From One Direction to solo stardom: Key moments of Liam Payne’s career
Liam Payne, the British singer who rose to global stardom as part of the five-member boy band One Direction, died Wednesday at the age of 31.
Tributes are pouring in for the star who fell from the third floor of a hotel in Argentina, the circumstances of which are still unclear and under investigation, authorities said.
Payne spent years in the public eye, finding highs and lows along the way. Here’s a look back at highlights of his career in music.
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Payne went on the ‘The X Factor’ reality show at age 14
Payne first auditioned for “The X Factor,” a British reality TV music competition, in 2008 at the age of 14. While judges said they were impressed with his singing, Simon Cowell later told the teenager he “wasn’t quite ready” for stardom and encouraged him to come back in two years. Payne returned to the show in 2010, receiving a standing ovation from two judges after his solo audition.
“Based on talent, absolutely incredible,” Cowell said before sending then 16-year-old Payne through to the next stage.
Later in the season, judges grouped Payne with four other solo singers to form a group known as One Direction: Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson.
The band did not win the show, which promises a recording contract, finishing third instead.
But that didn’t stop its success. The group went on to sell 70 million records worldwide, according to British media.
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One Direction becomes a best-selling boy band with global fame
One Direction was together for six years, producing five studio albums and becoming one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. Top songs included “What Makes You Beautiful,” “Story Of My Life” and “Night Changes.”
In 2012, the group became the first British group to go straight to the top of the U.S. music charts with their debut album “Up All Night.” Later that year, the band broke a Billboard digital chart record with their song “Live While We’re Young,” which became the fastest-selling track by a non-U.S. artist in chart history.
In 2015, Malik dropped out of a tour, citing stress, and later announced he was leaving the band, saying it was “the right time” for him to do so. Payne and the other singers vowed to press on as a four-person band, but just one year later announced an indefinite hiatus.
The One Direction years were an exciting time in Payne’s life, he had said. “It was like having four older brothers,” Payne told the Guardian in 2019. “The more fun we had, the more successful it got.”
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Yet the star also said that fame at such a young age also brought its share of challenges, including harassment from paparazzi and swarms of adoring fans. “It was a little bit dark and twisted towards the end of it,” Payne said of his time in the band.
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Payne
Payne launched his solo career in 2017, the same year he welcomed his son, Bear, with British singer Cheryl, whose maiden name is Cheryl Tweedy.
The pair first met when Payne auditioned for “The X Factor” in 2008, when Tweedy was one of the judges. The pair began dating in 2015 and split in 2018.
His debut song, “Strip That Down,” featured rapper Quavo and surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify.
In recent years, Payne spoke candidly about his struggle with alcohol, saying that his drinking became heavy while on tour with the band and continued after the group announced they were taking a hiatus.
“There were a couple of very dark years of me going through extreme peril with different mental health things,” he told the BBC in 2019. “I just didn’t know where I was going to end up,” he added, noting his family was “very worried” about him.
Payne’s final song, “Teardrops” was released seven months before his death.
“[T]his song is born from many tears, not all mine,” he wrote on Instagram in March.