Liam Payne funeral: Public recall celebrity deaths that affected them most as singer's funeral to be held

Members of the public have spoken about the celebrity deaths that affected them the most as Liam Payne’s funeral is to be held today (November 20).

The One Direction singer died in a fall from a hotel balcony in Argentina on October 16. He was 31 years old.

The private funeral will reportedly take place in the Home Counties, with his One Direction bandmates Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik expected to attend, as well as his girlfriend Kate Cassidy and Simon Cowell.

Below are some of the celebrity deaths the public said had a big impact on them - whether the person influenced them growing up or that their death came as a shock. 

David Bowie

One man in Birmingham said that the death of David Bowie, age 69, from cancer in 2016 was “terrible, especially when he released his final song ‘Lazurus’ which was really quite emotional”.

He continued: “I imagine for a lot of people who haven’t experienced grief before, having someone who they admired so much, such as Liam Payne, dying in such tragic circumstances surely must be an incredibly difficult experience”.

Davie Bowie performance. | Getty Images

Lemmy

A man in London singled out the death of Motörhead frontman Lemmy, age 70, in 2015.

He said: “He [Lemmy] was one of these guys where they thought he was going to live forever, heavy drinker, heavy smoker, heavy drug user. He suddenly became ill around the time when my mum was near to the end with cancer, so it’s sort of [a] double whammy really”.

Victoria Wood

One woman in London said that the death of comedian Victoria Wood, age 62, from cancer in 2016 impacted her hugely.

She said: “I remember when she [Victoria Wood] died, I was in the office and a friend of mine, who was also a big comedy fan said, ‘have you seen the news Victoria Wood died?’ It was so sudden and we didn’t know that she was ill and she was a massive female comedic influence when I was growing up, loved ‘Dinnerladies’, loved watching her on TV. That was maybe the only time I felt like a real gut-punch.”

Princess Diana

Two people said that Princess Diana’s death, age 36, in a Paris car crash in 1997 was particularly memorable. 

A Leeds man recalled: “I was very young, in the house, and my mother was decorating, I was helping her out. I remember the news and she just stopped what she was doing and that’s when I found out Princess Diana had died. Good woman as well, rest in peace to her.”

A woman in Liverpool said: “Princess Diana, I admired her. She did a lot of charity work. She was really good, she was loved by everybody and it was just a shock when she passed away. Even to this day it’s upsetting just thinking about her, she was a lovely person, so sad”.