One Direction’s members all sought solo success after widespread fame
(From left) Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, and Liam Payne arrive for the World Premiere of “One Direction: This Is Us,” at the Empire Leicester Square, in London, Aug. 20, 2013. Image: Ian West/PA via AP, File
LONDON — One Direction was one of the last boy bands from the age of mass-audience linear television and one of the first of the social media era.
That helped propel them to a level of fame comparable to Beatlemania, but with the constant scrutiny of a world of smartphones and streaming. The band members, still in their teens, had to cope with the fame, then navigate the aftermath of its split while trying to build solo careers — challenges that have received renewed attention in the wake of band member Liam Payne’s death on Wednesday.
One Direction was put together by music mogul Simon Cowell after the teens auditioned separately for TV talent show “The X-Factor” in 2010. They didn’t win, instead coming third in a final watched by 17 million people in the U.K., a quarter of the population. But they were signed by Cowell and had the first of several No. 1 hits with the now-pop classic “What Makes You Beautiful” in 2012.
British radio host Kevin Hughes called them “one of the biggest selling U.K. bands since The Beatles, a huge global export and one of the biggest selling pop acts of the 21st century.”
One Direction’s appeal rested partly on the members’ cheerful, cheeky ordinariness. The late filmmaker Morgan Spurlock said when he directed a documentary about One Direction in 2013 that “part of the reason they’ve been so incredibly successful with their fans is that they are so incredibly grounded and normal.”
Article continues after this advertisementAfter five studio albums and 70 million records sold, One Direction announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016. All the members embarked on solo careers, with varying degrees of success.
Article continues after this advertisementLiam Payne
Payne, who died at 31 after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina, became one of the main songwriters on One Direction’s albums. His first solo single, “Strip that Down,” a power pop track featuring rapper Quavo, was a Top 10 hit in Britain in 2017. “For You,” performed with Rita Ora, was a U.K. hit in 2018.
Payne’s debut solo album, “LP1,” was released in 2019, but didn’t make the U.S. Top 100.
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Payne had a son, now 7, with the former “Girls Aloud” singer Cheryl — an “X Factor” judge during One Direction’s season.
He was open about struggling with his mental health amid the pressures of fame. He spent time in rehab for alcoholism and in hospital with what he said were kidney problems.
After a period of silence, Payne returned with a new single, “Teardrops,” in March, saying in a statement that it “marks the start of a new beginning.” The song failed to chart and a second album was reportedly put on hold before his death.
Zayn Malik
Malik precipitated One Direction’s demise when he left the group in 2015, saying he wanted “to be a normal 22-year-old” for a while.
His first solo single, “Pillowtalk,” was released early in 2016 and topped the charts in both the U.S. and Britain. A duet with Taylor Swift, “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever,” was a hit late the same year.
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Malik has released the solo albums “Mind of Mine” in 2016, “Icarus Falls” in 2018, “Nobody is Listening” in 2021 and “Room Under the Stairs” this year. The most recent adds a country sound to the R&B-pop on which he’s built his career.
Malik, who has spoken of struggles with anxiety and anorexia, has a daughter, born in 2020, with his on-off partner, model Gigi Hadid. In 2021, he was sentenced to 90 days’ probation after pleading no contest to harassing Hadid and her mother during an argument at the family home in Pennsylvania.
Niall Horan
The affable Irish member of One Direction released his first single, “This Town,” in 2016, and his debut album “Flicker” the following year. Showcasing Horan’s talent for tuneful pop, it topped Billboard’s album chart.
A second album, “Heartbreak Weather,” came out in 2020 and a third, “The Show,” was released in 2023, accompanied by a world tour this year — including a concert in Buenos Aires earlier this month attended by Payne.
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Horan has also served as a coach on TV talent series “The Voice” in the U.S.
Louis Tomlinson
Tomlinson made his solo debut with the single “Just Hold On” in 2016. Several more singles followed before his debut album, “Walls,” was released in 2020. It was a Top 10 hit in the U.S. and the U.K., as was his second album, “Faith in the Future,” released in late 2022. Tomlinson released a live album, “Live,” in 2024.
In 2018, he appeared as a judge on “The X Factor,” the show that made him famous.
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Tomlinson’s other great love is soccer. He briefly played for his home town team, Doncaster Rovers, and he has been involved with the Soccer Aid charity fundraiser for UNICEF.
He has a child with ex-girlfriend Briana Jungwirth.
Harry Styles
Musician, actor and style icon, Harry Styles is easily the biggest solo star spawned by One Direction.
He released his first single, “Sign of the Times,” later than the others, in 2017, but soon made up for lost time. His debut album, “Harry Styles,” topped the album charts in the U.S., Britain, and several other countries, while the second, “Fine Line,” appeared in 2019 and included the Grammy-winning “Watermelon Sugar.”
His third album, 2022’s “Harry’s House,” topped British and U.S. charts, won album of the year at the Grammys and the Brit Awards, and was nominated for the cred-heavy Mercury Prize. The single “As it Was” became his biggest hit yet, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for 15 weeks.
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Styles’ profile has been raised by a playful, adventurous fashion sense that includes a fondness for 1970s-inspired three-piece suits and bell-bottomed jumpsuits.
As an actor, Styles appeared as a World War II soldier in Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” before starring alongside Florence Pugh in Olivia Wilde’s dystopian thriller “Don’t Worry Darling.” It premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, where Styles’ red carpet appearance drew throng of fans and the approving appraisal of fashionistas. He also starred in the period romance “My Policeman,” which premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.
