One Direction Members - Meet The Boys

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One Direction are a British-Irish boy band consisting of members Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. They signed to Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records after being formed and placing third in the seventh series of The X Factor. They later signed in North America to Columbia Records.

 Niall Horan

Niall James Horan (born 13 September 1993 in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland) was born to mother Maura Gallagher and father Bobby Horan. He has an older brother Greg. Their parents divorced when he was five. He and his brother lived between each of their homes for a few years before eventually deciding to live with their father in Mullingar. His mother remarried and lives in Edgeworthstown, County Longford with Chris, her husband of seven years. He was a pupil at Coláiste Mhuire, a boys' Christian Brothers school. Horan was in the school choir, performing seasonally around Christmas. Prior to participating in The 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." 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."

Zayn Malik

Zain Javadd "Zayn" Malik (born 12 January 1993 in St. Luke's Hospital) is from West Lane, Bradford, England. Born to British Pakistani father Yaser and an English mother, Tricia Malik (née Brannan), he has three sisters Doniya, Waliyha and Safaa. 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. 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." His mother revealed growing up: "Zayn was always playing music on his computer and singing along to it for hours." Malik didn't fit in at his first two schools due to his mixed heritage, revealing that when he and his sister moved schools he felt he fit in better.

 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, he has two older sisters, Ruth and Nicola. 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. His mother would juggle shifts as a nursery nurse to accompany him on all his auditions. 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." He was a music technology student at City of Wolverhampton College.

 Harry Styles

Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994 in Evesham, Worcestershire) is from village Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, England. He is a former pupil at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School, a state comprehensive school. Born to mother Anne Cox and father Des Styles, he has an older sister, Gemma, he was seven when their parents divorced; his mother later remarried to Robin Twist. Regarding his parents divorce he said, "that was quite a weird time. I remember crying about it. I didn’t really get what was going on properly, I was just sad that my parents wouldn't be together any more." Following the divorce, Styles, his older sister and his mother moved further out into the Cheshire countryside. At the age of twelve he moved back to Holmes Chapel. That was when his mother met his stepfather Robin Twist. Styles said he was "really pleased" when Twist proposed to his mother. 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. They had once entered a local Battle of the Bands, which they won.

Louis Tomlinson

Louis William Tomlinson (born 24 December 1991) is from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. Born to mother Johannah and father Troy. Johannah split from Louis' dad Troy when he was young and he took on his stepfather Mark Tomlinson's last name. He has four younger half-sisters: Charlotte, Félicité, and twins Daisy and Phoebe. When Daisy and Phoebe had roles as babies on a show called Fat Friends, he would go along and serve as an extra. After Fat Friends, he attended an acting school in Barnsley. He had small parts in an ITV1 drama called If I Had You, and BBC's Waterloo Road. He was a sixth form student at Hall Cross School, a state comprehensive school, and a former pupil of the Hayfield School. He revealed that he failed his first year of A levels at the Hayfield School, "mainly because I’d been too busy having fun. I was out all the time in that first year." He ended up going back to Hall Cross and started A levels over again. As a student at Hall Cross, Tomlinson starred in several musical productions.