Liam Payne, an English singer who rose to fame as a member of boy band One Direction, died after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to local police. Payne, who was 31, leaves behind his seven-year-old son, Bear.
Police said they discovered Payne’s body after emergency services responded to a call from staff at a hotel where the pop star was staying in the city’s trendy Palermo neighborhood.
Payne rocketed to global stardom as part of One Direction, the massively popular boyband that was created on the British version of the X Factor in 2010. The group, which included members Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik, announced an “indefinite hiatus” in 2016.
Staff at the hotel had requested urgent police assistance shortly before Payne’s death Wednesday, according to an emergency call obtained by CNN’s Argentine affiliate Todo Noticias.
“We have a guest who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol,” the hotel manager said on the call. “He breaks things up. He is tearing the whole room apart.”
The manager told the call operator that because Payne’s room had a balcony, “we’re a little afraid that he’ll do something.”
Earlier this month, the pop star was seen in Argentina attending his former bandmate Horan’s concert.
