At the age of 31, Payne collapsed in the courtyard of a hotel in the Argentine capital. According to prosecutors, he may have been experiencing a substance use crisis.

Argentine police found the musician’s room in “complete disarray” during a search after his death, the authority said in a statement Thursday. A bottle of whiskey, a lighter and a mobile phone were recovered from the courtyard of the hotel where Payne fell. Police said drugs and anesthetics were found in a luxury hotel room in the trendy Palermo district. “When we entered there was complete chaos and various items were broken,” it said.

A hotel employee had earlier called the emergency number because a guest had caused a disturbance. The employee said he feared for the man’s life.

After hearing about his death, fans held a candlelight vigil in front of the hotel. Payne became a star as a member of the boy band One Direction (“What Makes You Beautiful”). Since 2016, he has been performing as a solo artist alongside his former bandmates Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik.

In August 2023, the singer (“Strip That Down”) canceled a planned tour of South America at short notice due to a kidney infection. She spent a week in the hospital with a “severe kidney infection,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. According to media reports, he reportedly traveled to Buenos Aires in early October to attend a concert by his former band Horan.

After Payne’s sudden death, compatriots and friends and fans from the music scene took to social media to express their sadness. British ’80s star Boy George X appeared shocked and saddened on stage, “The news of Liam Payne’s death is so shocking,” American reality star and singer Paris Hilton wrote on X.

“We are incredibly saddened to hear of the tragic death of Liam Payne,” the Brit Awards X account said. Your thoughts and prayers are with your friends and family. Streaming platforms Spotify and Amazon Music and music channel MTV also expressed their condolences.

Rapper Flav scathingly wrote that “he came to the X Factor audition and blew us away by singing Sinatra.” German DJ Zedd, who collaborated on Payne’s 2017 single “Get Low,” wrote on X: “I can’t believe this is true…”

In a 2019 interview with the British “Guardian” magazine, Payne spoke about his mental health issues.