Los Angeles, Oct 18 (IANS): Anne Twist, the mother of Harry Styles, has paid tribute to her son's One Direction bandmate, Liam Payne after his death at 31.

"Just a boy," she wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of a broken heart emoji in front of a black background after the singer was pronounced dead after falling multiple stories at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Anne Twist spent a lot of time with Payne through the years after her son Styles shot to fame with him on The X-Factor UK in 2010, reports ‘People’ magazine.

After auditioning by himself, the judges teamed Payne up with fellow solo contestants Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson to form One Direction, and they ended up skyrocketing to superstardom despite coming third in the show.

Multiple X-Factor stars also paid tribute to Payne on social media, with host Dermot O'Leary sharing a black and white photo from their time on the show on Instagram, alongside the caption, "The worst news. I remember him as a 14 year old turning up to audition on The X Factor, and blowing us away singing Sinatra. He just loved to sing. He was always a joy, had time for everyone, polite, grateful, and was always humble. Sending love and prayers to his family."

As per 'People', Lou Teasdale, who was the band's hairstylist, makeup artist and close friend through the years, shared a simple Instagram Stories message that read, "I hope you're all ok", alongside a broken heart emoji. She then shared a clip of the band performing their 2015 track "Infinity", which was one of the final songs they released on their last album ‘Made in the A.M.’ before they took a hiatus in 2016 following Malik's departure from the band the year prior -- with the caption, "Forever" and a white love heart emoji.