Liam Payne first registered on the pop radar as a fresh-faced 14-year-old when he took part in The X Factor in 2008.

“I should be concentrating on my (school) work, but I'm just thinking too much about singing,” he said before his first audition, with his Wolverhampton accent and thick fringe front and center.

“It’s a dream and I would love to do it.”

His rendition of 'Fly Me To the Moon' impressed the judges, as did his boyish charm – he showed a cheeky streak as he winked at Girls Aloud star Cheryl mid-song.

But Simon Cowell wasn't entirely convinced he was ready, so he told him to do his GCSEs and come back in two years.

When Liam did just that in 2010 and auditioned with another classic, Cry Me A River, the missing pieces were now all there.

As he began to sing, Cowell's eyes lit up as he registered Liam's newfound maturity and charisma.

Whatever the X factor is, Liam had it.

The judges had another tough decision to make this year – so during a discussion about who to save, they decided they could keep five boys by grouping them together.

Liam, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Harry Styles were informed they were now a boy band – and One Direction was born.

They didn't actually win The X Factor that year, coming third behind Matt Cardle and Rebecca Ferguson in a final in front of 17 million viewers.

But Cowell knew a good thing when he saw it. He signed them to his label and after waiting nine months for the release of their debut single, they soon surpassed their competitors.

That single was “What Makes You Beautiful,” an instant pop classic that went straight to number one – the first of four UK chart-toppers in the next four years.

Liam was cast as the sensible one, and told the Guardian in 2019 about one of the group's early hotel stays.

“We have plates thrown out the window, mattresses thrown down the stairs and I get calls from the manager saying, 'You need to sort this out'.”

Sudden fame was a lot to take in, and he told Scott Mills on BBC Radio 1 in 2020 that at the time he was “really pretty uptight about a lot of what was going on.”

“Sometimes it was hard to have fun when there was so much pressure on the game.”

But after about a year, he learned to relax. “And the more fun we had, the more successful it became.”

One Direction sparked a veritable pop mania – stadiums full of screaming teenage fans, thousands camping outside their hotels, 70 million records sold.

“I was very confused about fame when this all happened” he told the BBC in 2019“And it was difficult to learn to be a person outside of the job. But now I feel like I get it. I’m a lucky boy.”

Over time, Liam discovered a talent for both songwriting and singing, writing credits on half of the band's last two albums, including songs such as “History”, “Steal My Girl” and “Story Of My Life”.

However, tensions in the band increased as the pressure returned.

In 2022, Liam told Logan Paul's podcast that there was almost a fight. “There was a moment when there was an argument backstage and one member threw me for a loop,” he said, without naming the bandmate in question.

It became clear that the end of One Direction was near. “It was so exciting every single show,” he said. “I started to lose track.”

Liam turned to alcohol and continued drinking after the band went on “hiatus” in 2016.

“It was very erratic behavior on my part – I was partying too much,” he told the BBC.

In the post-1D world, Liam launched a solo career: his 2017 debut single “Strip That Down” with US rapper Quavo reached number three and was nominated for two Brit Awards.

His collaboration with Rita Ora on the song “For You” – from the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack – reached number eight and earned him another UK nomination.

And eight years after he flirted with Cheryl in the X Factor audition room as a 14-year-old, the pair began a relationship. They had a son, Bear, in 2017, but separated in 2018.

In 2020, he got engaged to model Maya Henry, but the two later split. Earlier this month, she said on social media that the singer had been repeatedly sending her unwanted messages recently.

After their relationship, he began dating US influencer Kate Cassidy in 2022.

He has suffered from health problems in recent years and was hospitalized twice in 2023, reportedly with kidney problems.

And his solo career has struggled to maintain momentum.

A comeback single, “Teardrops,” released in March failed to chart, and there were reports that a second solo album and a documentary about his life had been shelved.

This life story contained more than he could have imagined in his original teenage dreams.