Liam Payne was acting erratically and had to be escorted back to his hotel room before plunging to his death – with staff making a panicked call to police, Daily Mail reports.
According to the report by Daily Mail, the former One Direction star fell from the third floor into the courtyard of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires yesterday before medics confirmed his death. He was 31.
Police in Argentina were contacted by a member of hotel staff who reported ‘an aggressive man who may have been under the effects of drugs and alcohol ‘.
Shortly afterwards, workers heard a loud sound in the hotel’s courtyard before the Wolverhampton-born singer’s body was discovered just after 5pm local time.
The star 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.
Liam 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.
Fans 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 Liam 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.
Mr Crescenti told Argentine newspaper Clarin that ‘the team saw that he apparently had a fracture at the base of the skull’.
His body was transported to a local morgue where a post-mortem examination will be carried out.
Mr Crescenti said Liam Payne had fallen around 45ft (14 metres) and suffered ‘severe injuries which were incompatible with life’.
He said: ‘The alarm was raised at 5.04pm local time saying a person was lying in an internal patio at Casa Sur. At 5.11pm an ambulance arrived and the man was certified dead.
‘Afterwards we found out he had been a famous singer. Unfortunately the injuries he had suffered as a result of the fall proved to be fatal. There was no possibility of resuscitating him.’
Unverified pictures have since emerged online claiming to be Payne’s hotel room completely trashed with one image showing a smashed television screen.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London confirmed it is in contact with authorities in Argentina ‘regarding reports of the death of a British man’.
Liam Payne had arrived in Argentina earlier this month to attend his ex-bandmate Niall Horan’s concert.
The star’s final Snapchat post showed him happily posing with his partner Kate Cassidy as they looked into a mirror – a picture which was originally taken last August.
Further posts from the final moments of Payne’s life showed him enjoying lunch in his hotel room, where he revealed the pair had been ‘waking up at 1pm every day’ and deciding on Forest Gump as a Halloween costume.
A further selfie was captioned: ‘Lovely day in Argentina’ before the star shared a photo of his hotel, writing: ‘Happy I got some time away’ followed by a heart emoji.
He shared another photo with Cassidy captioned: ‘Quality time.’
Payne’s death comes days after his ex-fiancée Maya Henry started legal proceedings against him.
The 23-year-old Texan model instructed lawyers to issue a cease and desist letter to the star after accusing him of repeatedly contacting her.
She had also accused Payne of obsessively contacting her friends and family including her mother Azteca Henry.
Liam Payne formed boy band One Direction in 2010, alongside Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Harry Styles, after they individually auditioned for The X Factor.
After becoming one of the biggest pop groups in the world with five albums and four world tours, One Direction went on indefinite hiatus in 2016.
Earlier this month, Liam Payne attended bandmate Horan’s Argentinian concert alongside his girlfriend Kate Cassidy.
Liam Payne released his debut solo album LP1 in December 2019 which included the songs Polaroid, Familiar and Strip That Down featuring Quavo.
The song was one of two tracks that reached the top 10 in the UK official charts, alongside For You with Rita Ora from the film Fifty Shades Freed – which the duo performed at the Brit Awards in 2018.
Liam Payne and Girls Aloud singer Cheryl share a son Bear, born in 2017, having been in a high-profile relationship between 2016 and 2018.
The singer first auditioned for The X Factor in 2008 at the age of 14 singing Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon, with judge Simon Cowell telling him to return to the ITV talent show two years later.
He impressed the judges in 2010 singing Michael Buble’s rendition of Cry Me A River before he was put with four other solo hopefuls at the boot camp stage of the competition – the group which later became One Direction.
In 2012, the boy band won their first Brit Award for best British single for their debut track What Makes You Beautiful, before picking up the Brit global success award a year later.
In 2014 and 2015 they also won best British video for Best Song Ever and You & I respectively.
After Malik left the band, the quartet won best artist video for Drag Me Down in 2016. They picked up the same award a year later for History.
In August last year, Laim Payne postponed his scheduled tour of South America after suffering from a ‘serious kidney infection’.
He said the infection was something ‘I wouldn’t wish on anyone’ and he had been instructed by doctors to ‘rest and recover’.
Later last year he was banned from driving in the UK after admitting a speeding offence.
The singer was reportedly travelling at 43mph in a 30mph zone and was banned from driving for six months, as well as paying a fine, in October 2023.
In August this year, Liam Payne was announced as a judge on a new Netflix show alongside former Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland and The Pussycat Dolls star Nicole Scherzinger.
The stars were to judge attempts to create a band, looking at the contestants’ chemistry as they formed groupings in the musical competition series.
Among those paying tribute to Liam Payne today was TV presenter Dermot O’Leary who recalled him auditioning for The X Factor as a 14-year-old boy.
O’Leary, who hosted The X Factor during both of Payne’s appearances, shared a photograph of the pair on stage, captioning the Instagram post: ‘The worst news’.
‘I remember him as a 14-year-old turning up to audition on The X Factor, and blowing us away singing Sinatra. He just loved to sing,’ he wrote.
‘He was always a joy, had time for everyone, polite, grateful, and was always humble.’
Styles’ mother Anne Twist posted a broken-hearted emoji on Instagram, captioning it: ‘Just a boy.’
Singer Olly Murs, who starred on The X Factor a year before One Direction, said he was ‘lost for words’, describing Payne’s death as ‘devastating’ on Instagram.
‘We always had a good laugh when we saw each other, sometimes the catch ups were only short and sweet but when we did it was mostly about how annoyingly good his hair always looked, or our love for Becks, the old XF (X Factor) days and the tour we shared together,’ Murs wrote beside a picture of the pair.
‘Liam shared the same passions as me, the same dreams so to see his life now end so young hits hard, I’m truly gutted and devastated for his family and of course his son Bear losing a dad.’
The Wanted star Max George said he met Liam Payne while he was competing on The X Factor with One Direction, describing his death as ‘absolutely devastating news’.
‘Over the last few years I had the pleasure of getting to know him personally and spent some treasured time with him,’ he said on Instagram.
‘Liam was absolutely wonderful in terms of support when Tom (Parker) fell ill, performing at the Royal Albert Hall with us for Stand Up To Cancer.
‘He supported me a lot personally after Tom passed. I will never forget that.’
Liam Payne attended the funeral of Parker, who died in March 2022 at the age of 33 after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.
US singer Charlie Puth, a co-writer on Payne’s 2017 song Bedroom Floor, said he was in ‘shock’ after Payne’s death.
‘Liam was always so kind to me,’ he posted on Instagram, alongside a collection of photos of the pair working together.
‘He was one of the first major artists I got to work with. I cannot believe he is gone… I am so upset right now, may he rest in peace.’
Former SAS: Who Dares Wins host Ant Middleton said he ‘formed a brotherhood’ with Payne after they filmed a documentary together in 2019.
The ex-Special Forces soldier described the former One Direction singer as ‘a good friend of mine’ after the pair journeyed through Namibia for the programme Ant Middleton & Liam Payne: Straight Talking.
Middleton said during a live interview on Australia’s The Morning Show that it was ‘the first time hearing’ of Payne’s death at the age of 31 after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.
‘After we filmed Straight Talking With Ant Middleton, he was my first celebrity guest and we formed a brotherhood,’ Middleton told hosts Kylie Gillies and Larry Emdur.
‘He was like a younger brother to me. He would confide in me, I’d go around and see him.
‘There were some issues there, but nothing that a young celebrity at his calibre wouldn’t suffer from.
‘I’m just shocked at the moment, wow, don’t really know what to say.’
Middleton said Payne ‘had a lovely aura around him’, describing him as a ‘lovely guy’.
‘He had positive energy around him,’ the 44-year-old said.
‘He was a visionary, he always thought and dreamed big, and that’s why he got to where he was, and he was loved.
‘He was one of those band members that was the glue, I believe, was the glue for One Direction, and it’s a shame to see such a positive individual die so young.’
Middleton added that he was away filming but wanted to ‘find out what’s happened to my good friend’.
Rylan Clark said Payne’s death was ‘so tragic’ on X, while fellow former X Factor contestants Jedward sent their love to Cheryl, his son Bear and ‘all the One Direction family’.
Socialite Paris Hilton also paid tribute on X, calling the singer’s death ‘so upsetting’, while BBC Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball said ‘devastating news, dear Liam Payne’.
DJ and music producer Zedd, who featured alongside Payne on the 2017 song Get Low, called the singer’s death ‘absolutely heartbreaking’.
American singer and rapper Ty Dolla Sign said he will ‘miss’ Payne, captioning videos and pictures on his Instagram story: ‘Just talked to you two days ago my guy.’
Fellow boy band the Backstreet Boys also paid tribute, saying their hearts go out to ‘Directioners around the world’.
A statement on X added: ‘Words can not express the emotions we are collectively feeling right now, and it seems like the rest of the world is in the same boat.’
A number of industry bodies joined those paying tribute, including
streaming giant Spotify, MTV and the Brit Awards who all said in separate statements that they are ‘deeply saddened’ by Payne’s death.
Payne’s journey to stardom began when he was just 14 years old at his lesser-known first audition for The X Factor.
DJ and music producer Zedd, who featured alongside Payne on the 2017 song Get Low, called the singer’s death ‘absolutely heartbreaking’.
American singer and rapper Ty Dolla Sign said he will ‘miss’ Payne, captioning videos and pictures on his Instagram story: ‘Just talked to you two days ago my guy.’
Fellow boy band the Backstreet Boys also paid tribute, saying their hearts go out to ‘Directioners around the world’.
A statement on X added: ‘Words can not express the emotions we are collectively feeling right now, and it seems like the rest of the world is in the same boat.’
A number of industry bodies joined those paying tribute, including streaming giant Spotify, MTV and the Brit Awards who all said in separate statements that they are ‘deeply saddened’ by Payne’s death.
Payne’s journey to stardom began when he was just 14 years old at his lesser-known first audition for The X Factor.