For millions of One Direction fans around the world, the news that the band were to go their separate ways in January 2016 marked the end of an era.
But for Liam Payne, it offered an unbeatable opportunity. Here – finally – was the chance to break free from ‘the clutches’ of the very man who had orchestrated their rise to global superstardom.
That man, of course, was music mogul Simon Cowell who had plucked the five boys from obscurity to form the band on ITV show The X Factor in 2010, and who had, for six years, controlled most aspects of their lives.
And of the five, it was tellingly Liam, then just 22, who decided he wanted rid of his once-mentor.
While his bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson signed deals with music labels owned by Sony – One Direction’s label – where Cowell remained highly influential, Liam made a pointed decision to take another route. He accepted a multi-million pound deal with rival Capitol Records, and a new manager to boot.
Liam Payne and Simon Cowell in 2013. The two men had little to do with one another after the One Direction boys went their separate ways
‘Liam was so delighted to shed himself of Cowell and Sony,’ a source close to the late singer reveals. ‘It was the new start he needed.’
His haste in escaping Cowell’s orbit was indicative of the increasingly fractured – and latterly non-existent – relationship between Liam and his former boss.
The truth is that the two men had little to do with one another after the band went their separate ways. Cowell himself appeared to hint that things had not exactly been rosy between the pair in the statement he released last week.
Two days after the singer fell to his death from a balcony at the CasaSur Hotel in Buenos Aires, Cowell, 65, wrote on his Instagram page: ‘You never really know how you feel about someone until a moment like this happens. Liam, I am devastated.’
Was it tinged with regret? That remains unclear. But what is abundantly obvious is that when he left Sony, Liam was glad to no longer be under Cowell’s management, where friends say he felt like a ‘caged animal’.
And he appeared to relish finally being able to push back against the mogul’s demands.
Tearful fans gather in London yesterday to mourn the star after the he fell to his death from a balcony at the CasaSur Hotel in Buenos Aires on Wednesday
It was Liam, after all, who orchestrated the band’s decision not to reform on The X Factor stage in December 2016, 11 months after they’d split – despite Cowell’s request to do so. That night, Louis was due to perform on the show, launching his solo career, but it came just days after his mother Johannah Deakin had died of cancer.
Cowell had summoned his former bandmates to London and appear on stage to support Louis.
The band decided to return – Liam had been in New York – but would not, they insisted, appear on stage. ‘The fact it would benefit Simon so much to have the whole band back together on his show was galling for Liam,’ says a friend who describes him as ‘very forthright and assertive when it came to what he felt was the right thing’. ‘As far as Liam was concerned, it was typical Simon. Simon said jump, the boys had to ask how high.’
Instead, the four arrived at the TV studio in Wembley to support Louis behind the scenes.
Yet how different it had been six years earlier when the band formed on the show in front of millions. With their first album selling 4.5million copies worldwide in 2011, One Direction quickly became a huge moneyspinner for Cowell’s label Syco (part-owned by Sony).
But the music mogul’s high standards came at a cost. ‘Liam and the boys couldn’t go out and do what other boys of their age were doing,’ said a music industry source. ‘They were cash cows, pure and simple. There seemed little care for the band’s mental health though, and how it would affect them in the future.’
Undoubtedly, their schedule was gruelling. The band performed an average of one concert every two days during their Take Me Home tour in 2013, fulfilling 124 dates between February and November.
Things began to unravel in March 2015, when Zayn Malik quit the band in the middle of a world tour after struggling with stress. But if Liam hoped that the penny might drop with Cowell and he would ease the pressure on the remaining members, it was not to be.
Perhaps inevitably, the band went on an indefinite hiatus – which became permanent – ten months later.
As for Cowell, he takes the view he gave One Direction their fame and £30 million fortunes, and did warn them of the demands that would be made of them and the toll fame would take.
Liam and Cowell met last year ‘just to talk’, the mogul has revealed. But was it all too little, too late? As one friend put it: ‘It all seemed so exciting back in the beginning. Those around Liam just wish there had been more support at the time.’
How much that might have helped, no one will ever know.
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