Josh Devine, best known as the drummer of One Direction, reacted to Liam Payne’s shocking death at age 31.
“Heartbreaking news,” Devine, 33, wrote via Instagram Story on Thursday, October 17. “I just pray for Liam’s family and all that knew and loved him.”
Devine added, “Some of my fav memories in life were because of this man. No words. 💔.”
Us Weekly confirmed hours earlier on Wednesday, October 16, that Payne had died after he fell to his death off of a hotel balcony in Argentina. The singer had suffered a cranial fracture and other serious injuries.
“Our role was to head there quickly, give medical attention, and try to resuscitate him, but his injuries were incompatible with life,” emergency services chief Alberto Crescenti said in a statement, per local outlet La Nacion. “Based on what the team saw, there was apparently a cranial fracture and extremely serious injuries that led to his immediate death.”
Crescenti added, “The team could do absolutely nothing. There was no resuscitation because it was confirmed that he had died. The whole body had very serious injuries.”
Results from a complete autopsy have yet to be released.
Payne is survived by his parents, Geoff and Karen, his two sisters and his 7-year-old son Bear, whom he shared with ex Cheryl Cole.
The “Strip That Down” singer rose to fame in 2010 as a member of boy band One Direction, alongside Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik. After the group finished in third place on The X Factor UK, 1D continued making music. Devine was enlisted to play drums on the road and for album recordings, alongside Sandy Beales on bass and Dan Richards on guitar.
After five years, One Direction went on an indefinite hiatus starting in 2016.
“It wasn’t a shock so much as … I think they definitely need it. When you’ve been on the road for five years, it’s inevitable,” Devine previously told Entertainment Weekly in 2015. “People are going to need a break and it’s going to be nice for the boys, for them to just go ahead and live a bit more of a free life. It was going to happen at some point.”
He added at the time, “Everyone knew that it wouldn’t last forever, nothing ever does, so it wasn’t so much of a shock. But it’s getting to be more and more of a shock the closer it gets! I’m thinking, like, ‘Damn, this is real!’”
Even after the group’s breakup, Devine continued to remember the good times with the group.
“13 years of One Direction! What a blast reliving some old memories today,” Devine wrote via Instagram in July 2023, sharing concert footage on the anniversary of the band’s founding.
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