One Direction are an English-Irish pop boy band based in London, composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously, Zayn Malik until his departure from the band on 25 March 2015. The group signed with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records after forming and finishing third in the seventh series of the British televised singing competition The X Factor in 2010. Propelled to international success by social media, One Direction's four albums, Up All Night (2011), Take Me Home (2012), Midnight Memories (2013) and Four (2014) topped charts in most major markets, and generated hit singles including "What Makes You Beautiful", "Live While We're Young", and "Story of My Life". Their fifth studio album,Made in the A.M., was released in November 2015.
Their achievements include six Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, eleven MTV Europe Music Awards, seven American Music Awards (including Artist of the Year in 2014 and 2015), and nineteen Teen Choice Awards out of nineteen nominations, among many others. According to Nick Gatfield, the chairman and chief executive of Sony Music Entertainment UK, One Direction represented a $50 million business empire by June 2012. They were proclaimed 2012's "Top New Artist" by Billboard. According to the Sunday Times Rich List, by April 2013, they had an estimated personal combined wealth of $41.2 million making them the second-wealthiest musicians in the UK under 30 years of age.
In 2014, Forbes listed them the second-highest earning celebrities under 30, with the group earning an estimated $75 million from June 2013 to June 2014. In June 2015, Forbes listed their earnings at $130 million for the previous twelve months, and ranked them the fourth highest earning celebrities in the world.
After the release of Four, One Direction became the first band in the U.S. Billboard 200 history to have their first four albums debut at number one. Their third album, Midnight Memories, was the biggest-selling album worldwide of 2013 despite being released in late November. The band's Where We Are Tour in support of Midnight Memories and Four, was the highest-grossing concert tour in 2014, and the highest-grossing tour ever by a vocal group, generating $282 million. In 2014, Billboard named One Direction Artist of the Year. The band is temporarily on a break that began in January 2016, which is expected to last around 18 months.
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Niall James Horan was born on 13 September 1993 in Mullingar, Ireland. His parents, Bobby Horan and Maura Gallagher, divorced when he was five years old, so he and his brother Greg Horan had to live in both houses for some time. They later decided to move definitely with their father. He attended St. Kenny National School primary school, and as a teen, the catholic Coláiste Mhuire, both in Mullingar. Niall started playing guitar when his family got him one for Christmas, and according to him, it's the best gift he has ever gotten. His aunt discovered his talent one day when she was in the car with Niall as he started singing. She originally thought the radio was on. As a teenager he performed at the Mullingar Arts Centre (in a fund-raiser for the local football team, the Shamrocks) and at The Academy in Dublin.
In 2010, at sixteen years old, Niall auditioned for the seventh series of The X Factor in Dublin. He sang "So Sick", and received mixed comments from the judges. Louis Walsh was in his favour, but Cheryl Cole and guest judge Katy Perry, felt he needed some time to grow. Simon voted to let him through, Cheryl said no, and Louis quickly added in his yes, and left Niall's fate up to Katy. She decided to vote yes, and Niall was put through to bootcamp.
At bootcamp, Niall sang "Champagne Supernova", but failed to qualify for the "Boys" category. After a suggestion from guest judge Nicole Scherzinger, Niall was put into a group with four other boys, who also failed to move on in the competition, but since they were too good to let go, the judges decided to agree with Nicole. Niall, along with Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik, formed One Direction. Styles came up with the band name, which he thought would sound good when announcer Peter Dickson read their name out on the live shows. Subsequently, the group got together for two weeks to get to know each other and to practice. For their qualifying song at "judges' houses" and their first song as a group, One Direction sang an acoustic version of "Torn". Simon Cowell later commented that the performance convinced him that the group "were confident, fun, like a gang of friends, and kind of fearless as well." Within the first four weeks of the live shows, they were Cowell's last act in the competition. During the competition, the band performed different songs such as Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You" and Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart", quickly gaining popularity in the UK. Nonetheless, they finished in third place, behind runner-up Rebecca Ferguson and winner Matt Cardle.
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Payne was born in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. He is the son of Karen, a nursery nurse, and Geoff Payne, a fitter. He has two older sisters, Nicola and Ruth.Until the age of four, Payne had regular tests done in hospital as doctors noticed one of his kidneys was scarred and dysfunctional. To help cope with the pain, he had 32 injections in his arm in the morning and evening as a child.As a student, Payne was heavily involved in sports, particularly cross country running. Payne originally joined the Wolverhampton and Bilston Athletics Club to pursue his running career. After failing to make the English National Team for the 2012 Olympic Games, he was placed on the reserve list.
Payne was bullied in secondary school and took up boxing lessons at the age of 12.Payne completed 11 GCSEs at St Peter's Collegiate School before moving on to study music technology at Wolverhampton College's Paget Road campus.
Payne was first introduced to the world of show business at age 12 as a member of the Pink Productions Theatre Company, even appearing as Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever.Payne had previously performed in front of a crowd of 26,000 during a Wolverhampton Wanderers football match.
Payne cites Pharrell Williams and Justin Timberlake as major musical influences."The person who has inspired me most is Pharrell Williams who I worked with a while back. I got talking to his producer recently and asked him what Pharrell was like when he was younger, and he said to me that when he was my age he couldn’t press a note on a keyboard. And that was amazing to me because at 22 I thought I was too old to learn guitar," revealed Payne.
Payne first auditioned for the fifth series of the British Singing Competition The X Factor in 2008, at just 14 years old. Payne moved past the first round after performing Frank Sinatra's Fly Me To The Moon. He was subsequently cut at the Boot Camp stage, but Simon Cowell, who then changed his mind and asked Payne to return in the Judges' Houses.Payne was cut again during judge's houses, but was encouraged by Cowell to return to audition for the following series.
Payne returned to the seventh series of the British Singing Competition The X Factor in 2010. He auditioned with the Michael ??Buble? version of Cry Me A River, which earned him four yeses and a standing ovation from Cowell. Payne was considered the second favourite to win the competition following his solo audition.He failed to progress to the Boys category at judges' houses." Four others in his age group did as well, but after a suggestion by Nicole Scherzinger, a guest judge, they were put together to form a five-piece boy band at Wembley Arena, during the bootcamp stage of the competition, thus qualifying for the Groups category.Subsequently, the group got together for two weeks to get to know each other and to practice. For their qualifying song at Judges' houses, and their first song as a group, One Direction performed an acoustic version of "Torn." Simon Cowell later commented that the performance convinced him that the group "were confident, fun, like a gang of friends, and kind of fearless as well." The group quickly gained popularity in the UK, ultimately coming in third place on the show.
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Harry Styles was born in Redditch, Worcestershire.He is the son of Anne Cox (née Selley) and Desmond "Des" Styles.Many of his ancestors were farm labourers in Norfolk.Styles was raised in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, after his parents moved there along with his older sister, Gemma,when he was a child.He attended Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School.Styles's parents divorced when he was seven and his mother later remarried.As a sixteen-year-old he worked part-time at the W. Mandeville Bakery in Holmes Chapel.
As a child, Styles loved singing, noting Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley and The Beatles as his influences.While at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive, Styles was the lead singer for the band White Eskimo,which won a local Battle of the Bands competition.
On 11 April 2010, Styles auditioned as a solo candidate for the seventh series of the British televised singing competition The X Factor.He failed to progress to the "Boys" category at "judges' houses." Four others in his age group did as well, but after a suggestion by Nicole Scherzinger, a guest judge,they were put together to form a five-piece boy band at Wembley Arena, in London, England, in July 2010, during the "bootcamp" stage of the competition,thus qualifying for the "Groups" category. Subsequently, the group got together for two weeks to get to know one another and to practise.Styles came up with the name One Direction.For their qualifying song at "judges' houses", and their first song as a group, One Direction sang an acoustic version of "Torn".Simon Cowell later commented that the performance convinced him that the group "were confident, fun, like a gang of friends, and kind of fearless as well."Within the first four weeks of the live shows, they were Cowell's last act in the competition.The group quickly gained popularity in the UK.
Styles will be making his acting debut in Christopher Nolan's upcoming World War II action-thriller Dunkirk, with Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance and Kenneth Branagh
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Tomlinson was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, to Johannah Poulston and Troy Austin,who split up when he was young. He later took on his then stepfather Mark Tomlinson's name.
Tomlinson was a sixth form student at Hall Cross School (a state comprehensive school) and a former pupil of the Hayfield School.He failed his first year of A levels at the Hayfield School and ended up going back to Hall Cross and starting A levels again.He had a number of jobs, including at a Vue cinema and at Doncaster Rovers football stadium as a waiter in the hospitality suites.As a student at Hall Cross, Tomlinson appeared in several musical productions.He admitted to not applying himself academically in school, but he thoroughly enjoyed being with his friends and being involved with musical productions.Taking the lead role of Danny Zuko in the Hall Cross musical production of Grease motivated him to audition for The X Factor.
Tomlinson, along with two of his siblings, had extra roles in Fat Friends.After Fat Friends, he attended an acting school in Barnsley.He had small parts in an ITV drama film If I Had You and BBC's Waterloo Road.As a student at Hall Cross, Tomlinson appeared in several musical productions.Being involved with musical productions at Hall Cross gave him a growing sense of ambition and determination.Taking the lead role of Danny Zuko in the Hall Cross musical production of Grease motivated him to audition for The X Factor.Tomlinson auditioned for The X-Factor in 2009 where he failed to progress past the producer's audition, but this minor defeat only gave him the determination to return the following year.
In July 2015 it was reported that Tomlinson was expecting a baby with 23-year-old American stylist, Briana Jungwirth, who is based in Los Angeles, and in early August 2015, on Good Morning America, he confirmed the reports.Their son, named Freddie Reign,was born on 21 January 2016.Tomlinson has stated in numerous interviews that he enjoys fatherhood and is looking forward to having more children in the future.
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Zain Javadd "Zayn" Malik , who records mononymously as Zayn (also stylised as ZAYN), is an English singer and songwriter. In 2010, Malik auditioned as a solo artist for the British reality television music competition The X Factor. After being eliminated as a solo performer, Malik was brought back into the competition, along with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson, to form the boy band One Direction. During his time in the group, Malik and his bandmates released the albums Up All Night (2011), Take Me Home (2012), Midnight Memories (2013), and Four (2014).
In March 2015, Malik's representative announced the singer's departure from the band. Malik signed a solo recording contract with RCA Records in 2015, with his debut studio album Mind of Mine released on 25 March 2016. Its release was preceded by the lead single "Pillowtalk", which debuted at number one in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Canada and Ireland. Mine of Mine debuted at number one in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, with Malik becoming the first British male artist to debut at number one in both the UK and US with his debut single and debut album.
Zain Javadd Malik was born on 12 January 1993 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England.His father, Yaser Malik, is British Pakistani, and his mother, Tricia Brannan Malik, is English and part Irish, and converted to Islam upon marriage.He has one older sister, Doniya, and two younger sisters, Waliyha and Safaa.He was raised in a working class family,and grew up in a working class neighbourhood.
Malik grew up in East Bowling, located south of the Bradford city centre. He attended Lower Fields Primary School and Tong High School in Bradford.Malik has said that he did not fit in at his first two primary schools due to his mixed heritage of Pakistani and English. Malik has stated that he started taking pride in his appearance after moving schools at the age of twelve, and as a teenager he took performing arts courses and appeared in school productions.He grew up listening to his father's urban music records, primarily R&B, hip hop, and reggae, as well as Bollywood music.He starting writing raps when he was at school,and sang on stage for the first time when singer Jay Sean visited his school.Malik also did boxing when he was 15 to 17 years old.Prior to his music career, he was originally planning to pursue an English degree at university.
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