Liam Payne
Liam James Payne (born 29 August 1993) is an English singer. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction. Payne made his debut as a singer in 2008 when he auditioned for the British television series The X Factor. After being eliminated in the competition, he auditioned again in 2010 and was put into a group with four other contestants to form One Direction, which went on to become one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.[2][3] Payne worked with other producers under the monikers "Big Payno" and "Payno" creating remixes for songs by his group and Cheryl.[4]
Liam Payne
Singer
2008–present
1
Vocals
After One Direction's hiatus, Payne signed a recording deal with Republic Records in North America.[5] In May 2017, Payne released "Strip That Down" as the lead single from his debut album. It peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart and number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100, being certified platinum in both countries. His debut album, LP1, was released in December 2019. He has sold over 18 million singles in under three years since One Direction's hiatus, and over 3.9 billion career streams in that span.[6][7]
Early life
Liam James Payne was born at New Cross Hospital in the Heath Town district of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. He is the son of Karen Payne, an infant nurse, and Geoff Payne, a fitter. He has two older sisters, Nicola and Ruth Payne.[8] Payne was born three weeks early, getting ill frequently. Until the age of four, Payne had regular tests done in hospital as doctors noticed one of his kidneys was scarred and dysfunctional. To help cope with the pain, he had sixteen injections in his arm every morning and another sixteen every evening as a child.[9] As a student, Payne was heavily involved in sports, particularly cross country running. Payne originally joined the Wolverhampton and Bilston Athletics Club to pursue his running career. For three years he was ranked in the top three 1500m runners in the country within his age group.[10][11]
As he was dealing with bullying from some older students in secondary school, he took up boxing lessons at the age of twelve.[12] Payne completed 11 GCSEs at St Peter's Collegiate School (now St Peter's Collegiate Academy) before moving on to study music technology at City of Wolverhampton College.[3]
Payne was first introduced to the world of show business at age twelve as a member of the Pink Productions Theatre Company, even appearing as Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever.[13] Payne had previously performed in front of a crowd of 26,000 during a Wolverhampton Wanderers football match.[3][14]
Career
2008–2015: The X Factor and One Direction
Payne first auditioned for the fifth series of The X Factor in 2008, at just 14 years old, in front of judges Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Dannii Minogue and Louis Walsh. Payne moved past the first round after performing Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon". He was subsequently cut at the Boot Camp stage, but Cowell then changed his mind and asked Payne to return for the judges' houses stage.[15] Payne was cut again during judges' houses, but was encouraged by Cowell to "come back in two years".[16]
Payne returned to the show in 2010 for the seventh series, auditioning in front of Cowell, Cole, Walsh and guest judge Natalie Imbruglia. He sang the Michael Bublé version of "Cry Me a River", which earned him four yeses and a standing ovation from Cowell. Payne was considered the second favourite to win the competition following his solo audition.[17] He failed to progress to the "Boys" category at judges' houses, but after a suggestion by guest judge Nicole Scherzinger, Payne, along with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik, were put together to form a five-piece boy band at Wembley Arena, during the bootcamp stage of the competition, thus qualifying for the "Groups" category.[18] Subsequently, the group got together for two weeks to get to know each other and to practice. For their qualifying song at Judges' houses, and their first song as a group, they performed an acoustic version of "Torn". Cowell later commented that the performance convinced him that the group "were confident, fun, like a gang of friends, and kind of fearless as well." The group quickly gained popularity in the UK, ultimately coming in third place on the show.[19]
Artistry
Liam Payne is a pop[93] and R&B[94] singer who explores other genres like electronic.[95]
He cites Chris Brown,[96] Pharrell Williams,[97] Justin Timberlake,[98] and Usher as major musical influences.[99] "The person who has inspired me most is Pharrell Williams who I worked with a while back. I got talking to his producer recently and asked him what Pharrell was like when he was younger, and he said to me that when he was my age he couldn't press a note on a keyboard. And that was amazing to me because at 22 I thought I was too old to learn guitar," revealed Payne.[100] Payne's first exposure to rock music was through Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory with "In the End" as they were the gateway for him to listen to other types of music outside of what he would typically listen to as a child. Payne would label "In the End" as one of the most important songs of his life.[101]
Other ventures
Endorsements
Payne was named the first global brand ambassador for German brand Hugo Boss in May 2019. The first Hugo x Liam Payne capsule collection was revealed during Berlin Fashion Week in July 2020.[102] His second capsule collection with Hugo Boss was launched in May 2020. The collection, which mainly consists of men's wardrobes, includes polo shirts, T-shirts, shorts, hoodies, sweatpants and a pair of sneakers.[103] In January 2020, Payne starred in the Hugo Boss fragrance campaign for their perfume Hugo Now.
Investment
In June 2021, Payne launched his non-fungible token digital artwork collection, entitled "Lonely Bug".[104] On 25 January 2022, he dedicated a separate Twitter account @PaynoETH solely to discuss the subject.[105]
Philanthropy
As a member of One Direction, Payne has also supported Comic Relief,[106] and a new initiative titled Action 1D "to help better the future".[107]
Payne is an avid supporter of UNICEF and teamed up with tennis star Andy Murray, Jack Whitehall and Clare Balding in support of UNICEF UK's Children in Danger Summer Disease Appeal.[108] Payne teamed up with motorsport star Eddie Jordan in support of UK based charity CLIC Sargent.[109] Payne is an ambassador for the charitable organisation Trekstock.[110] Payne's original campaign with the organisation in 2013 raised $784,198.[111] He raised an additional $211,237 during his campaign in 2015.[112] Payne has also been named an ambassador of Sustainable Development Goals also known as the Global Goals campaign.[113][114] Payne also gave a much needed push to a £6 million youth project "The Youth Zone" in his hometown of Wolverhampton.[115]
Payne is pro-choice. In May 2019, amidst anti-abortion legislations passed in Alabama, Payne stated that they are "completely taking away the rights of women and the ownership of the bodies that belong to them" and that "us as men never have to go through that so how can we even comment or decide what women should or shouldn't go through," also adding "here was me thinking it was supposed to be the land of the free it all looks very tied up from where I'm standing."[116]
In May 2020, Payne expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement and encouraged fans to educate themselves and donate. He attended London Black Lives Matter protests.[117]
Payne participated in Soccer Aid 2022, where he captained the English team,[118] returning in the 2023 edition.[119]