Long before he was an actual father, Payne was jokingly referred to as “Daddy Direction” by fans and his bandmates — Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik — a label he took seriously, despite being in his teens. Taking things seriously was Liam’s “thing.”. One Direction, the boyband Payne was selected for, aged 16, while appearing on The X Factor, was built on strict roles. Zayn was the mysterious one, Niall the boyish one, Harry the star with solo appeal. Louis and Liam jostled for the leader position, which led to disagreements. People struggled to place Liam into a pre-made box. Fans remember him as the “serious” one, but in a Guardian article from 2015, he is referred to simply as “The Generic One.”.
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“While the Generic One is not necessarily the most impressive singer or the best looking, perhaps these unremarkable qualities make life after the band more bearable,” the article reads. “The boyband’s ultimate winner.”. Liam Payne wanted to be a singer so badly that he’d already been through various stages of The X Factor before the other boys even made their first audition. His placement in the group and sudden rise to a blistering, bonkers level of stardom meant that he grew up in the blink of a million eyes. He’s spoken of a teenage-hood spent locked in hotel rooms. “It would be car, hotel room stage, sing, locked,” Payne said on the Diary of a CEO podcast in 2021 — with the minibar as his main companion.
After the band broke up, Payne spiralled into addiction and struggled with an uneasy start to his solo career. His album, LP1, was panned by critics. In a 4.3 score review written by Pitchfork, the reviewer wrote “Payne is, at best, competent.”. While Payne’s stratospheric rise to boy band fame may have looked like a dream come true, the star said in 2023 that being thrust in the limelight at such a young age “left scars” on him.
Payne was born in Wolverhampton in August 1993, to mother Karen, an infant nurse, and Geoff, a fitter. He was sick as a child, with kidney problems discovered at a young age. “When I was born I was effectively dead,” Payne wrote in One Direction’s 2011 biography Dare to Dream — Life as One Direction. “The doctors couldn't get any reaction from me so I had to be brought round and although it seemed like I was okay, there were underlying problems.
Payne was born prematurely, three weeks earlier than his due date. After endless tests, “They discovered that one of my kidneys wasn't working properly and it had scarred. I had to have 32 injections in my arm in the morning and evening to try and make me better,” he wrote. “I've still got both kidneys but one doesn't work so I have to be careful not to drink too much, even water, and I have to keep myself as healthy as possible.”.
By the time Payne had reached school age, he was healthy, having taken up running as a hobby. More than a hobby, in fact. For three years, Payne was ranked in the top three 1500m runners in the country for his age group. But it was singing that had Payne’s heart. His mother Karen juggled her nursery shifts with driving Liam to auditions, including those for The X Factor back in 2008. Payne first auditioned for The X Factor in Birmingham in 2008. “When I’m in school [...] I think about singing all the time,” 14-year-old Liam says to the camera, speaking in his West Midlands accent. “I should really be concentrating on my work but I think about singing too much. It’s the dream and I’d love to do it.”.
In the audition room, a young Liam stands in front of Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and the then Cheryl Cole (who he would go on to have a child with) and declares that he’s “here to win”, before singing Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra. Liam made it as far as the judges houses segment in Barbados before being booted off the show that year, but it was then that Simon Cowell made him a promise. “Simon said to me, ‘You need to go and get your GCSEs,’ [before coming back]” Liam recalled in a later X Factor clip.
Sure enough, in 2010, 16-year-old Liam Payne returned to The X Factor audition room and sang the Michael Bublé version of Cry Me a River by Justin Timberlake. He received a standing ovation for his performance, but judges were privately unconvinced by his ability as a solo performer. As it turns out, they felt the same way about four other boys too. In a clip from behind the scenes of The X Factor in 2010, Nicole Scherzinger forms the band. First comes Niall, Harry and Louis. Another judge requests that Liam be moved to a different group, but Scherzinger disagrees and says that she thinks he would "definitely shine" with the other three boys. "He could actually maybe be the leader," she says. Cowell then points out that Liam "thinks he's better than anyone else on that list," to which Louis Walsh agrees. Finally, Zayn is added to the group, and One Direction was formed.
