Liam Payne

Liam Payne
Information
Full name	Liam James Payne
Born	August 29, 1993 (age 22)
Hometown	Wolverhampton, West Midlands England, United Kingdom
Nickname	Payno, Daddy Direction
Resides	London, England
Family	Geoff Payne, father Karen Payne, mother Nicola Payne, sister Ruth Payne, sister
Romances	Sophia Smith (girlfriend) Danielle Peazer (ex-girlfriend)

Liam James Payne (born August 29, 1993) is a member of One Direction along with Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and Niall Horan.

Early Life

Liam was born in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England , UK to Geoff and Karen Payne. He has two older sisters, Nicola and Ruth. Liam was born three weeks early, and as a result he had a lot of health problems. He spent the first four years of his life in and out of the hospital having regular tests done. Doctors noticed one of his kidneys was scarred and dysfunctional. To help cope with the pain, he had 32 injections in his arm in the morning and evening as a child. In 2012 Liam found out and shared via Twitter that his kidney was functioning again.

Liam as a kid

From the age of six, Liam showed signs of singing talent. He would sing for his relatives or pub crowds on karaoke. However, he had his heart set on becoming an Olympic runner, and was a member of the Wolverhampton and Bilston Athletics Club. He would wake up at 5am every day to run five miles before school. His running dream ended at 14 years old when he narrowly missed out on a spot in the England schools team. At that point, he decided to completely focus on his singing, although he still loves his football club, West Bromwich Albion.

He started perfecting his singing skills at the age of 12 when he joined Pink Productions, a performing arts group based in Wolverhampton, that allowed him to showcase his talent in front of a real audience for the first time. Liam completed 11 GCSEs at St Peter’s Collegiate School before moving on to study music technology at Wolverhampton College’s Paget Road campus, which he hoped would help him learn more about the industry.

Musical Career

Main article: One Direction History

Liam at Judge's House in 2008 (top) and auditioning in 2010 (bottom).

Liam originally auditioned in 2008 for The X Factor's fifth series when he was 14. He reached the judges' houses, but Simon Cowell thought he was not ready for the competition, and asked him to come back in two years. Liam felt Simon made the right decision because doing the live shows when he was 15, he would have struggled to cope. Liam planned to return the following year, but was unable to audition due to The X Factor raising the application age to 16.

In 2010, Liam returned and auditioned with "Cry Me a River". He received a standing ovation from the audience and Simon. He got a yes from all four judges present at the audition. At bootcamp, he sang "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" by Oasis. All three judges liked him, but Simon felt it was a bit one-dimensional. As such, he was placed with 4 other boys into the boy band One Direction, in which they made it to the grand finale, but ultimately placed third.

Since achieving superstardom as part of One Direction, Payne has become a primary songwriter for the band, along with Louis Tomlinson. Payne and Tomlinson co-write the majority of One Direction's songs, and often refer to each other as a writing team or writing partners. He also co-wrote a song for Cheryl Cole in 2014, titled I Won't Break for her album Only Human. Payne and Tomlinson were named in 2015 as some of SongSplits Top Songwriters in the World. The annual list is designed to showcase who in the entertainment industry is the most relevant and valuable, based on airplay, digital sales and web streams. They placed 54th and 55th.

Personal Life

Family

Liam's parents are Geoff and Karen Payne. He has two sisters and three dogs.

In July 2015, he was voted #3 in LGBT publication Attitude's Hot 100 list, making him the highest placing musician on the list and the highest placing 1D member (Harry placed 83rd, Louis 85th and Niall 87th).

Relationships

Danielle Peazer

Liam with Danielle.

Liam first met Danielle Peazer, when he was performing in The X Factor in 2010. She was a dancer for the show and danced behind the group One Direction on many occasions. Eventually they became close and soon started dating. Their relationship ranged from December 2010 to September 2012, after Danielle ended the relationship. They got back together in December 2012, but split for good in April 2013.

Sophia Smith

Liam with Sophia

Liam has been dating his old schoolmate, Sophia Smith since June 2013. They made their first public appearance at the premiere of One Direction's concert film: This is Us in London, 2013. In 2014, Sophia accompanied him on the Where We Are Tour, and in 2015 has accompanied him on the European and North American legs of the On The Road Again tour. Liam confirmed the song Illusion on their fourth album Four, is about his relationship with Sophia. In an interview with SugarScape, Liam revealed that he bought Sophia a puppy named Ralph for Christmas in 2014. She is the only person he follows on Instagram.  

Tattoos

A "screw"/plus sign +
on ankle
October 12, 2012

Everything I Wanted But Nothing I'll Ever Need
on left forearm
October 20, 2012

Only time will tell...
on right wrist
October 27, 2012

Four chevrons ››››
on right forearm
c. November 7, 2012

A feather
on right arm.
April 1, 2013.

I Figured it Out
on right forearm
August 2013

Egyptian Hieroglyphics (Liam)
on right forearm
August, 2013

Somewhere is a place that nobody knows
right forearm
April 2014

An Eagle
on right hand
August 29, 2015

"We Are The Quiet Ones"
A skull with roses on right arm
August 30, 2015

Credits

Up All Night

• "Taken" — writing
• "Everything About You" — writing
• "Same Mistakes" — writing

Take Me Home

• "Last First Kiss" — writing
• "Back For You" — writing
• "Summer Love" — writing
• "Still The One" — writing
• "Irresistible" — writing

Midnight Memories

• "Right Now" — writing
• "Does He Know" — writing
• "Diana" — writing
• "Midnight Memories (song)" — writing
• "Little Black Dress" — writing
• "Better Than Words" — writing
• "Little White Lies" — writing
• "Through The Dark" — writing
• "Story of My Life" — writing

Four

• "Steal My Girl" — writing
• "Night Changes" — writing
• "Ready To Run" — writing
• "Fool's Gold" — writing
• "No Control" — writing
• "Fireproof" — writing
• "Spaces" — writing
• "Clouds" — writing
• "Change Your Ticket" — writing
• "Illusion" — writing

Quotes

• "I've always had a strange fear of spoons." — X Factor Tour Q&A
• "Have you quite finished?" (Common Quote)
• "Well, I've got some dogs that I don't Instagram or anything – I've got a big Great Dane and another little one, they're called Watson and Ralph. So the Christmas before last I bought Soph a car because she'd just passed her test, and last year I was like 'Jesus Christ, what do I do this Christmas that out-does a car?' She wanted a dog, so I put a picture of Ralph in a card saying 'Will you be my Mummy', and when she opened it she was like, 'ahhh do I get the dog'?  and I was like 'yeah it's coming in a bit'. Then I pretended to go to the kitchen and get a drink, and I came in with the puppy and it was it the best thing ever." [On the most romantic thing he's ever done]
• I ended up kissing Zayn once! Zayn was like, 'Come on then, come on,' putting his head close to me. It was like when you’re going to have a fight. Then he just leaned forward and kissed me."
• "I can see a lot of people thanking us for staying, but you're the real heroes here. Thanks for not thinking it's finished." (After Zayn's departure from the band)
• "For the past five years now I've been part of something so special I don't think any of us really understand, something that can mean the world to people and put a smile on the face of our fans even in the darkest times. To a lot of people it's just a bunch of silly kids in a band but to the people involved it means so much more." (After Zayn's departure from the band)

Trivia

• Niall claims that Liam is the most competitive of the five.
• Friends is one of his favorite TV shows and the Jurassic Park series are some of his favorite films.
• He learned how to beatbox by emulating Justin Timberlake, one of his idols.
• He is the sensible one of the group.
• His favorite colors are red and purple.
• His zodiac sign is Virgo.
• He ran track in school.
• Toy Story is his favorite Disney movie
• He bought his family a golden lab named Brit.
• Universal is one of his favorite places.
• He loves rap and R&B music, often covering songs during interludes at 1D concerts.
• He has taken an interest in making remixes. He's remixed a few 1D songs and a Cheryl Cole song.
• He co-wrote "I Won't Break" for Cheryl Cole.
• He broke his arm in 2014, while in Las Vegas.
• He is one of the main songwriters for One Direction and considers Louis his main songwriting partner.
• He and Louis did not get along during X Factor, but eventually became close friends.
• He is an ambassador for Trekstock.
• He knows how to play the guitar and the piano.
• He says he often writes songs with Sophia, and a few of his friends.
• He often favorites or retweets memes/jokes fans post on Twitter.

External links

• @Real_Liam_Payne - Twitter
• @Fakeliampayne - Instagram