- Harry Styles’ mom, Anne Twist, paid tribute to One Direction star Liam Payne after his death at age 31 on Wednesday, Oct. 16
- The musician was pronounced dead after falling multiple stories at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Twist, who spent a lot of time with Payne through the years, wrote “Just a boy” alongside an image of a broken heart on Instagram
Harry Styles’ mom is paying tribute to Liam Payne following the One Direction star’s death at 31.
“Just a boy … 💔,” she wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of a broken heart emoji in front of a black background after the singer was pronounced dead after falling multiple stories at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Wednesday, Oct. 16, Policía Federal Argentina confirmed to PEOPLE.
Twist spent a lot of time with Payne through the years after her son Styles shot to fame with him on The X-Factor U.K. in 2010.
After auditioning by himself, the judges teamed Payne up with fellow solo contestants Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson to form One Direction, and they ended up skyrocketing to superstardom despite coming third in the show.
Multiple X-Factor stars also paid tribute to Payne on social media, with host Dermot O’Leary sharing a black and white photo from their time on the show on Instagram, alongside the caption: “The worst news. I remember him as a 14 year old turning up to audition on The X Factor, and blowing us away singing Sinatra. He just loved to sing.”
“He was always a joy, had time for everyone, polite, grateful, and was always humble,” he added. “Sending love and prayers to his family. Dx.”
Lou Teasdale — who was the band’s hairstylist, makeup artist and close friend through the years — shared a simple Instagram Stories message that read, “I hope you’re all ok,” alongside a broken heart emoji.
She then shared a clip of the band performing their 2015 track “Infinity” — which was one of the final songs they released on their last album Made in the A.M. before they took a hiatus in 2016 following Malik’s departure from the band the year prior — with the caption, “Forever” and a white love heart emoji.
Olly Murs, who starred on The X-Factor the year before the band, posted a photo of himself laughing with Payne on Instagram.
“This news is devastating, am lost for words 😣 we always had a good laugh when we saw each other, sometimes the catch ups were only short and sweet but when we did it was mostly about how annoyingly good his hair always looked, or our love for Becks, the old XF days and the tour we shared together,” he captioned the post.
“Liam shared the same passions as me, the same dreams so to see his life now end so young hits hard, I’m truly gutted and devastated for his Family and of course his son Bear losing a dad x am thinking of them! RIP Liam 🙏🏻😣,” he added, referencing Payne’s 7-year-old son Bear Grey, whom he shares with his ex, Girls Aloud singer Cheryl.
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During his time in One Direction, Payne co-wrote many hits including “Midnight Memories,” “No Control,” “Steal My Girl” and “Night Changes.”
After the band went on hiatus, Payne kickstarted his career as a solo singer-rapper in 2017 with hit track “Strip That Down” featuring Quavo, which has over 1 billion streams on Spotify.
He then released his first solo EP, First Time, in 2018, and his first and only studio album, LP1, the following year.