Liam Payne death latest: Hotel’s panicked call to police before One Direction star fell from balcony released

One Direction star Liam Payne was sharing pictures and videos from his holiday in Argentina with girlfriend Kate Cassidy, barely an hour before his death.

In a Snapchat, the singer could be seen sitting at at a breakfast table in his hotel, joking with Cassidy. “Lovely day in Argentina,” the video was captioned.

In another post, Payne posed with Cassidy for a selfie with the caption, “Quality time” and teased a Halloween costume idea with a photo of himself sitting on a chair. It was captioned: “Halloween costume idea: Forest Gump.”

His final Snapchat story was a photo of himself and Cassidy in swimsuits, one that Cassidy had posted on Instagram in August 2023 to mark his 30th birthday.

An hour later, the 31-year-old had died following a fall from the third floor of the hotel. An investigation into his death is ongoing.

Liam Payne was reportedly in Buenos Aires to see Niall Horan perform, having previously told fans he wanted to “square a couple of things” with his former One Direction bandmate.

“We’re going to Argentina,” the singer said on Snapchat in the weeks before his death. “One, because we want to. Two, because we want to. And three, because Niall Horan’s playing down there and I think we might just go and say ‘hello.’”

Payne admitted: “It’s been a while since me and Niall have spoken. We’ve got a lot to talk about and I would like to square up a couple things with the boy. No bad vibes or nothing like that but we just need to talk.”

The pop star was later seen enjoying Horan’s gig, singing and dancing as he interacted with fans during Horan’s show at the Movistar Arena on 2 October.

According to police in Buenos Aires, officers at the scene of the hotel where Liam Payne died were initially responding to reports “of an aggressive man who may have been under the effects of drugs and alcohol”.

When they arrived at the scene, officials were told a loud sound had been heard in an interior courtyard. Soon after, they discovered the body there, the BBC reports. A police investigation has been launched.

Born in Wolverhampton, England, Payne was drawn to singers such as Usher and Justin Timberlake. He remembered his childhood as a happy one: his father, Geoff, worked as a fitter, while his mother, Karen, was a nursery nurse.

“It was great, though we didn’t have much,” he told The Telegraph in a 2017 interview. “Dad was in debt, but they did the best they could. It makes you dream a bit, you know?”

Believing a career in music would be “the thing that made my parents proudest”, he first appeared as a contestant on reality TV contest The X Factor in 2008, but was told by judge and show creator Simon Cowell to come back in two years.

When he returned in 2010, he was placed in the group One Direction alongside fellow contestants Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson.

“At the start we couldn’t get past our own egos,” he told The Guardian in a 2019 interview. “Everybody had their own little thing – it was like having four older brothers.” He claimed to be “a bit more mature” than his bandmates, which he said was due to his focus and ambition for a career in show business.

After placing third in the final, One Direction was signed to judge and show creator Simon Cowell’s label Syco Entertainment. Their debut single, “What Makes You Beautiful”, was an international success upon its release in September 2011, reaching No 1 on the UK singles chart.

What followed was a combined fan and media frenzy that drew comparisons to Beatlemania – One Direction, or “1D”, sold more than 70 million records worldwide and today are considered one of the biggest boybands in music history. They released five albums, including their 2011 debut Up All Night, and won a number of awards including seven Brits and four MTV Video Music awards.

TV presenter Dermot O'Leary has recalled Liam Payne auditioning for The X Factor as a 14-year-old boy, as he paid tribute to the singer following his death.

O'Leary, who hosted The X Factor during both of Payne's appearances, shared a photograph of the pair on stage, captioning the Instagram post: “The worst news”.

“I remember him as a 14-year-old turning up to audition on The X Factor, and blowing us away singing Sinatra. He just loved to sing,” he wrote.

“He was always a joy, had time for everyone, polite, grateful, and was always humble.”

Liam Payne and his ex-girlfriend, Maya Henry, were in a legal battle when he died on Wednesday night. The couple had called things off in 2022. Henry, 23, had issued a cease and desist notice to Payne earlier this week, accusing him of repeatedly contacting her and her loved ones, The Daily Mail reported.

“‘Maya Henry issued a cease and desist last week to Liam Payne following the emergence of new and concerning information,” her lawyers told the Mail. “She has retained attorneys Marco Crawford and Daniel Cerna to represent her. At this time, that is her only comment on the matter.”

Henry spoke out about her concerns in a TikTok video earlier this month.

“Ever since we broke up he messages me, will blow up my phone, not only from his phone, it’s always from different phone numbers too, so I never know where it’s gonna come from,” Henry said in the video.

Liam Payne was found dead in a hotel courtyard on Wednesday night. The hotel is located on Costa Rica Street in Buenos Aires’s Palermo neighborhood, local authorities revealed.

Earlier this month, Payne reportedly shared a Snapchat saying he was traveling to Argentina in part to see his former bandmate Niall Horan play a show there. “It’s been a while since me and Niall have spoken,” he said. “We’ve got a lot to talk about and I would like to square up a couple of things with the boy. No bad vibes or nothing like that but we just need to talk.”