Early life

Payne was born in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. He is the son of Karen, a nursery nurse, and Geoff Payne, a fitter. He has two older sisters, Nicola and Ruth. Until the age of four, Payne had regular tests done in hospital as 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. As a student, Payne was heavily involved in sports, particularly cross country running. Payne originally joined the Wolverhampton and Bilston Athletics Club to pursue his running career. After failing to make the English National Team for the 2012 Olympic Games, he was placed on the reserve list.

Payne was bullied in secondary school and took up boxing lessons at the age of 12. Payne completed 11 GCSEs at St Peter's Collegiate School before moving on to study music technology at Wolverhampton College's Paget Road campus.

Payne was first introduced to the world of show business at age 12 as a member of the Pink Productions Theatre Company, even appearing as Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever. Payne had previously performed in front of a crowd of 26,000 during a Wolverhampton Wanderers football match.

Payne cites Pharrell Williams and Justin Timberlake as major musical influences. "The person who has inspired me most is Pharrell Williams who I worked with a while back. I got talking to his producer recently and asked him what Pharrell was like when he was younger, and he said to me that when he was my age he couldn’t press a note on a keyboard. And that was amazing to me because at 22 I thought I was too old to learn guitar," revealed Payne.

Career

The X Factor

Payne first auditioned for the fifth series of the British Singing Competition The X Factor in 2008, at just 14 years old. Payne moved past the first round after performing Frank Sinatra's Fly Me To The Moon. He was subsequently cut at the Boot Camp stage, but Simon Cowell, who then changed his mind and asked Payne to return in the Judges' Houses. Payne was cut again during judge's houses, but was encouraged by Cowell to return to audition for the following series.

Payne returned to the seventh series of the British Singing Competition The X Factor in 2010. He auditioned with the Michael Bublé version of Cry Me A River, which earned him four yeses and a standing ovation from Cowell. Payne was considered the second favourite to win the competition following his solo audition. He failed to progress to the Boys category at judges' houses." Four others in his age group did as well, but after a suggestion by Nicole Scherzinger, a guest judge, they were put together to form a five-piece boy band at Wembley Arena, during the bootcamp stage of the competition, thus qualifying for the Groups category. Subsequently, the group got together for two weeks to get to know each other and to practice. For their qualifying song at Judges' houses, and their first song as a group, One Direction performed an acoustic version of "Torn." Simon Cowell later commented that the performance convinced him that the group "were confident, fun, like a gang of friends, and kind of fearless as well." The group quickly gained popularity in the UK, ultimately coming in third place on the show.

One Direction

Following The X Factor, One Direction were signed to Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment in 2010. One Direction released their first studio album, Up All Night, in 2011, followed by their second album, Take Me Home, in 2012. Their third album Midnight Memories was released in 2013, followed by their fourth album Four in 2014 and Made in the A.M. in 2015. One Direction became the only group in this 58-year history of the Billboard 200 albums chart to have their first five albums debut at number 1. The single "Drag Me Down", which Payne announced, set a Spotify record with 4.75 millions plays in its first 24 hours.

During the Take Me Home Tour, One Direction covered Wheatus's "Teenage Dirtbag". In the original song lead vocalist Brendan Brown performs a segment in a "female voice" which, in One Direction's rendition of the song Payne covered in falsetto. This garnered praise from Brown, who commented, "You can do my girl part anytime."

Following the departure of former member Zayn Malik, Liam has been tasked with taking over the bulk of Malik's vocals. Bandmate Harry Styles admitted, "Liam stepped up to do the high notes. He kicks them in the bollocks every show. He doesn’t hold back."

Payne is known as one of the principal writers in One Direction, credited for co-writing more than half of the songs on the band's third and fourth album.

Solo work

Payne has begun working as a producer under the monikers "Big Payno" or "Payno," teaming up with fellow producers AfterHrs to remix several tracks including Cheryl Cole's "I Don't Care." Payne's remixes have garnered praise as they delve into the subgenre called future house, which is considered the future of EDM.

Payne is also credited with writing Cole's "I Won't Break," off her album Only Human. Payne has also written Irish band Hometown's single "The Night We Met."

Payne has begun working on future projects collaborating with Juicy J on seven tracks with more in the works, DJ Mustard, and Miguel. He has also been in the studio with producer and performing artist Pharrell Williams. Payne has also worked with singer Omi. In September 2015, Little Mix singer Jade Thirlwall confirmed that Payne and the girl group had plans to collaborate on their next album. Payne is also scheduled to work with onetime The Collective member and popular YouTube musician and producer Will Singe. Payne has teamed up with popstar Jennifer Lopez, working on tracks for her forthcoming album.

Payne has also revealed that he has written in various genres including rap and country, and that he intends to pursue a solo vocal career.

In August 2014, Payne created and became director of Hampton Music Limited, a publishing company under which his solo projects will appear.

Payne appeared on the cover of Attitude Magazine after being awarded the Sexiest Man of the Year, marking the first and only solo cover and interview by a member of One Direction and furthering speculation of Payne's solo career.

In 2016, Payne featured on a track titled You by Wiz Khalifa and Juicy J. Payne denied that the track was a single, but it was confirmed to be a leak from an untitled mixtape, yet to be released.

Payne has also promoted up and coming acts such as LunchMoney Lewis, up-and-coming R&B artist Lauv, Bars and Melody and breakout stars 5 Seconds of Summer, who are signed to One Mode Productions Limited, on which Payne serves as director.

Songwriting credits

Year	Title	Artist	Album	Notes
2011	"Taken"	One Direction	Up All Night	Co-writer
	"Everything About You"
	"Same Mistakes"
2012	"Back for You"		Take Me Home
	"Last First Kiss"
	"Summer Love"
	"Still the One"
	"Irresistible"
2013	"Story of My Life"		Midnight Memories
	"Diana"
	"Midnight Memories"
	"Right Now"
	"Little Black Dress"
	"Through the Dark"
	"Little White Lies"
	"Better Than Words"
	"Does He Know?"
2014	"Steal My Girl"		Four
	"Fireproof"
	"Ready to Run"
	"Fool's Gold"
	"Spaces"
	"Clouds"
	"Change Your Ticket"
	"Illusion"
	"I Won't Break"	Cheryl	Only Human
2015	"Home"	One Direction	Perfect EP
	"End Of The Day"		Made in the A.M.
	"A.M."
	"Long Way Down"
	"What A Feeling"
	"History"
	"Wolves"
	"Hey Angel"			String Arrangement
	"Love You Goodbye"			Produced & All Instruments By
	"The Night We Met"	Hometown	Hometown	Co-writer
2016	"You"	Wiz Khalifa, Juicy J ft. Liam Payne	Untitled Mixtape	Co-writer/Performer

Remixes

2014

• One Direction - "You & I" (Big Payno Remix)
• One Direction - "Steal My Girl" (Big Payno & Afterhrs Pool Party Remix)
• Cheryl Cole - "I Don't Care" (Payno vs Aftrhrs Remix)

2015

• One Direction - "Drag Me Down" (Payno vs Aftrhrs Remix) (feat. Lunchmoney Lewis)

Philanthropy

Payne is an avid supporter of Unicef and teamed up with tennis star Andy Murray, Jack Whitehall and Clare Balding in support of Unicef UK’s Children in Danger Summer Disease Appeal.

Payne teamed up with motorsport star Eddie Jordan in support of UK based chartiy CLIC Sargent.

Payne is an ambassador for the charitable organization Trekstock, whose aim is to "empower young adults to thrive through and beyond cancer." Payne's original campaign with the organization in 2013 raised $784,198. He raised an additional $211,237 during his campaign in 2015.

Payne has also been named an ambassador of Sustainable Development Goals also known as the Global Goals campaign.

Payne also began a Twitter campaign in the hopes of helping impoverished people across the globe by personally getting involved with charity work and inspiring his followers to do so as well.

Payne also gave a much needed push to a £6 million youth project "The Youth Zone" in his hometown of Wolverhampton.

As a member on One Direction, Payne has also supported Comic Relief, Office Depot's Anti-Bullying Campaign, and a new initiative titled Action 1D "to help better the future."

Personal life

Payne began dating X Factor dancer and online personality Danielle Peazer in 2010 during his time on the X Factor. The couple split briefly in September 2012 before rekindling their romance in December 2012. The couple ended their relationship in April 2013. During their hiatus, Payne briefly dated singer Leona Lewis. Payne began dating Cheryl in 2016.

Payne saved best friend Andy Samuels following an accidental fire in August 2013. Payne also came to the defence of a waitress when several members of the Tottenham Hotspurs F.C. acted inappropriately towards her in a club in London. Payne also saved Calvin Harris during an incident at Miley Cyrus's birthday party in 2013.

Payne is a friend of English recording artist Katie Waissel, whom he helped through her divorce. He is also a close friend of radio personality Scott Mills.

Payne was named Attitude Magazine's Sexiest Man of the Year in 2015.

Payne has been credited by fast food giant Burger King as being the inspiration behind the return of the Chicken Fries menu item. Payne is also an avid fan of the Harry Potter series.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	The X Factor	Himself	Contestant; Series 5
2010	The X Factor	Himself	Contestant; Series 7
2011	One Direction: A Year In The Making	Himself
2012	iCarly	Himself	Guest role; (Season 6, Episode 2)
	Saturday Night Live	Himself	Guest role; (Season 37, Episode 18)
	Big Time Tour	Himself
2013	One Direction: This Is Us	Himself
	Saturday Night Live	Himself	Guest role; (Season 39, Episode 8)
	Gary Barlow's Big Ben Bash	Himself
	Robbie Williams One Night Only Gig	Himself
2014	Where We Are - The Concert Film	Himself
	Saturday Night Live	Himself	Guest role; (Season 40, Episode 10)
	One Direction: The TV Special	Himself
	Dynamo: Magician Impossible	Himself	Guest Role; Season 4, Episode 1
	Dancing With The Stars	Himself	Guest Role; Season 19, Episode 13
2015	The Late Late Show with James Corden	Himself	Guest Role; Season 1, Episode 30

Awards and nominations

See also: List of awards and nominations received by One Direction

Year	Award	Category	Result
2012	Glamour's World's Sexiest Man	Sexiest Man	Nominated
2013	Glamour's World's Sexiest Man	Sexiest Man
	GQ Magazine Awards	Best Dressed Man
2015	Attitude Awards	Sexiest Man of the Year	Won

[ Source: Wikipedia ]