For millions of One Direction fans around the world, the news that the band would be going their separate ways in January 2016 marked the end of an era.
But for Liam Payne it presented an unbeatable opportunity. Here was – finally – the chance to break free from ‘the clutches’ of the very man who had orchestrated their rise to global superstardom.
That man, of course, was music mogul Simon Cowell, who had plucked the five boys from obscurity to form the band on the ITV program The X Factor in 2010, and who had controlled most aspects of their lives for six years.
And of the five, tellingly, it was Liam, then just 22, who decided he wanted to get rid of his former mentor.
While his bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson signed deals with Sony music labels – One Direction’s label – where Cowell remained highly influential, Liam made a sharp decision to take a different path. He accepted a multi-million contract with rival Capitol Records, as well as a new manager.
Liam Payne and Simon Cowell in 2013. The two men had little to do with each other after the One Direction boys went their separate ways
“Liam was so happy to break away from Cowell and Sony,” a source close to the late singer revealed. “It was the fresh start he needed.”
His haste in escaping Cowell’s orbit was indicative of the increasingly fractured – and later non-existent – relationship between Liam and his former boss.
The truth is that the two men had little to do with each other after the band went their separate ways. Cowell himself seemed to hint in the statement he released last week that things hadn’t exactly been rosy between the pair.
Two days after the singer fell to his death from a balcony at the CasaSur Hotel in Buenos Aires, Cowell, 65, wrote on his Instagram page: “You never really know how you feel about someone until a moment like this happens. Liam, I’m devastated.’
Was it steeped in regret? That remains unclear. But what is abundantly clear is that when he left Sony, Liam was happy to no longer be under Cowell’s management, with friends saying he felt like a ‘caged animal’.
And he seemed pleased that he could finally resist the mogul’s demands.
Tearful fans gathered in London yesterday to mourn the star after he fell to his death from a balcony at the CasaSur Hotel in Buenos Aires on Wednesday
After all, it was Liam who orchestrated the band’s decision not to reform on the X Factor stage in December 2016, 11 months after they split – despite Cowell’s request that he do so. That evening, Louis was due to perform on the show, launching his solo career, but that happened just days after his mother Johannah Deakin passed away from cancer.
Cowell had called his former bandmates to London and appeared on stage to support Louis.
The band decided to return – Liam had been in New York – but would not, they insisted, appear on stage. “The fact that Simon would benefit so much from having the whole band back together on his show was upsetting to Liam,” says a friend, describing him as “very outspoken and assertive when it came to what he thought was correct wash’. ‘As far as Liam was concerned, it was typical Simon. Simon said jump, the boys had to ask how high.’
Instead, the four arrived at the TV studio in Wembley to support Louis backstage.
But how different it would have been six years earlier when the bond was formed during the show in front of millions of people. When their first album sold 4.5 million copies worldwide in 2011, One Direction quickly became a huge moneymaker for Cowell’s label Syco (partly owned by Sony).
But the music mogul’s high standards came at a price. “Liam and the boys couldn’t go out and do what other boys their age were doing,” said a music industry source. ‘They were cash cows, pure and simple. However, there seemed to be little attention paid to the band’s mental health, and its consequences in the future.’
Their schedule was undoubtedly tough. The band averaged one concert every two days during their 2013 Take Me Home tour, playing 124 dates between February and November.
Things started to unravel in March 2015, when Zayn Malik left the band in the middle of a world tour after struggling with stress. But if Liam was hoping the penny would drop with Cowell and he would ease the pressure on the remaining members, it wasn’t to be.
Perhaps inevitably, the band took an indefinite hiatus ten months later, which became permanent.
As for Cowell, he believes he gave One Direction their fame and a £30 million fortune, and warned them of the demands that would be made on them and the toll that fame would take.
Liam and Cowell met last year ‘just to talk’, the mogul has revealed. But was it all too little too late? As one friend put it, “It all seemed so exciting at first. The people around Liam wish there had been more support at the time.’
How much that helped, no one will ever know.