Liam Payne of One Direction performs in San Diego in 2015. Rich Fury/Invision via AP

Liam Payne, a former member of the boy band One Direction, died after falling from the third floor of his room at the CasaSur Palermo hotel in Buenos Aires, according to the city’s emergency medical services director, Alberto Crescenti.

Crescenti said the circumstances of the English-born singer’s fall are still unclear and under investigation.

In a statement, Buenos Aires Police said personnel were dispatched to the hotel in the city’s Palermo district after receiving a 911 call about “an aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”

Shortly after officers arrived, they found the singer’s body in the hotel’s courtyard, according to the police statement. The fall, the statement adds, resulted in “extremely serious injuries,” and medical personnel confirmed Payne’s death at the scene.

Payne sang in One Direction alongside Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson. Together, the group became a smash hit, a best-selling boy band that was adored by young fans worldwide.

Payne was born in 1993 in Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom.

He first auditioned for “The X Factor,” a British reality TV music competition, in 2008, before returning to the show two years later and joining One Direction, which record executive Simon Cowell assembled out of Payne and four other failed “X Factor” contestants. They placed third during the show’s seventh season.

But in the years that followed, One Direction saw record-breaking success as a group act.

They released five studio albums and went on tour around the world four times. Each of their first four albums – “Up All Night,” “Take Me Home,” “Midnight Memories” and “Four” – debuted at No. 1 in the United States.

One Direction started splintering in March 2015, when Malik announced that he would leave the band. Before beginning their hiatus, the group released their last single together, “History,” in November 2015, which came from their fifth and last studio album, “Made in the A.M.”

While he was a part of One Direction, Payne said he had struggled with his mental health and substance abuse. During an appearance on “The Diary of a CEO” podcast in 2021, Payne said he had turned to alcohol during his time with the band, behavior that he said “seemed to carry on throughout many years of my life.” On the podcast, Payne said he had been sober for one month and sought therapy.

While pursuing a solo career, Payne released an album titled “LP1” in 2019. The 18-song album featured artists Zedd, Quavo, Rita Ora and J Balvin.

During a radio program in July 2015, shortly after One Direction disbanded, Payne said that the break gave the group’s members time to “take in all the great things that have happened.”