A picture of former One Direction singer Liam Payne sits surrounded by flowers and candles as fans gather outside the hotel where he was found dead after falling from a balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) Argentine authorities continue to investigate the death of former One Direction singer Liam Payne , who died Wednesday at age 31 after falling three stories from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.
Payne was a beloved member of the group, which formed in 2010 after its members — Payne, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik — auditioned for “The X-Factor” singing competition series as solo acts and were brought together by judge Simon Cowell to form the band. They became one of the most successful boy bands of all time, with a loyal fan base of “Directioners” and a meteoric rise to fame on par with Beatlemania. Here is what we know — and what remains unknown — about the star’s untimely death.
Hotel staff at the Casa Sur Hotel in the chic Palermo neighborhood of Argentina’s capital where Payne was staying called the police Wednesday evening with concerns about a guest who they said was “overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol.” Police rushed to the hotel and responded to the call just after 5 p.m.
local time and they later confirmed they arrived just minutes before the fall. The hotel manager could be heard on a 911 call obtained by The Associated Press saying the guest was “destroying .
