Pop singer Liam Payne died at age 31 on Wednesday, Oct. 16 in Buenos Aires, Argentina after falling from the balcony of his hotel room in the Casa Sur Palermo. He was in Argentina during this time to see a former band member, Niall Horan, who was on his tour.
Officers and paramedics arrived at the scene and described Payne’s body to have “extremely serious injuries.” The autopsy report stated that Payne died from polytrauma (injuries all over the body) and an internal and external hemorrhage (bleeding on the inside and outside of his body). Autopsy reporters believe that the bleeding from inside his skull, thorax, abdomen and limbs were the main causes of his death even though there were a total of 25 serious injuries on his body from the fall.
Prior to Payne’s death there was a 911 call with concerns from a staff member.
“We have a guest who is intoxicated by drugs and alcohol. And, well, he’s… When he’s conscious, he breaks, he’s breaking the whole room. And, well, we need you to send someone, please,” said a staff member from the Casa Sur Hotel.
Once the police arrived at the scene they found Payne’s room a mess with numerous broken items. In his room, police found a lighter, a bottle of whisky and a cell phone. They found multiple drugs in the room, such as over-the-counter medications, energy packs and an anxiety drug, Clonazepam. The police collected fingerprints from all these items.
A toxicology report was done on Payne after his death. Cocaine, crack and methamphetamine were all found in his body. The final toxicology report won’t be shared publicly for a couple more weeks.
The start of Payne’s musical career was his appearance on the British television show, X Factor in 2008 and 2010. The One Direction boy band was formed in 2010 on X Factor which included some of the most talented boys who auditioned during that time.
After their split in 2016, Payne pursued a solo career. In 2017, he released his debut solo single, “Strip That Down”, which reached number three on UK singles charts and number 10 on the US Billboard Top 100. During the first three years of his solo career he sold over 18 million singles, 2.4 million albums, and achieved 3.9 billion streams across platforms while also collaborating with other popular artists in some of his songs.
One Direction’s biggest success was their song, “What Makes You Beautiful”, which was released in September of 2011 and reached number one in several countries. Their biggest hit album was “Up All Night,” released in November of 2011 and was charted number one and two of that year.
An instagram post published by the former One Direction band stated, “…For now, our thoughts are with his family, his friends, and the fans who loved him alongside us. We will miss him terribly. We love you Liam. Louis, Zayn, Niall, and Harry,” said lariatnews.com
One Direction will be known as one of the most successful boy bands with their debut album being the first to reach number one in the U.S. The band may be split up but the members stated they will forever miss him, as said on a social media post published after his death.
