Liam Payne fans sing and mourn at global vigil for former One Direction star

Liam Payne fans gathered around the world at vigils – from Birmingham to Manila – to mourn, sing and cry in memory of the former One Direction star who died on Wednesday.

Police estimated that 800 to 1,000 people gathered in London's Hyde Park on Sunday to remember the 31-year-old. A man died after falling from the third floor of a hotel balcony in Argentina.

The crowd sang One Direction songs, such as the chart-topping hit What Makes You Beautiful, with many fans in tears.

Bands of fans gathered in Glasgow, Paris, Sydney and elsewhere.

It is not yet known when his body will be sent to the UK.

Fans showed up in London's Hyde Park, braving the drizzly weather on Sunday afternoon, and brought letters, photos and flowers with them.

Many were placing them near the Peter Pan statue where the memorial was being held.

Organizer Alicia Sinclair, 22, from Hertfordshire, said One Direction was “a light in so many people's lives, especially mine”.

“A lot of people are upset and it's a good time for us to come together and be with people who understand,” he told BBC 5 Live.

“My favorite memories with my sister revolve almost entirely around One Direction,” he added.

“So to me it feels, I guess, like the end of us growing up together. That's what makes it so hard.”

In London, fans Emily and Olivia first fell in love with Payne and One Direction when they were at school.

“Growing up, it's hard to put into words, but being a mentor has been an important community for me,” says Emily, 25.

“Being young at the time, it was my first feeling of falling in love, my first feeling of crushing on a boy, being excited about boys,” added Olivia, who is 23. “I kissed the posters every night. We all did.”

“It felt like you were part of the best club in the world and a huge part of why we bonded together.”

He added that part of the reason Paine's death was so difficult was because he had “one day hoped for a one-sided reconciliation”.

“We take it for granted,” he said.

With flowers in hand and some with tears in their eyes, hundreds of fans of One Direction and Penn took to Chamberlain Square in the center of Birmingham.

Some fans paying tribute to the singer were upset while others danced and sang One Direction songs and shared memories of Liam Payne and the band.

Jamie Parker, 27, was one of many to leave flowers and a handwritten note to pay tribute.

Parker said her mother died of cancer in 2013 and she and her sister “relied on One Direction albums to help us process our grief and navigate our feelings”.

She added: “When I woke up to find he was dead, I was in absolute disbelief.”

Elizabeth Ture attended the vigil in Birmingham with her two sisters, telling the BBC that they listened to Penn's solo music career as well as One Direction's music together.

“We all shared the same experience as sisters, it was a huge part of our childhood,” the 19-year-old said.

Sophie Peach said Payne “was my whole childhood”, adding that he “gave me a lot as a child”.

The 18-year-old said her happiest memories of the singer are watching him on MTV, seeing him in the charts and “dancing around the living room with my sister to all the One Direction songs”.

In Glasgow, people gathered to pay their respects at a vigil despite organizers planning to postpone Due to weather concerns.

People of all ages laid flowers, lit candles and sang One Direction and Paine at the memorial in George Square.

A minute's silence was observed, and some fans hugged their friends and wept in memory of Payne.

In Paris, a crowd gathered in the Tuileries Gardens and laid flowers and candles under a framed photo of the singer on Sunday afternoon.

Alexandra Veloso Silva, 31, a fan of the revival, told Reuters news agency it felt like she had “lost someone in my family”.

Another fan Roman, 23, said Penn's death felt like “another thing that brings us comfort has been taken from us”.

Earlier this weekend, People gathered In Wolverhampton, where the singer was born in 1993.

About 100 people bowed their heads, bowing as flowers were laid outside St Peter's Church.

In Buenos Aires, people gathered earlier this week outside the hotel where Payne was found dead.

Payne rose to global fame as part of boyband One Direction – made into The X Factor TV show in 2010 – and sang alongside bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan.

Malik left the group in 2015 to pursue a solo singing career, and the band split in 2016.

Saturday, declared the owner He postponed the US leg of his upcoming tour following the “heartbreaking loss” of his former bandmate.

Penn's family is also paying tribute. His sister Ruth Gibbins described Payne as his “best friend”. Emotional Instagram postsadded that he did not feel that “this world was good enough or kind enough” to him.

Meanwhile in Argentina, Payne's father Geoff Payne paid tribute to his son outside the Casa Sur hotel in Buenos Aires on Friday.

He also visited the city morgue to formally identify his son. A federal prosecutor previously told the BBC his body had been “exhumed”, meaning no further tests were being carried out and identification was possible.

Additional reporting by Linda Sinclair in Glasgow and Holly Cole in London