Simon Cowell, who co-created and first signed One Direction, is speaking out following the death of band member Liam Payne at age 31. One Direction was created on Cowell's reality show, The X-Factor, in 2010. Together with Nicole Scherzinger, Cowell selected Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik for a boy band that ended up finishing third in the competition. Cowell then signed them to his label Syco Records where they went on to sell over 70 million records.
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00:00Simon Cowell, who co-created and first signed One Direction, is speaking out following the
00:04death of band member Liam Payne at age 31.
00:09One Direction was created on Cowell's reality show The X Factor in 2010.
00:13Together with Nicole Scherzinger, Cowell selected Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall
00:18Horan and Zayn Malik for a boy band that ended up finishing third in the competition.
00:23Cowell then signed them to his label, Psycho Records, where they went on to sell over 70
00:27million records.
00:28Cowell wrote on Instagram Friday,
00:29"'You never really know how you feel about someone until something like this happens.
00:34Liam, I am devastated, heartbroken, and I feel empty, and I want you to know how much
00:38love and respect I have for you.
00:41Every tear I have shed is a memory of you."
00:43He went on to say,
00:44"'I wanted to let you know what I would always say to the thousands of people who
00:47would always ask me, what is Liam like?
00:49And I would tell them you were kind, funny, sweet, thoughtful, talented, humble, focused,
00:55and how much you loved music, and how much love you genuinely had for the fans.'"
00:59Cowell also shared that he and Payne met up last year and reminisced about, quote,
01:03"'all of the fun times we had together,' as well as spoke about how proud Payne was
01:07to be a dad to his son, Bear."
01:09Following the news of Payne's death, Tomlinson, Malik, Styles and Horan all paid tribute to
01:13him in a joint statement, as well as in emotional posts on their individual social media accounts.
01:18Cowell also wrote in his tribute,
01:20"'I always thought of the five of you in the band as brothers, and reading their messages
01:24today, I believe you were.'"
01:26For more on this story, go to THR.com.
01:29This is The Hollywood Reporter News.