"His greatest joy was to make other people happy and it was a great honor to be beside him while he did it", writes Styles on his Instagram account.
Liam Payne, former member of the world-renowned boy band One Direction, passed away on Wednesday evening Swedish time after a fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires. He was 31 years old.
One Direction – which, apart from Styles and Payne, consisted of Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik – made a joint statement about the sorrow on Thursday. Now, Harry Styles is also publishing his own, more personal, tribute to Liam Payne.
"Liam was open-hearted and had his emotions close to the surface, he had an appetite for life that was infectious. He was warm, supportive, and incredibly loving", writes Styles and adds that his heart breaks for Payne's loved ones.
"The years we spent together will forever be some of the best in my life. I will always miss him, my fine friend", writes Harry Styles.