Harry Styles

Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer.

Harry Edward Styles was born on 1 February 1994 in Redditch, Worcestershire, England, the son of pub owner Anne Twist (née Selley) and finance worker Desmond "Des" Styles.

When he was a child, he moved with his parents and older sister, Gemma, to the village of Holmes Chapel in Cheshire.

His parents divorced when he was seven years old.

His mother later married business partner John Cox, although they divorced years later.

His musical career began in 2010 as part of One Direction, a boy band formed on the British music competition series The X Factor after each member of the band had been eliminated from the solo contest.

Following a suggestion from his mother, on 11 April 2010, Styles auditioned as a solo contestant for the seventh series of the British televised singing competition The X Factor, singing a rendition of Train's "Hey, Soul Sister".

After Simon Cowell suggested that the track was not right for him, he instead sang a rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely".

He advanced to bootcamp but failed to progress further.

Four others in his age group who were also eliminated were put together to form a band in July 2010 to compete in the "Groups" category, mentored by Cowell.

The group consisting of Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik practised for two weeks; Styles suggested the name One Direction to his bandmates, which they agreed to.

They began to gain considerable popularity in the UK, and within the first four weeks of the live shows, were Cowell's last act in the competition.

The group eventually reached the final of The X Factor and finished in third place.

In January 2011, One Direction signed a recording contract with Cowell's label Syco Records.

Their UK number one debut single, "What Makes You Beautiful", and their debut studio album, Up All Night, were released later that year.

The album, which contained three songs co-written by Styles, made One Direction the first British group to have their debut album reach number one in the United States.

Their four succeeding studio albums—Take Me Home (2012), Midnight Memories (2013), Four (2014) and Made in the A.M. (2015)—all debuted at number one in the UK.

Through her subsequent marriage in 2013 to Robin Twist, who died of cancer in 2017, Styles gained an older stepbrother named Mike and a stepsister named Amy.

Styles said he had a "great childhood" and was always supported by his parents.

As a child, he sang covers on a karaoke machine he was given by his grandfather, and the first song he recorded was Elvis Presley's "The Girl of My Best Friend".

Styles attended the Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School, where he was the lead singer for the band White Eskimo, which won a local Battle of the Bands competition.

At the age of 16, he worked part-time at the W. Mandeville Bakery in Holmes Chapel.

Midnight Memories was the world's best-selling album of 2013, and its accompanying Where We Are Tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2014 and remains the highest-grossing tour of all time by a vocal group.

After the release of Four, One Direction became the only group in the 58-year history of the Billboard 200 albums chart to have their first four albums debut at number one.

The albums spawned a string of successful singles, including "Live While We're Young", "Little Things", "Best Song Ever", "Story of My Life", "Drag Me Down" and "History".

Styles also co-wrote the song "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart" for Ariana Grande's 2014 album My Everything.

They became one of the best-selling boy groups of all time before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016.

Not wanting to "exhaust" the fan base, upon Styles' suggestion, the band went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016, after completing promotional activities related to Made in the A.M.

Since their debut, One Direction have sold 70 million records worldwide, including 7.6 million albums and 26 million singles in the US, becoming one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.

The group amassed numerous accolades, including seven Brit Awards, seven American Music Awards, six Billboard Music Awards, and four MTV Video Music Awards.

Styles released his self-titled debut solo album through Columbia Records in 2017.

It debuted at number one in the UK and the US and was one of the world's top-ten best-selling albums of the year, while its lead single, "Sign of the Times", topped the UK Singles Chart.

His film roles include Dunkirk (2017), Don't Worry Darling (2022), and My Policeman (2022).

Aside from music and acting, Styles is known for his flamboyant fashion.

He is the first man to appear solo on the cover of Vogue.

Styles' second album, Fine Line (2019), debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with the biggest ever first-week sales by an English male artist, and Rolling Stone included it in their 2020 revision of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Its fourth single, "Watermelon Sugar", topped the US Billboard Hot 100.

Styles' widely acclaimed third album, Harry's House (2022), broke several records, receiving the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2023, and was included in the 2023 revision of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Its lead single, "As It Was", became the number-one song of 2022 globally according to Billboard.

Styles has received various accolades, including six Brit Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Ivor Novello Award, and three American Music Awards.