Personal Struggles Led to an Untimely End for One Direction's Liam Payne

Everyday Creation

Liam Payne was a member of the English boy band One Direction, which was formed on Britain's "The X Factor" and became one of the world's hottest musical acts by 2011.

The band achieved several historic chart milestones in the U.S., including multiple number one albums. Along with success, members faced personal struggles; Payne battled alcohol and drug addiction.
He co-wrote many One Direction songs, including "Little Black Dress" from the "Midnight Memories" album. To hear the song, you can go to this YouTube video.

In this episode's thumbnail, there's a photo of Payne at the NRJ Music Awards 15th Edition on December 14, 2013. It's by Georges Biard and is available on Wikimedia Commons under the license CC BY-SA 3.0.

In the chapters, there's another photo of Payne, taken during a One Direction concert in Sydney, Australia, in April 2012. It's credited to Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0.

This tribute is one of 41 stories that Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime journalist, has written and recorded in honor of the music notables who passed away in 2024. He's written tributes for other years as well. You can listen to the ones from 2023 on Everyday Creation. We'll have the 2022 tributes available later this year.
Sheldon also is the creator of Song of the Day, a story that he sends by email to a list of subscribers. To get on his subscriber list, email [email protected] with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.

This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Audible, iHeart and Spotify.

Chapters

1. Quick rise to fame, an early passing (00:00:00)

2. One of the hottest acts in the world (00:00:44)

3. A downside of success (00:01:10)

4. "Little Black Dress" (00:02:01)

5. Closing remarks (00:02:15)