Wolverhampton-born former One Direction star Liam Payne dead at 31

Payne, who shot to stardom as a member of the boy band in 2010, was pronounced dead in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, local officials said, according to the Associated Press.

Alberto Crescenti, head of the state emergency medical system, said on Argentina’s Todo Noticias TV channel that Payne fell into a courtyard of the Casa Sur Hotel in the Palermo neighbourhood of Argentina’s capital, AP said.

Payne, from Bushbury in Wolverhampton, auditioned on the X Factor aged 16, a decision which would transform his life.

He had always had an interest in performing and had studied music at City of Wolverhampton College.

He had actually auditioned two years earlier but suffered heartbreak at the Judges’ Houses stage. He was told by Simon Cowell not to give up on his dream, and it was advice he followed as he returned two years later.

He ended up part of the original lineup of One Direction, taking the pop charts by storm. Payne, alongside bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik, went on to become some of the most famous Brits of the 21st century as they released a succession of hits, gained a global, mostly young, fanbase and jetted off on tours around the world.

Payne, who attended St Peter’s Collegiate School in Compton, was listed as the eighth richest person in the UK under 30 in 2020, behind the likes of Ed Sheeran and Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe. He was estimated to be worth £44 million.

It may be something of a stretch to compare the early 2010s One Direction hype to Beatlemania in the 1960s, but for the time – and for those boys at the centre of it all – the sudden surge to fame may have felt similar to what the Fab Four experienced.

And Payne's fame, and the intense interest in his personal life, would explode to a whole new level when he and fellow singer Cheryl Cole became something akin to the modern-day Posh and Becks, the new star couple.

But that relationship didn't last and he had spoken about his problems dealing with fame, opening up about how he turned to drink to try and cope with it.

He had suffered with ill health in recent years, suffering from kidney problems that brought him severe pain and that needed extended rest.

Payne was proud of his Wolverhampton roots and kept close links with the city. He supported The Way youth centre, becoming an ambassador, as well as backing the Central Youth Theatre.

He was only recently planning new projects. He was due to link up with former Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland and The Pussycat Dolls star Nicole Scherzinger as a judge in a show to create a band in a new Netflix show.

The trio of former stars from girl and boy bands were due to look at how the contestants have chemistry as they form their groupings in the new competition series.

Netflix said it would be similar to Love Is Blind, which sees contestants choose someone to marry without ever meeting them face to face.