Simon Cowell breaks his silence over Liam Payne’s death: ‘Devastated’ music mogul pays tribute to ‘kind, funny and talented’ One Direction star who ‘never forgot the fans’

Simon Cowell has broken his silence following the sudden death of Liam Payne in Buenos Aires at the age of 31.

The former One Direction star died after falling 45 feet from a third-floor balcony of the CasaSur Palmero Hotel in Argentina.

The music mogul met Payne when he auditioned for the X Factor for the very first time at the age of 14.

The grieving music mogul paid a moving tribute to the “kind, funny and talented” pop star, who “never forgot the fans.”

He wrote, “You never really know how you feel about someone until a moment like this happens.

‘Liam, I’m devastated. Heartbroken. And I feel empty. And I want you to know how much love and respect I have for you. Every tear I shed is a memory of you.

“This is so hard to put into words right now.”

Continuing his tribute to the late 31-year-old, the grieving music mogul continued: “I went outside today and thought about the many times we had together.

“I wanted to let you know what I would always say to the thousands of people who would always ask me.

‘What’s Liam like? And I would tell them that you were kind, funny, sweet, thoughtful, talented, humble, and focused.

“And how much love you genuinely had for the fans.”

“I always thought of the five of you in the band as brothers. And as for their posts today, I believe so.

“And now, Liam, I see the effect you had on so many people. Because you left us too soon.

‘Rest in peace, my friend. And I send my love, thoughts and prayers to your family.”

Before his sudden death around 5pm (ART), the pop star attended his former bandmate Niall Horan’s tour of the Latin American country.

A heartbreaking video shows Liam Payne singing and dancing during the concert with his partner Katie Cassidy.

After the performance, he posted a tragic photo with Niall on Snapchat with the caption: “Reunited.”

Separate posts from the final moments of the star’s life showed him enjoying lunch in his hotel room, where he revealed the couple “woke up at 1pm every day” and decided to make Forest Gump as a Halloween costume to elect.

Another tragic selfie was captioned: “Beautiful day in Argentina” before the star shared a photo from his hotel and wrote: “Glad I had some time,” followed by a heart emoji.

He shared another photo with Kate with the caption: “Quality time.”

Liam began his quest for fame when he first auditioned for the X Factor in 2008.

At just 14 years old, Liam impressed the judges with his own version of Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon, but was later eliminated from the show.

However, Payne gave his singing career another chance by auditioning for the competition again in 2010, where he quickly rose to fame as part of One Direction.

He and his former bandmates Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson were brought together by Simon Cowell and former judge Nicole Scherzinger who saw their potential as a group.

After just a few weeks of getting to know each other and rehearsing non-stop, the group impressed Simon at their audition at Judge’s Houses and sailed through to the live shows.

The pop Svengali later admitted to Rolling Stone that it took him “about a millionth of a second” to discover the group’s global potential.

The fan response was also immediate, with 1D hysteria quickly overshadowing the show. Despite the adulation, the band eventually finished in third place on the X Factor, but shortly afterwards Cowell sealed their fate by signing the five-piece to a £2 million Syco contract.

Eager to capitalize on the boys’ already dedicated fan base, Cowell quickly began recording the band’s debut album in January 2011.

In September that year, One Direction’s first single was released and What Makes You Beautiful rose to number one in the UK Singles Chart, after becoming Sony Music Entertainment’s most pre-ordered single in history.

Their debut album Up All Night was also a bestseller and became the fastest selling debut album of 2011 in Britain, with the record leading to their first tour which kicked off in Britain in December.

After Malik announced his departure from the band in 2015, the band members went their separate ways.

During their time as a group, One Direction won five Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, amassed more than three billion YouTube views and sold 50 million records worldwide.

After releasing five albums with one of the biggest boy bands of all time, Liam released his first solo album in 2019, titled LP1.

His singles Strip That Down, co-written with Ed Sheeran, climbed to No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart that same year.

Over the course of his music career, the pop star has collaborated with J Balvin, French Montana, Dixie D’Amelio and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, among others.

He previously dated British pop sensation Cheryl Cole and the couple welcomed their son Bear Gray on March 22, 2017. The parents later split in 2018.

Following his romance with Ms. Cole, Liam had an on-and-off relationship with ex-fiancée Maya Henry, and the pair called it quits in May 2022.

This is the breaking news story. Updates to follow.