• Simon Cowell is recalling his first ideas after studying of Liam Payne's demise in October 2024.
• The X Issue decide mentioned the second was "a bit like I felt after I heard the information when my dad handed away."
• Cowell added that he instantly needed to talk to Payne's dad and mom after listening to the information.

Simon Cowell is reflecting on Liam Payne's demise one yr later.

The American Idol alum, who helped launch the late singer's profession with The X Issue, recalled his first ideas after studying Payne had died at 31 in October 2024.

"Someone who works with me very intently got here into my room," Cowell informed The New York Times in an interview revealed Saturday. "I used to be up within the north of England, and I might inform by the look of her face that she was upset. She mentioned, 'Sit down,' and he or she informed me. And it was like — wow."

Cowell mentioned his response to Payne's demise reminded him of one other vital loss. "It was a bit like I felt after I heard the information when my dad handed away," he mentioned. "It's very troublesome to place into phrases how you’re feeling. It's simply shock. At that time, you're probably not pondering clearly."

The file government additionally felt an pressing duty to contact Payne's household. "I simply keep in mind saying: 'I actually need to talk to his mum and pop. Are you able to get them on the telephone as quickly as doable, please?'" Cowell recalled. "As a result of, God, as a guardian, what that will need to have felt like. I knew his mum and pop, and I needed to succeed in out, simply to say how I felt. It was simply terrible, terrible."

Cowell additionally thought of a gathering he'd lately had with Payne. "I keep in mind seeing him stroll into this room and saying: 'God, you look superb, Liam. What have you ever executed?'" he recalled. "[He said,] 'Nicely, I'm going to the gymnasium' … We talked about his son and the way a lot it means to be a dad."

He continued, "I used to be speaking to him about there's extra to life than simply music; you've obtained to some extent in your life the place you've obtained alternative now … We simply frolicked as buddies. That's why I used to be so shocked and shocked after I heard the information."

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Cowell first met Payne when he auditioned for The X Issue in 2008, when the singer was simply 14 years outdated. The decide inspired him to return to the present two years later, and remained impressed with Payne when he got here again to the present in 2010.

After a suggestion from visitor decide Nicole Scherzinger, Cowell united Payne with fellow contestants Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Kinds, and Louis Tomlinson to kind One Route, who continued competing on the present as a bunch till they have been eradicated within the remaining episode of season 7. Cowell then signed One Route to his label Syco Data.

Cowell beforehand mourned Payne following his demise final yr, after the singer fell from a third-floor balcony of a lodge in Buenos Aires.

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"You by no means actually know the way you’re feeling about somebody till a second like this occurs," Cowell wrote on social media on the time. "Liam, I’m really devastated. Heartbroken. And I really feel empty. And I would like you to know the way a lot love and respect I’ve for you. Each tear I’ve shed is a reminiscence of you."

He continued, "I needed to let you recognize what I might all the time say to the hundreds of people that would all the time ask me, 'What’s Liam like?' And I might inform them you have been form, humorous, candy, considerate, gifted, humble, targeted. And the way a lot you really liked music. And the way a lot love you genuinely had for the followers."

Cowell lately dismissed the concept that he was one way or the other responsible for Payne's demise. "The concept that you’re basically answerable for someone's life, 10 years after you've signed somebody? You possibly can't do this," he mentioned on Rolling Stone's podcast Music Now. "You ask your self that query: 'May I’ve executed something extra? What would've occurred to Liam if he hadn't been within the band?' Having spoken to his mother and pop lately, all they saved telling me was he was so happy with what he had achieved."

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