Liam James Payne (29 August 1993 – 16 October 2024) was an English singer and songwriter. He was best known as a member of the pop boy band One Direction, one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. Payne appeared as an solo auditionee on the British television series The X Factor in 2008 and 2010; in the 2010 series he was invited to join the newly formed One Direction, who placed 3rd and went on to achieve global success.

Following One Direction's hiatus in 2016, Payne pursued a solo career, signing with Republic Records in North America. In 2017, he released his debut solo single "Strip That Down", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart and number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100, and was certified platinum in both countries. His debut studio album, LP1, was released in December 2019. During the first three years of his solo career, Payne sold over 18 million singles, 2.4 million albums, and amassed 3.9 billion streams. In addition to his solo work, Payne produced remixes under the monikers "Big Payno" and "Payno". He collaborated with other artists and remixed tracks for both his group and singer Cheryl.

Payne died on 16 October 2024, after falling from a third-floor balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Liam James Payne was born on 29 August 1993 at New Cross Hospital in the Heath Town district of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. He was the son of Karen Payne, an infant nurse, and Geoff Payne, a fitter. He had two older sisters, Nicola, and Ruth Payne.[6][7] Payne was born three weeks early, and suffered frequent illnesses. Until the age of four, Payne had regular tests done in hospital as doctors noticed one of his kidneys was scarred and dysfunctional. To help cope with the pain, he had sixteen injections in his arm every morning and another sixteen every evening as a child.[8] As a student, Payne was heavily involved in sports, particularly cross country running. Payne joined the Wolverhampton & Bilston Athletics Club to pursue his running career. For three years he was ranked in the top three 1500m runners in the country within his age group.[9][10]

He took up boxing lessons at the age of 12 amidst bullying from older students in secondary school.[11] Payne completed 11 GCSEs at St Peter's Collegiate School (now St Peter's Collegiate Academy) before moving on to study music technology at City of Wolverhampton College.[2]

Payne was introduced to the world of show business at age twelve as a member of the Pink Productions Theatre Company, appearing as Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever.[12] Payne had previously performed in front of a crowd of 26,000 during a Wolverhampton Wanderers football match.[2][13]

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