CNN
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More than an hour after sundown in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, a red van backed up to a side door of the four-star CasaSur Palermo Hotel to remove the body of former One Direction band member Liam Payne from the premises.
Payne, 31, had died earlier in the day after falling from the third floor of the hotel, according to a statement from Buenos Aires police. As fans started to gather outside of the hotel, building a vigil to the popular musician, the circumstances surrounding his death were still unclear.
Pablo Policicchio, the communications director for the Buenos Aires Security Ministry, said in a statement to The Associated Press that Payne “had jumped from the balcony of his room.” Police rushed to the hotel in response to an emergency call just after 5 p.m. local time, he said, warning of an “aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”
With hordes of onlookers and press assembled on the street outside the hotel, the fire department van was parked as close to the exit door as possible, seemingly to prevent others from viewing the scene as responders worked. In death, Payne was afforded privacy he was rarely given in life.
One Direction was famously assembled by producer Simon Cowell after he saw Payne and four other talented young men – Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan – audition for UK’s version of “The X-Factor.” Individually, they weren’t good enough, Cowell thought.
Together, it turned out, they were a sensation.
Called 1D by their fans, they became a global phenomenon as the first group to have its first four albums debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Their massive fanbase, nicknamed Directioners, propelled the pop group to more than 50 million records sold before the members parted ways to pursue solo careers. They were known for songs like “What Makes You Beautiful,” “Best Song Ever,” and “Story of My Life.”
Payne has spoken previously about the mental weight of fame.
“I don’t think I struggle in the sense of what you would naturally think of when I’m walking down the street with every person stopping me,” he told Esquire Middle East in 2019. “I mean, it happens sometimes but it’s mainly mentally where you struggle with it. It’s the getting ready and always knowing that you might be photographed.”
Malik was the first to depart the band in 2015. The others followed suit.
CNN has reached out to Payne’s former bandmates and Cowell for comment. As of Thursday morning, none had made a public statement.
In the hours after news of his death, fellow artists paid tribute to Payne, including Charlie Puth and Zedd.
“I am in shock right now,” Puth wrote on his Instagram Story. “Liam was always so kind to me. He was one of the first major artists I got to work with. I can not believe he is gone.”
Payne had shared undated pictures from Argentina to his social media accounts in recent days. He was also seen attending his former bandmate Horan’s concert in Buenos Aires on October 2, according to videos posted on social media from the show.
Payne released his first solo album in 2019 titled “LP1.” Last year, he announced plans for a new album and tour that were later postponed after Payne suffered a kidney infection.
He had been open about past struggles with substance abuse and talked about being six months sober in a video shared on YouTube in the summer of 2023.
“It’s good to be in this position,” he said at the time. “I definitely don’t need those things anymore. The party’s over.”
Last spring, Payne released the song “Teardrops.”
“I always think in pictures as much as I think in sounds when I’m making music,” Payne said in a video of him recording the song. “The feelings that these chords and different things give me, everyone of these songs is a story from my life.”