Liam Payne

British singer-songwriter Liam Payne began his career wowing stadium-sized crowds as part of the boy-band sensation One Direction, and as a solo artist, he’s leaned more into bold, experimental club beats and forward-thinking bops. Born in Wolverhampton, England, in 1993, Payne tried out for the UK’s The X Factor in 2008 but didn’t make the cut. So he tried again—and impressed the judges enough to get a slot in a five-member vocal group. That quintet wound up being One Direction, whose infectious melodies, heart-on-sleeve lyrics and onstage antics set off a teen-idol frenzy that dominated the early 2010s, until their 2015 hiatus. By that break, Payne had already been working on his own material, and he released his first single, the sinewy Quavo team-up “Strip That Down”, in the spring of 2017. His debut album, 2019's LP1, featured smouldering R&B, grand ballads and slinky electropop with collaborators like urbano megastar J Balvin, pop artist Rita Ora and EDM megaproducer Zedd. In March 2024, he released the introspective single “Teardrops”, his first release since 2021. Payne passed away in October 2024 at 31 years old.