections in his arm to help relieve his pain.
Despite his health struggles, the youngster excelled at sport and for three years was ranked as one of the top three 1500m runners in the country for his age group.
While at St Peter’s Collegiate School in Wolverhampton he would also take up boxing at the age of 12 in response to bullying from older pupils – and would go on to earn 11 GCSEs.
Liam’s first entry to the world of showbiz was a stint at local theatre company Pink Productions at the age of 13, with the then ‘timid boy’ quickly coming out of his shell to perform in front of a crowd at 26,000 at a Wolverhampton Wanderers game – despite being a fan of their rivals West Bromwich Albion.
Aged 14, the talented youngster registered on the pop radar with his first audition on X Factor, where he impressed judges with a soulful rendition of Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon.
Speaking before his audition in a thick Wolverhampton accent, Liam made clear his passion for music.
‘I should really be concentrating on my [school] work but I just think about singing too much,’ he said. ‘It’s a dream and I’d love to do it.’
Liam returned two years later as Simon Cowell had asked, and initially auditioned as a solo act singing Michael Buble’s Cry Me A River before being given a second chance as part of a group at Bootcamp.
Here he would meet his future One Direction bandmates Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson – and despite coming only third in the show they would quickly become one of the biggest pop groups in the world.
In a spell lasting just six years, ‘One D’ produced five albums, four world tours, one movie and a memorable music video for Red Nose Day in 2013 which featured then prime minister David Cameron happening upon them dancing in front of Number 10 Downing Street.
His fame came with unimaginable wealth, with the star at one point enjoying an estimated fortune of £47million and homes in Malibu, California and Surrey.
Liam’s first ever X Factor audition in 2008, when he was just 14
‘When I’m at school, in general, I think about singing all the time,’ Liam gushed to the show’s producers
The star was a keen actor and singer as a child, and is pictured here during a performance
Liam appeared on X Factor for a second time aged 16 after Simon Cowell asked him to return
Following a suggestion from former judge Nicole Scherzinger, he was put together with Horan, Malik, Styles and Tomlinson to form a boy band
He was raised by his down to earth nurse mother Karen and fitter father Geoff who who wrote of their extreme ‘pride’ of being related to him
Liam’s father Geoff recently shared this throwback snap of Liam performing as a young boy
Liam arrives for a film premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square in November 2010
At the height of One Direction’s global success, Liam established himself as the ‘responsible’ member of the band, a role he took seriously.
‘I’ve always been a bit of an older soul,’ he told the Telegraph in 2017. ‘When something was going wrong, I’d get a phone call.
‘If there was an apology needed, it was me. I was the spokesperson for the band, as it were, with the press and the label.’
But cracks began to form in the group in 2015, when Malik left in the middle of a world tour to pursue a solo career. A year later they went on hiatus – devastating its legions of smitten fans.
Liam would go on to describe his time with One Direction as ‘a little bit toxic’, although in 2020 he marked its 10th anniversary by sharing the text he had sent to his father when the group began.
‘What a journey… I had no idea what we were in for when I sent this text to my dad years ago at this exact time the band was formed,’ he wrote.
Like all his fellow One Directioners, Liam embarked on a solo career – signing a record deal with Capital Records in 2016 and releasing a series of hits including Strip That Down and Get Low.
He said at the time he was ‘really happy’ to have signed with them, adding: ‘One Direction will always be my family; I’m now excited to show what I can do as a solo artist.’
Away from the studio and stage, Liam entered into a relationship with former Girls Aloud star Cheryl, the pair having first met on The X Factor when she was a judge and ten years his senior.
In March 2017, the couple announced the birth of their son Bear.
The proud new father shared a photo of himself cradling a baby with dark hair on Instagram, with the caption: ‘I’m incredibly happy to welcome our new baby boy into the world, it’s a moment that I will never forget for the rest of my life and my favourite memory I have so far.’
Liam met his childhood sweetheart Sophia Smith when they were both in school. They began dating in 2013 and split two years later
Liam dated Danielle Peazar from 2010-2012 after meeting on The X Factor where she worked as a dancer
Liam enjoyed a summer romance with model Cairo Dwek, with their two-month relationship coming to an end in September 2018 after two months of dating
Liam was linked to model Naomi Campbell, who is 23 years older than him, in 2019, with the couple said to have enjoyed a four-month fling that ended in April
Liam dated Maya Henry from 2019 to 2022, and they were engaged until 2021. In recent days she has claimed he went to extraordinary lengths in an attempt to contact her
The singer would go on to speak proudly of his son in the years to come, saying during one awards ceremony that Bear ‘constantly inspires’ him to be a better person.
In July 2018, Liam and Cheryl announced their split after two-and-a-half years together.
He opened up about their separation in the following months, saying it was tough to break up in the public spotlight and that announcing it was ‘like breaking up twice’.
In August 2020, Liam got engaged to American model Maya Henry, but the pair split during lockdown and announced the engagement had been broken off in June 2021.
Further relationships would follow with the X Factor dancer Danielle Peazer and the supermodel Naomi Campbell.
Liam was regularly involved in charity work and during the Covid pandemic helped provide more than 360,000 meals to people struggling as a result of the outbreak.
Yet later years saw Liam increasingly shy away from the public eye amid troubles with his health.
The star had been vocal about struggling with alcoholism, posting a video in July 2023 to his YouTube channel where he said he had been sober for six months after receiving treatment.
Last September he was hospitalised in Italy with a serious illness that left him in agony, with Liam left in a ‘bad way’ as he was treated in Lake Como with his American girlfriend, Kate Cassidy.
The incident left his friends, fans and even his own mother fearing for his health – and indeed his future.
It has been clear to those who know Liam that that all wasn’t well with him for some time.
In a video he posted to his 26 million Instagram followers to say he was cancelling a series of concerts in South America in 2023 after suffering a ‘bad’ kidney infection last September, the singer appeared dishevelled.
X Factor’s third headline tour, the Where We Are Tour, grossed over $290 million, setting a new record as the highest-grossing tour of all time by a vocal group; seen performing in 2013
After releasing five albums with one of the biggest boybands of all time, Liam began a solo career (he is seen in 2018)
In 2019, Liam candidly revealed he wouldn’t known what to say to former band mate Harry, due to how different they’ve become, calling himself the ‘antichrist version’; Harry and Liam seen in 2015
Liam seen at an awards ceremony in London’s Dorchester hotel in 2024
Dressed in a beige hoodie he assured them it was something he was doing ‘with a heavy heart.’
In October that year, he was banned from driving in the UK for six months after admitting a speeding offence, with the singer reportedly travelling at 43mph in a 30mph zone.
Liam appeared troubled when he arrived at an Oscars party last year, appearing to be gurning as he gave an interview to Good Morning Britain in a strange trans-Atlantic accent.
Inevitably, his public travails were accompanied by turmoil in his private life, with his relationship with Cheryl – the mother of his young son – reportedly coming under strain.
He was also the target of legal proceedings launched by his ex-fiancée Maya Henry, 23, who accused him of repeatedly contacting her.
Liam was said to be acting erratically before his death in Argentina yesterday, with staff at the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires making a panicked phone call to police before he fell to his death from a third-floor balcony.
The star had been in Argentina with his girlfriend Kate to watch a concert by his former bandmate Niall Horan, and hours before his death shared a post on Snapchat saying: ‘It’s a lovely day here in Argentina.’
The tragedy has prompted an outpouring of grief from the music world, and fans were today seen gathering outside the hotel itself to light candles and leave flowers as part of an impromptu vigil.
Amid the mass of tributes were personal messages from those who knew Liam best, with one friend telling the Mail: ‘Liam had been struggling, he just wanted to be a good person.
‘This is a horrible, horrible tragedy. Nobody can believe it. He has the world at his feet, he worked so hard but he just couldn’t quite get over his pain.’
The Wanted star Max George said Payne had ‘supported me a lot’ after the death of his bandmate Tom Parker from a brain tumour in March 2022.
Liam had been in Argentina with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy, who is seen alongside the star last August
Liam singing and dancing with his former bandmate Niall Horan in Argentina
Hours before his death Liam shared a Snapchat post that read: ‘Lovely day in Argentina’
Fans of One Direction and Liam Payne gather outside the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires
And while it has been assumed that he has struggled with life after One Direction, friends say that he was a ‘sensitive soul’ before he even arrived for his X Factor audition.
One said: ‘There is perhaps a reason why some people go looking for fame, since childhood Liam was very inward looking, really in touch with his feelings. Then bang, you are singing in front of millions of people on the X Factor. And then you, pretty much overnight, are one of the most recognisable people in the world.’
Liam leaves behind his parents, Geoff and Karen Payne, his son Bear, seven, and his sisters, Ruth and Nicola.
Liam Payne, born August 29, 1993, died October 16, 2024.
