Harry Styles mourns Liam Payne: ‘I will miss him always, my lovely friend’

Harry Styles said the years he spent with his One Direction band mate Liam Payne “will forever remain among the most cherished years of my life” following the singer’s death at 31.

Payne, who rose to fame with the boy band on The X Factor, died after falling from a third floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires on Wednesday, 16 October.

“I will miss him always, my lovely friend,” three-time Grammy winner Styles said in a statement on Instagram.

Payne died of multiple traumas and “internal and external haemorrhage”, a post-mortem examination report said.

Argentina’s National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No 16 said it was investigating the incident as an “inconclusive death” following the report.

Payne’s family said they were “heartbroken” following his death, adding: “Liam will forever live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul.”

In a statement, Styles said Payne’s “greatest joy was making other people happy, and it was an honour to be alongside him as he did it”.

“Liam lived wide open, with his heart on his sleeve, he had an energy for life that was infectious,” he said.

“He was warm, supportive, and incredibly loving.

“The years we spent together will forever remain among the most cherished years of my life.”

Styles said his “heart breaks” for Payne’s family and his seven-year-old son Bear, who he shared with his former partner, Girls Aloud singer Cheryl.

A joint statement from his One Direction bandmates said they were “completely devastated” and will miss the singer “terribly”, adding the “memories we shared with him will be treasured forever”.

After Payne’s death, five witnesses were questioned in order to reconstruct what happened, the prosecutor’s office said.

Reports said staff at the hotel made two calls to emergency services with audio revealing a staff member had asked for assistance for a guest who was “intoxicated by drugs and alcohol”.

Police in the capital said the music star’s hotel room had been “in complete disarray” with “various items broken” – adding that a whiskey bottle, lighter and mobile phone had been retrieved from the internal hotel courtyard where Payne’s body was found.

One Direction fans mourned his death at a vigil outside the Argentine hotel where they lit candles and laid flowers.

The band toured across the globe and had five chart-topping albums, as well as four number one singles in the UK chart with tracks including What Makes You Beautiful and Little Things.

Payne, who was born in Wolverhampton, released his debut solo album LP1 in December 2019, which included the songs Polaroid and Strip That Down featuring Quavo.

One of his most famous songs, For You, was a collaboration between him and the singer Rita Ora for the film Fifty Shades Freed in 2018.

Hours after his death, Ora sang their song while an image of the pair was projected on to the screen behind her during a performance in Osaka, Japan.

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