Liam Payne: The boy from Wolverhampton who became a global sensation

It was a cold November night in 2009 when I first met Liam Payne.

At the time, I was working as the Entertainment Correspondent for the Black Country’s regional daily paper, the Express & Star - and Liam was simply a teenager who had an unsuccessful run on X Factor the year before - suffering heartbreaking rejection at the Judges House stage.

The event was the Dudley town centre Christmas lights switch-on, and Liam was the opening act for the hotly-anticipated headliner - a remote-controlled animatronic called Titan the Robot.

A rather inauspicious show compared to what would follow just a year later, but at that moment in time, nobody had any idea what was to come.

I managed to grab a few words from him. The news editors had insisted upon it - a boy from Bushbury, Wolverhampton, having been on X Factor and performing locally was sure to be of interest to our readers.

And despite his continuing disappointment at missing out in 2008, and his dreams of stardom still burning bright, he was gracious, friendly, and enthusiastic to speak to.

"It’s a great crowd, I’m delighted to be here," he told me.

Our interview was cut short when Titan made his appearance. I can’t lie - it was something of a shock when, in Autumn 2010, I realised that one of that year’s X Factor favourites was the very same wide-eyed hopeful who had been the support act for a robot just months before.

And 2010 was a great year for the Midlands on the show - not only was Liam representing Wolverhampton, Cher Lloyd - from Malvern in Worcestershire - was also hotly tipped for success; and Dudley’s very own Wagner was that year’s comedic thorn in Simon Cowell’s side.

It meant I was kept busy, trying to track down friends and family who would speak to me as their respective stars continued to rise.

The next time I met Liam was backstage during one of the knock-out rounds (I was actually there as a personal guest of Wagner, but that’s a story for another time).

"I’m sure you don’t remember me, but I saw you at the Dudley Christmas lights thing last year," I said, having hunted him down through the crowds milling around at the afterparty. "Can you believe how far you’ve come?"

He laughed. "It’s all a bit of a blur - it’s like a dream. I just hope it’s not over yet."

It wasn’t, of course.

As one-fifth of Cowell-created boyband One Direction, he finished in third place that year.

And perhaps that was a blessing in disguise, as they avoided the so-called "curse" which saw winners’ careers sky-rocket, and then fizzle out just as quickly.

After debut single What Makes You Beautiful hit the number one spot in the UK charts in 2011, going multi-platinum, the group became regular fixtures in the Top 10 and accrued millions of adoring fans around the world.

I always kept half an eye out for when he hit the headlines, and was half-amused, half-sad when it was noted how his Wolverhampton twang had disappeared.

But despite global superstardom, and his well-documented struggles with alcohol - about which he had been very honest - it was clear he had a strong love for his roots.

His former headteacher at St Peter’s Collegiate School, Huw Bishop, told the Express & Star that Liam regularly invited him to One Direction shows - a way, perhaps, of thanking him for signing the permission forms allowing him to attend those early auditions in 2008.

I only met Liam once more - at the opening of HMV Birmingham in October 2019.

He had seen reasonable success as a solo artist, though nothing which reached the heights of One Direction fever, and he spoke thoughtfully about the impact which streaming had had on the music industry.

He went on to describe his hopes and plans for the future, as he tried to blaze his own trail, and I wished him well.

I was incredibly sad to hear news of his death. I can’t claim to have known him well, of course, but working in news and entertainment often means you cross paths with extraordinarily talented people - some of whom do go on to take the world by storm.

Liam was one of those people.

He was a global pop sensation, part of a musical phenomenon - achieving the kind of success many can only ever dream of.

But I think to me, he will always be the boy from Bushbury with a starry-eyed vision of the future.

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