“Live your dream and never wake up.”
Liam Payne
Introduction
Liam Payne fulfilled a dream that many singers could only hope for. A member of the boy band One Direction, formed in 2010 after coming third in the seventh series of X Factor. Signed to Simon Cowell’s record label SYCO, the group were propelled to success by social media with five albums. With success in the UK, Europe and the USA, they reigned the airwaves for six years with a swathe of teenage fans wanting a glimpse of Nial Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson.
The Hiatus
After Malik departed in 2015 during the Asia leg of their tour, citing a need for more private time, the remaining members continued for a year before splitting to pursue individual music projects. Liam Payne had a two-year relationship with Cheryl Cole, having a son together who they named Bear Grey in 2017—a son who is now seven. Always an adoring father despite the split, Payne still had a keen interest in music and had travelled to Argentina to not only enjoy the atmosphere of this stunning country but also to join his former bandmate Niall Horan on his tour of the Latin American country.
The Mystery
Yet this happy-go-lucky young man spent his last hours of life at the CasaSur Palmero Hotel in Argentina. His tragic death was caused by a fatal fall from a third-floor balcony. It is puzzling because the former boy band member looked happy in a video post about his love for his son, a selfie of him saying that he was having a lovely time in Argentina and another of how he would dress up a Forest Gump costume for a Halloween party. In another relationship with Kate Cassidy, he had quality time away from her. Yet hours later, his life had ended in Buenos Aires.
The hotel room he had been staying in was reportedly in disarray, with a smashed television screen and debris scattered across the surfaces. The 31-year-old was said to be under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Emergency services were called to someone displaying aggressive tendencies, alerted by the hotel manager. Alien tendencies who was known for being loving, kind and just a lovely person. The media will always try to scrape the barrel to find snippets of information that will cause a headline, but at the end of the day, this young father still had many years to live, and something caused him to act out of character. You never know what happens in someone’s head and the hidden pain that someone carries. Perhaps we will never know the real reason for his tragic death, but this one should never have happened. A man with talent, love and aspirations who died far too young. His family and friends deserve their privacy to grieve.
