Liam Payne: Universal Music dropped the singer days before his tragic death at the Casa Sur Buenos Aires hotel

One Direction star Liam Payne was dumped by his record label just days before he plunged to his death.

As the 31-year-old former boy band singer’s life dramatically unravelled, he went on a booze-fuelled bender before plummeting from the balcony of his hotel suite in Argentina while “off his head on drugs”.

Investigators revealed he had 25 separate injuries from the 14-meter fall and had been so inebriated he did not even try to protect himself.

It comes as Payne’s former bandmates on Friday said they were “devastated” by the loss of their “brother”.

Photos emerged on Thursday of his trashed hotel room littered with drugs.

With a smashed TV, white powder and tin foil, the squalid scene was said to be where the troubled star had spent his final tortured moments, having allegedly enjoyed the company of two escort girls the previous night.

As tributes poured in for the boy from Wolverhampton who found global fame with One Direction alongside Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson, Payne’s parents were said to be devastated.

Music moguls such as Simon Cowell, who created One Direction on TV contest The X Factor, faced uncomfortable questions as a row broke out over “exploitation and profiteering of young stars” in the industry.

The Mail can reveal that Payne – who went solo when One Direction stopped performing in 2016 – was dropped by his record label Universal Music on Monday last week, which came as a huge blow to him.

A source said: “Liam’s advance was massive and he didn’t recoup.”

“Out of all of the One Direction boys, Liam was on the wrong path musically.”

The release of his second album was put on hold prior to Universal dumping him.

The label posted on Instagram that they were “devastated by the tragic passing”, adding: “His legacy will live on through his music and the countless fans he inspired and who adored him.”

And Payne’s PR agent resigned earlier this month which left him without any publicity representation.

On top of that, his former fiancee Maya Henry, a 23-year-old Texan model, had reportedly instructed lawyers to issue a “cease and desist” letter accusing Payne of “obsessively” contacting her and ‘weaponising’ his fans against her.

She is said to be “in shock” at his death.

Eerily, only two days earlier, she had claimed on a podcast how Payne “would always message me, and tell me he was going to die”.

A source told the Mail: “It is like all of Liam’s music career he had built up since he went solo eight years ago was crumbling. There was very little left for him. It must have absolutely devastated him.”

Payne, who has a seven-year-old son Bear with Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy, had struggled with addiction.

He was pronounced dead after plunging from his third-floor bedroom at the Hotel Casa Sur Palermo in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires at 5.07pm local time on Wednesday.

In a distressing 911 call, a hotel receptionist named Esteban told police: “We have a guest who’s off his head on drugs and is destroying everything in his room. The room has a balcony and we are afraid he might do something.”

Payne was said to have been “acting erratically in the lobby and smashed his laptop” before he “had to be carried back to his room”, according to local media.

Emergency medical services director Alberto Crescenti said Payne’s injuries were “incompatible with life” as he was found with a fractured skull and there was “no possibility of resuscitating him”.

Prosecutor Marcelo Roma said Payne had “died on the spot” from 25 wounds and the position of his limbs suggested he had not tried to protect himself and “may have fallen in a state of semi or total unconsciousness”.

Police found “narcotics and alcoholic beverages, as well as several objects and destroyed furniture”.

Mr Roma added they suspected the singer, who was believed to have been alone, was ‘going through some kind of psychotic episode as a result of substance abuse’.

Prosecutors confirmed they had interviewed two mystery women who had been in Payne’s hotel room the night before he died – who a local journalist claimed were prostitutes.

The women, along with three hotel workers, are said to have helped police to create a “reconstruction of his last hours”.

Just minutes before he died, Payne shared a haunting final social media post, a photo taken previously of him with his current girlfriend Kate Cassidy.

The American influencer had accompanied him to Argentina but flew back to Florida earlier this week.

Local TV also broadcast a photo said to be the last time Payne was seen, wearing a white sleeveless top, just before he got into a lift up to his room.

Payne had been in Argentina to watch his former One Direction bandmate Horan in concert earlier this month.

Horan, now back in the UK, looked devastated as he was joined by his girlfriend Amelia Woolley on a walk in London yesterday.

Cowell, 65 – who created the group which had five albums and four world tours – was said to be “shocked and devastated” as he was pictured in Blackpool, where he was due to hold auditions for Britain’s Got Talent before cancelling them at the last minute.

For Payne, the curse of fame at such a young age took its toll, and he struggled with alcohol and drug addiction. He had spoken of experiencing “rock bottom” and “severe” suicidal thoughts.

Payne’s “erratic” behaviour in recent weeks was said to have concerned many in his inner circle amid fears he was spiralling.

In a statement, his mother Karen, father Geoff and two older sisters Ruth and Nicola said that they were “heartbroken”, adding: ‘Liam will forever live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul.”

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