CNN
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More than an hour after sunset in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, a red van reversed up to a side door of the four-star CasaSur Palermo hotel to remove the body of former One Direction band member Liam Payne from the premises.

Payne, 31, had died earlier in the day after falling from the hotel’s third floor, according to a statement from Buenos Aires police. As fans began gathering outside the hotel to hold a vigil for the popular musician, the circumstances surrounding his death were still unclear.

Pablo Policicchio, the communications director of Buenos Aires’ Ministry of Security, said in a statement to The Associated Press that Payne “jumped from the balcony of his room.” Police rushed to the hotel in response to an emergency call just after 5pm local time, he said, warning of an “aggressive man who may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”

With hordes of spectators and press gathered on the street outside the hotel, the fire van was parked as close to the exit door as possible, apparently to prevent others from viewing the scene while emergency responders worked. After his death, Payne was given privacy that he rarely got in his life.

One Direction was famously put together by producer Simon Cowell after he saw Payne and four other talented young men – Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan – audition for the British version of ‘The X-Factor’. Individually they weren’t good enough, Cowell thought.

Together they proved to be a sensation.

Dubbed 1D by their fans, they became a global phenomenon when they became the first group to debut their first four albums at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Their massive fan base, nicknamed the Directioners, propelled the pop group to more than 50 million records sold. the members split to pursue solo careers. They were known for songs like ‘What Makes You Beautiful’, ‘Best Song Ever’ and ‘Story of My Life’.

Payne has previously spoken about the mental weight of fame.

“I don’t think I struggle in the sense of what you would naturally think about when I’m walking down the street with everyone stopping me,” he told Esquire Middle East in 2019. “I mean, it happens sometimes, but it’s mainly mentally where you struggle with it. It’s preparing and always knowing that you might be photographed.”

Malik was the first to leave the band in 2015. The others followed suit.

CNN has contacted Payne and Cowell’s former bandmates for comment. As of Thursday morning, no one had made a public statement.

In the hours following news of his death, fellow artists paid tribute to Payne, including Charlie Puth and Zedd.

“I’m in shock right now,” Puth wrote on his Instagram Story. “Liam was always so nice to me. He was one of the first great artists I had the pleasure of working with. I can’t believe he’s gone.”

Payne had been sharing undated photos from Argentina on his social media accounts in recent days. He was also spotted at his former bandmate Horan’s concert in Buenos Aires on October 2, according to videos posted on social media from the show.

Payne released his first solo album in 2019, titled ‘LP1’. Last year he announced plans for a new album and tour, which were later postponed after Payne suffered a kidney infection.

He had been open about past struggles with substance abuse and talked about being sober for six months in a video shared on YouTube in the summer of 2023.

“It’s good to be in this position,” he said at the time. “I definitely don’t need those things anymore. The party is over.”

Last spring, Payne released the song ‘Teardrops’.

“I always think in images as much as in sounds when I make music,” Payne said in a video recording the song. “The feelings that these chords and different things give me, each of these songs is a story from my life.”