About One Direction
One Direction [ca. 2010] is a five-person boy band whose members are either of British or Irish origin. The quintet consists of Niall Horan (from County Westmeath, Ireland) [b. 1993], Zayn Malik (from Bradford, U.K.) [b. 1993], Liam Payne (from Wolverhampton, U.K.) [b. 1993], Harry Styles (from Holmes Chapel, U.K.) [b. 1994], and Louis Tomlinson (from Doncaster, U.K.) [b. 1991]. The singers appeared individually on the 2010 edition of the British music competition TV show, X Factor, and each failed to qualify on his own. As a result, the judges elected to group them together and allowed them to compete collectively. They finished in third place in the Group category and were signed to a recording contract by Syco Music, which is a joint venture between the X Factor management team (notably founder Simon Cowell) and Sony Music Entertainment and owns contractual first rights to any X Factor contestant’s music.
The ensemble saw the debut of their first single, “What Makes You Beautiful,” delayed from spring 2011 until the following September, in order for it to coincide with the newest season of X Factor. Thanks to receiving considerable pre-release airplay on BBC Radio 1 and elsewhere throughout the country, the song debuted at the top spot on the U.K. Singles Chart and shattered the pre-order sales record at Sony Music. Their debut album, Up All Night—a studio effort—came out in November 2011 and includes songs penned by Kelly Clarkson and Ed Sheeran.
One Direction has proven immensely popular with British fans, as was noted by the fact that their first U.K. tour as headliners—scheduled for December 2011 and January 2012—sold out literally within minutes of its announced dates and venues. The band plans to tour the United States in February/March 2012 alongside Big Time Rush. In anticipation of that tour, One Direction has signed a U.S. contract with Columbia Records.
