One Direction is an English-Irish pop boy band based in London, consisting of members Niall Horan,
Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson. They signed with Simon Cowell's record
label Syco Records after being formed and finishing third in theseventh series of British television singing
competition The X Factor in 2010. Propelled to international success by the power of social media, their
two albums Up All Night (2011) and Take Me Home (2012), broke several records, topped the charts of
most major markets, and generated hit singles, including "What Makes You Beautiful" and "Live While We're Young".
Often described as sparking the resurgence in the boy band concept, and of forming part of a new "British Invasion"
in the United States, the group have sold over 14 million singles and 8 million albums,
according to the band's management company, Modest! Management. Their achievements include
two BRIT Awards and three MTV Video Music Awards. 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, while The Huffington Post
named 2012 "The Year of One Direction".
In 2010, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson auditioned as solo
candidates for the seventh series of British television reality singing competition The X Factor. Failing to
progress to the "Boys" category at "judges' houses", after a suggestion by guest judge Nicole Scherzinger,
they were put together to form a five-piece boy band at Wembley Arena, London, England, 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 each other 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". In the live shows within four weeks, they
were Simon Cowell's last act in the competition. The group quickly gained popularity in the UK.
One Direction finished in third place and 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. Shortly afterwards it was
confirmed, One Direction had been signed by Cowell to a reported �2 million Syco Records record contract.
Recording for their debut album began in January 2011, as they flew to Los Angeles to work with producer Red One.
A One Direction-licensed book, One Direction: Forever Young (Our Official X Factor Story), was published by
HarperCollins in February 2011, subsequently toppingThe Sunday Times Best Seller list.
The same month, the boy band and other contestants from the series participated in the X Factor Live Tour.
The tour saw the group performing for 500,000 people throughout the UK. After the tour concluded in April 2011,
the group continued working on their debut album.Recording took place in Stockholm, London, and Los Angeles,
as One Direction worked with producers Carl Falk, Savan Kotecha, Steve Mac, and Rami Yacoub, among others.
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