Liam Payne Laid To Rest In Funeral Service Attended By One Direction Bandmates

The funeral of Liam Payne took place on Wednesday afternoon.

Last month, the former One Direction singer died at the age of 31, after falling from the balcony of a third-floor hotel room in Argentina.

His funeral was held at a church in Buckinghamshire, where his former bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan were all in attendance.

They were also joined by their former label boss Simon Cowell, who mentored the band throughout their time on The X Factor in 2010, and Cheryl Tweedy, with whom Liam shared a seven-year-old son, Bear.

Also at the memorial service were Cheryl’s Girls Aloud bandmates Kimberley Walsh and Nicola Roberts, TV personality James Corden and the model Kate Cassidy, who had been in a relationship with the late singer for two years prior to his death.

Floral tributes in the funeral carriage spelled out “son” and “daddy”.

On the day of the private funeral, fans also paid respects in their own ways with gatherings at West Park in Liam’s hometown of Wolverhampton as well as Hyde Park in London, where tributes were also laid.

Liam initially rose to fame on The X Factor in 2008 when he was just 14, and made it through to the judges’ houses stage of the contest.

Two years later, he returned, auditioning as a solo act but later being put together with Harry, Zayn, Louis and Niall to form the boyband that became known as One Direction.

After finishing in third place, the group were catapulted to global fame, selling out stadiums all over the world, racking up a series of hits, including Midnight Memories, Steal My Girl, Night Changes, History and Story Of My Life, all of which were co-written by Liam.

Liam also enjoyed solo success after 1D went their separate ways, with the Rita Ora collaboration For You and his debut single Strip That Down, which peaked at number three in 2017.

In the wake of his death, two One Direction songs written by Liam – Story Of My Life and Night Changes – returned to the top 10 in the UK singles chart, with the group’s breakthrough hit What Makes You Beautiful also returning to the top 40 based on streams.