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Oct 18, 2024

One Direction's Former Touring Bandmates and Others Pay Tribute to Liam Payne

Payne died at age 31 on Oct. 16 after falling multiple stories at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina Dave Benett/Getty Images; Karwai Tang/WireImage Liam Payne will forever be remembered by those who

Payne died at age 31 on Oct. 16 after falling multiple stories at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Dave Benett/Getty Images; Karwai Tang/WireImage

Liam Payne will forever be remembered by those who worked with him.

After the "Strip That Down" singer died at age 31 on Oct. 16, several individuals who worked alongside him during his time in One Direction have paid tribute to him on social media.

Payne was pronounced dead after falling multiple stories at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Policía Federal Argentina confirmed to PEOPLE.

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Cher Lloyd, who finished in fourth place on season 7 of The X Factor behind One Direction, posted a throwback photo of herself with Payne to Instagram and wrote, "From being on the show together, visiting each others homes while filming, going on tour together and watching you achieve your dreams."

"I’ll cherish the memories made and the laughs we had. My thoughts are with your family and friends, with everyone who loves you," added the "Want U Back" singer. "My heart is breaking for your Son Bear. Rest in peace Liam."

Olly Murs, who opened for One Direction's Up All Night Tour in 2012, shared an image of himself laughing with Payne to Instagram alongside the caption, "This news is devastating, am lost for words."

The "Troublemaker" artist added, "we always had a good laugh when we saw each other, sometimes the catch ups were only short and sweet but when we did it was mostly about how annoyingly good his hair always looked, or our love for Becks, the old XF days and the tour we shared together."

"Liam shared the same passions as me, the same dreams so to see his life now end so young hits hard, I’m truly gutted and devastated for his Family and of course his son Bear losing a dad," concluded Murs.

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Helene Horlyck, the "Story of My Life" group's former vocal coach, said her "heart is heavy" as she took to Instagram and shared a heartfelt note about Payne's life.

"Liam was the loveliest young man who just loved to sing. He was only a teenager when I met him and One Direction was formed. His talent and professionalism had a big impact on the band especially in the early days as Liam always strived for the best during all of our sessions," she wrote.

Horlyck added, "Liam was fun and a joy to spend time with, he even re named some of my vocal exercises as he had such a wonderful sense of humour and upbeat energy. I will always remember Liam as a polite young man who was caring and kind. Whenever my son Cai would join the world tours Liam would invite him along on his tourbus, sit and play video games with him, make sure he was OK, such a person was Liam, warm and friendly."

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"Thank you for all the wonderful years dear Liam, you will forever be in my heart and your voice will live on, not only in my memories but also in the incredible songs. Rest in peace sweet darling," she concluded.

One Direction's hair and makeup artist, Lou Teasdale, shared multiple posts about Payne. "i hope you're all ok," she wrote on her Instagram Stories, before sharing a video of the "Best Song Ever" band performing alongside the caption, "forever."

Teasdale also took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, "Sending you all so much love."

Sarah Nicholas, who catered One Direction's tours, shared a broken heart illustration to Instagram.

Josh Devine, a drummer for the group, took to his Instagram Stories and wrote about the "heartbreaking news" of Payne's death.

"I just pray for Liams [sic] family, and all that knew and loved him. Some of my fav memories in life were because of this man. No words," said Devine.

James "J.D." Woolsey, who worked as a bodyguard for One Direction, shared emojis of a broken heart, prayer hands and a dove to Instagram alongside an image of Payne with bandmate Louis Tomlinson.

Kevin Mazur/AMA2014/WireImage

One Direction tourmate 5 Seconds of Summer's former sound engineer, John Delf, who now works with Tomlinson, 32, posted a picture of the two musicians on Instagram and wrote, "There are literally no words to say how tragic this is. RIP Liam."

Dan Richards, a guitar player for the "What Makes You Beautiful" band, wrote on his Instagram Stories, "This all feels so surreal. Thanks to everyone reaching out, still trying to wrap my head around it all. My thoughts go out to Liams [sic] family at this time."

BBC Radio 2's Scott Mills, who interviewed One Direction many times throughout its run, said Payne's death "is a really hard one" to process in a post shared to X. "Never in a million years would I think we would have to see goodbye to you so soon Liam," he wrote.

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"We had so much fun back then, and I feel so incredibly sad," added Mills. "Sending my love and strength to his family, his friends, and especially his son."

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Singer Sinitta, a friend of Simon Cowell's who sat in on One Direction's first X Factor performance as a group, shared a photo with Payne to Instagram and wrote, "My heart is broken."

"You were such a determined and talented boy and so Beautiful. You Had fire in your eyes and passion in your soul. You KNEW you were The One," she said. "I hope your death teaches us to Pray for all of our young Super Stars. So that we can protect you better."

Sinitta added, "We build you up and applaud you while you fly, we need to pray for safe We build you up and applaud you while you fly, we need to pray for safe landings when your wings are broken and help you heal."

"I will miss you Sweet Sweet Beautiful Boy. Rest in Peace. You are So loved," continued the musician, before sending prayers to Payne's family, his ex Cheryl and the other One Direction members, plus his friends and family.

George Pimentel/WireImage

Greg Horan, brother of Payne's One Direction bandmate Niall, took to Instagram and said the "Get Low" performer was "one of 4 lads I was happy enough to take my place in nialls life as a brother," referring to Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Zayn Malik.

He recalled meeting Payne and the other band members as "5 families" before becoming "one big" One Direction "family," adding, "thank you for all the laughs bro."

One Direction choreographer Paul Roberts shared an image of a black heart to Instagram and wrote, "Sweet, kind Liam. Love is all I have… Such a sad sad day for our 1D family."

Mike Marsland/WireImage

Payne "jumped from the balcony" of his hotel room before his death, local authorities confirmed to PEOPLE.

Police had been called to the scene shortly after 5 p.m. local time and Payne was said to have died shortly afterward.

In comments translated from Spanish, Alberto Crescenti (the head of SAME, Buenos Aires' public emergency medical services system), said that Payne suffered "a fracture at the base of the skull" following the fall, per Argentine news channel TN.

An investigation is currently underway to determine the circumstances surrounding the tragedy, local police told PEOPLE, adding that an autopsy will be conducted.