About ONE DIRECTION
One Direction are 5 young lads from the United Kingdom, comprising of Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson. They were discovered on the 2010 series of The X Factor (UK), and formed a group through the advice of Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger.
They released their first single, “What Makes You Beautiful” in the UK in August 2011, and it became one of the fastest selling songs of the year, breaking a Sony Music record for the most pre-sales ever, and went on to hit number one in the charts.
In February 2012, the song received a Brit Award for “Best British Single”, and was also released in the USA & Canada.
“Up All Night” is the boys first album, and has received rave reviews from critics, reaching the top of the album charts in countries all across the world.
One Direction took to the stage in December 2011 for their very first UK tour which sold out in minutes, before also touring the US along with Big Time Rush in February & March 2012. They also announced a new UK & Ireland tour for March 2013.
The impact that 1D are having is truly amazing, and thousands if not millions of fans across the globe have now got the “One Direction Infection”. These fans help make the band who they are, and together are know as the “Directioners”.
History
2010: The X Factor and formation
In 2010, all five members applied as solo candidates for the The X Factor, but failed to qualify for the “Boys” category. After suggestion by guest judge Nicole Scherzinger, the five were put into a band, thus qualifying for the “Groups” category.[8] After the elimination of F.Y.D., Diva Fever and Belle Amie within four weeks, they were Simon Cowell’s last act in the competition. One Direction finished third behind runner-up Rebecca Ferguson and winner Matt Cardle. Immediately after the final, their song “Forever Young”, which would have been released if they had won The X Factor, was leaked onto the internet.[9]
Following The X Factor, One Direction signed a £2 million record contract with Syco Records.[10] One Direction and nine other contestants from the series participated in the X Factor Live Tour from February 2011 to April 2011.[11] They developed their debut album with Savan Kotecha[12] and released their debut single “What Makes You Beautiful” on 11 September 2011.[13] The song broke pre-order sales record for Sony Music.[14] It entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 1 with 153,965 sales within the first week. One Direction released their second single “Gotta Be You” on 13 November 2011, which peaked at number three.[15] The single was followed by their debut studio album, Up All Night on 21 November.[16] The album features One Direction collaborating with Savan Kotecha, Rami Yacoub, RedOne, Ed Sheeran, Kelly Clarkson, Steve Mac, Toby Gad and Carl Falk.[17] According to review aggregator Metacritic, the album has received “generally favorable reviews”.[18] The album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart, selling 138,631 copies,[3] and was the fastest-selling debut album on the UK Albums Chart of 2011.[4] Up All Night was the sixteenth biggest selling album on the UK Albums Chart of 2011, with 468,000 copies sold.[19] The album reached the top ten in nineteen other countries.
One Direction performing in Glasgow during their Up All Night Tour
On 26 September 2011, One Direction announced their debut headline UK tour, the Up All Night Tour, set for December 2011 and January 2012.[20] The tour was sold out in minutes of release.[21] On 9 November 2011, One Direction also revealed that they will be touring the United States with Big Time Rush from February 2012 to March 2012.[22] On 6 January 2012, One Direction released their third single “One Thing”,[23] as a promotional single in various European countries and was released in the United Kingdom, 13 February 2012.[24] In the UK, “One Thing” peaked at number nine, becoming the third consecutive top ten single from Up All Night.[25] 21 February 2012, One Direction attended the 2012 Brit Awards. The group received the Brit Award for Best British Single.[26] During One Direction’s acceptance speech for their Brit Award, Liam Payne stated the group would embark on their first arena tour in 2013, the UK & Ireland Arena Tour.[27]
One Direction signed a record deal with Columbia Records in the United States.[28] The album was originally set for release in North America, on 23 March 2012 through Columbia Records, but was rescheduled for a one week earlier release on 13 March 2012, with Columbia Records releasing a statement:[29] “due to overwhelming fan demand, their debut album will be released one week early on 13 March 2012.”[30][31] “What Makes You Beautiful” was released in the United States, 14 February 2012.[32] In the U.S. “What Makes You Beautiful” became the highest Billboard Hot 100 debut for a UK act since 1998.[33] The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number twenty-eight.[33] On 21 March 2012, Up All Night went straight to number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 176,000 copies in its first week, which made One Direction the first UK group to debut at number one with their first album.[5]
One Direction performed on the Today Show in the U.S. on 12 March 2012.[34][35] They performed “What Makes You Beautiful” at the 2012 Kids’ Choice Awards on 31 March 2012.[36] One Direction are booked as the musical act for Saturday Night Live on 7 April 2012 [35] and are also set to appear in an episode of iCarly in 2012, cast as themselves and perform “What Makes You Beautiful”.[37] The episode entitled iGo One Direction will air 7 April.[38]
One Direction have announced Oceania and North American legs of their debut headlining tour with tour dates set for April to July 2012.
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Neil McCormick from UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph published an article on the nature of One Direction’s success in North America. Noting that the “new generation of British wannabes can actually sing, for a start. British boy bands of the past always had almost comical weak links, the handsome dead wood who did lots of headspins and backflips to cover up for their inability to do more than croak an approximation of the correct note.” Noting that Americans had left a gap in the market stating that it took prominence of Justin Bieber to demonstrate that there was still a market for “clean cut, wholesome, middle class parent friendly pop: cute boys advocating puppy love. And what could be better than one cute boy, if not five?”.[41]
Yahoo News published an article, that according to Google’s keyword tool 3.35 million people are searching for One Direction related search phrases each month.[42] One Direction’s Twitter account had amassed 2 million followers as of February 2012, since then the account gains followers at an average of 24,000 per day.[43]
The group is often labeled as the new British Invasion.[44][45][46][47][48] Bill Werde, a representative of Billboard Magazine stated on the matter. “There’s a lot of possibility here, there’s a lot of upside, that level of talent with those kinds of looks, it’s really a perfect storm for a massive, massive successful phenomenon.”[49] Sonny Takhar, the chief executive officer of Syco Records, attributes the breakthrough to the power of social media. “Sometimes you feel the song’s the star, but it’s not like that here – it’s the act,” he says. “It’s a real moment. Social media has become the new radio, it’s never broken an act globally like this before.”[49]
Member Niall Horan commented on One Direction as a band: “People think that a boyband is air-grabs and being dressed in all one colour. We’re boys in a band. We’re trying to do something different from what people would think is the typical kind of boyband. We’re trying to do different kinds of music and we’re just trying to be ourselves, not squeaky clean
Let’s talking about the mambers of ONE DIRECTION
Niall Horan
Niall James Horan (born 13 September 1993 in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland) was born to mother Maura and father Bobby, he has an older brother, Greg, 23,[61] their parents divorced when he was five.[62] He was a pupil at Coláiste Mhuire, a boys’ Christian Brothers school.[63][64] Prior to participating in X-Factor, he performed around his homeland, including as a support act for Lloyd Daniels in Dublin. Horan has been playing guitar since childhood. In an interview he referred to his guitar as “the best present I ever received for Christmas”.[65] Horan revealed his parents took note of his singing during a car trip, “my aunt said she thought the radio was on. Exactly the same thing happened to Michael Bublé with his dad. He’s my absolute hero so I like the fact we have a similar story.”[66] In 2010, he auditioned as solo candidate for the seventh series of The X Factor, performing “So Sick”, receiving mixed comments from the judges present at his audition, with Louis Walsh in his favour. Two other judges voiced doubts about his abilities, with three votes out of four he was sent to bootcamp where he sang “Champagne Supernova”, failing to qualify for the “Boys” category he was put in One Direction.
Zayn Malik
Zain Jawadd “Zayn” Malik[67] (born 12 January 1993, in St. Luke’s Hospital), is from West Lane, Baildon, Bradford, England.[68] Born to an English mother Tricia, and British Pakistani father Yaser, he has three sisters Doniya, Waliyha and Safaa.[64] He grew up in East Bowling, located south of the Bradford city centre. Malik was a pupil at Lower Fields Primary School in East Bowling and went to Tong High School, a state comprehensive school.[69] He stated that as a child “I was a bit of a handful when I was a kid because I was quite hyperactive. Even in the house my mum used to put me in my pram because I was so full-on.” Malik didn’t fit in at his first two schools due to his heritage, revealing that when he and his sister moved schools he felt he fitted in better.[70] In 2010, Malik auditioned as solo candidate for the seventh series of The X Factor. His audition was initially not broadcast, but was shown after the series ended on companion show The Xtra Factor. Malik was noted for becoming nervous in bootcamp, and when he was told he had to dance, he decided to remain backstage, effectively running the risk of elimination. Cowell noticed Malik missing from the dance routine and went backstage and convinced him to return.[71] At bootcamp Malik failed to qualify for the “Boys” category and was put in One Direction. Malik dated fellow X Factor contestant, Rebecca Ferguson, which caused controversy because of the six year age difference. The relationship ended after 4 months together. In November 2011, Ferguson stated the following in an interview: “Me and Zayn just grew apart. I wish him all the best.”[72] Malik has four tattoos, his grandfather’s name in Arabic on his chest, a Yin Yang sign on his left wrist, a symbol on his stomach and a peace sign on his right arm.
Liam Payne
Liam James Payne (born 29 August 1993), is from Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, born three weeks early to mother Karen and father Geoff,[75] he has two older sisters, Ruth and Nicola.[64] Until the age of four Payne had regular tests done in hospital, 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.[76] He described himself as a “naughty boy at school”, at school he tried for teams, eventually trying out for the cross-country team, coming first “From then on I was training all the time and getting up at 6am to run for miles. At the age of 12 they put me in the school’s under-18s team.” Payne was bullied in school and took up boxing lessons, saying he “needed to find a way to defend myself, I was, at 12 years old, fighting the 38-year-old trainer. I broke my nose, had a perforated eardrum and I was always coming home with a bruised, puffy face. But it gave me confidence. I got pretty good over the next couple of years.”[77] He was a music technology student at City of Wolverhampton College.[78] Payne had auditioned in 2008 to The X Factor’s fifth series when he was 14 and reached judges’ houses, however, Simon Cowell thought he was not ready for the competition and asked him to come back in two years. Payne came back and auditioned again singing “Cry Me a River”, receiving a standing ovation from the audience and Simon Cowell. At bootcamp, he sang “Stop Crying Your Heart Out” before being rejected and put into One Direction. Regarding his one functional kidney Payne said, “I have to be careful not to drink too much, even water, and I have to keep myself as healthy as possible.”[76] Payne is currently in a relationship with dancer, Danielle Peazer
Harry Styles
Harold Edward “Harry” Styles (born 1 February 1994, in Evesham, Worcestershire)[81], is from village Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, England and a former pupil at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School, a state comprehensive school.[82] Born to mother Anne and father Des, he has an older sister, Gemma,[64] he was seven when their parents divorced; his mother later remarried to Robin Twist. As a child he loved singing, noting Elvis Presley as one of his influences. [83] Styles was the lead singer for the band White Eskimo with band members lead guitarist Haydn Morris, bass guitarist Nick Clough and drummer Will Sweeny.[84] He auditioned on X-Factor with “Isn’t She Lovely”, receiving positive comments from two of the three judges, with Louis Walsh having doubts on whether he was ready to progress in the competition. At bootcamp, he sang “Stop Crying Your Heart Out” before being rejected and put into One Direction. He currently resides with band member Louis Tomlinson in North London.[85] Styles briefly dated Caroline Flack, which caused widespread media controversy over their fifteen year age gap
Louis Tomlinson
Louis William Tomlinson (born 24 December 1991,[87]) is from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, born to mother Johanna and father Mark[88] he has four younger sisters: Charlotte, Félicité, and twins Daisy and Phoebe, their parents separated in 2011.[64] Daisy and Phoebe had roles as babies on a show called Fat Friends, he would go along and serve has an extra, after Fat Friends he attended an acting school in Barnsley. He starred in an ITV1 drama called If I Had You, and had a small part in Waterloo Road.[83] He was a sixth form student at Hall Cross School, a state comprehensive school, and a former pupil of the Hayfield School. As a student at Hall Cross, Tomlinson starred in several musical productions.[89][90] In 2010, Tomlinson auditioned as solo candidate for the seventh series of The X Factor. Tomlinson auditioned for The X Factor with the song “Hey There Delilah”, receiving votes from all three judges. At bootcamp, he sang “Make You Feel My Love” before being rejected and put into One Direction. Tomlinson currently resides with band member Harry Styles in North London.[85] Tomlinson is currently in a relationship with Hollister model and Manchester University student Eleanor Calder