page_title: Harry Styles
section_title: 2010–2015: The X Factor and One Direction
hierarchical_section_title: Harry Styles / Career / 2010–2015: The X Factor and One Direction
caption_attribution_description: One Direction, The X Factor Live, SECC, Glasgow, 1 April 2011. From left to right: Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Zain Malik
context_page_description: Harry Edward Styles is an English singer, songwriter and actor. Born in Redditch, Worcestershire, his musical career began in 2010, when he auditioned as a solo contestant on the British music competition series The X Factor. Following his elimination early on, he was brought back to join the boy band One Direction, which eventually became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. After the band's indefinite hiatus in 2016, Styles signed with Columbia Records as a solo artist.
  Styles released his self-titled debut album in 2017, which topped the charts in fourteen countries and ranked in several music critics' year-end lists. The album's single, "Sign of the Times", topped the UK Singles Chart, peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was named "Song of the Year" by Rolling Stone, while its music video earned Styles a Brit Award. Styles made his acting debut in Christopher Nolan's war film Dunkirk. His second studio album, Fine Line, debuted atop the US Billboard 200 and broke the record as the biggest sales debut from an English male artist in the US in the Nielsen SoundScan era.
context_section_description: 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 Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely". He advanced to bootcamp, but failed to progress to the "Boys" category at "judges' houses". Four others in his age group also failed, but they were put together as an ensemble in July 2010, during the "bootcamp" stage of the competition, thus qualifying for the "Groups" category. Nicole Scherzinger, a guest judge, and Simon Cowell have both claimed to have come up with the idea of forming the band. The group consisting of Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik, got together for two weeks to practise. Styles said he had suggested the name One Direction to his bandmates and they agreed to keep it. Within the first four weeks of the live shows, they were Cowell's last act in the competition. The group quickly gained popularity in the UK. In December 2010, One Direction finished The X Factor in third place behind Rebecca Ferguson and Matt Cardle, who won.
  In January 2011, it was confirmed that One Direction had been signed by Cowell to a reported £2 million Syco Records record contract. One Direction's debut single, "What Makes You Beautiful", bowed at number one on the UK Singles Chart in September 2011, and their first studio album, Up All Night, was released two months later. One Direction became the first UK group to have their debut album reach number one in the United States. The album featured a multitude of writers, but included three songs written by Styles and his groupmates. In November 2012, One Direction released their second album, Take Me Home, which spawned the group's second number one single in the UK, "Little Things". Styles briefly dated American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift in the year of its release, leading to fan and media speculation about them writings songs about each other after their break-up. At around this period, Styles lived in the attic of producer Ben Winston's home in Hampstead Heath, London, for 20 months while he looked for his own house.
  One Direction: This Is Us, a documentary and concert film about the group directed by Morgan Spurlock, was released in 2013. In November the same year, the group released their third album, Midnight Memories, which spawned the hit singles "Story of My Life" and "Best Song Ever", the former being the first song co-written by Styles to be released as a single. The album was the best-selling album of the year. Following the album's release, the band embarked on the Where We Are Tour which was the highest-grossing tour of 2014 and is still the highest-grossing tour of all time by a vocal group. Styles co-wrote the song "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart" for Ariana Grande's album, My Everything, released in August 2014. Later in November, One Direction released their fourth album, Four, which was the last to include Malik, due his exit from the group in early 2015. 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. In August 2015, the group confirmed rumours of an extended hiatus following the completion of their fifth album, Made in the A.M., and related promotional activities. Styles said he had suggested the hiatus in late 2014 while working in the studio, not wanting to "exhaust" the fan base. Over the course of their career, One Direction have sold 7.6 million albums and 26 million singles in the US, and amassed seven BRIT Awards, seven American Music Awards, six Billboard Music Awards, and four MTV Video Music Awards, among others.
caption: Styles (left) with One Direction on The X Factor Live Tour in 2011
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