Short Biography of One Direction

In 2010, five boys beat hundred of thousands others to get the coveted spots in the seventh series "The X Factor". Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson did not know each other before the audition of the British talent show but they were grouped together by fate and later achieved fame in one direction.

The members applied as solo candidates but they did not qualify as "Boys" category, thus judge Nicole Scherzinger suggested them to form a group so that they would qualify as "Groups". One Direction began toppling their competition one by one although they remained the only group in its category. With Simon Cowell as their mentor, One Direction managed to finish third behind runner-up Rebecca Ferguson and winner Matt Cardle.

But One Direction were the quickest to break through the charts in United Kingdom and United States. Their supposed winning song "Forever Young" was leaked online after the "X Factor" final. The group signed a recording deal with Syco Records and they went on the annual contestants tour through April 2011. Meanwhile, work on their debut album was also moving fast.

"What Makes You Beautiful" was released as the first U.K. Single in September 2011. The song successfully landed at number on U.K. Singles chart. "Gotta Be You" was released as one last bullet before the album "Up All Night" was released in November 2011 and took the second spot of U.K. Albums chart by selling more than 138,000 copies in the first week. The album was followed by U.K. Tour in December 2011 and January 2012.

Their influence started to spread Stateside and they took the invasion one step at a time. The group signed up as the opening act of Big Time Rush from February to March 2012. They made a quick stop at the 2012 BRIT Awards where they received the honor of Best British Single for "What Makes You Beautiful".

In the U.S., the boys were handled by Columbia Records. "What Makes You Beautiful" was released as the first U.S. single and it debuted at number 28 on Billboard Hot 100. Due to the rising hype around the band, the label moved the release date of "Up All Night" a week earlier on March 13, 2012. It performed well on the Billboard Hot 200 chart by going straight to number one for selling 176,000 copies in the first week of sale.

The so-called second British Invasion started spreading as the band were invited to perform on "Saturday Night Live" and 2012 Kids' Choice Awards. The band made a cameo on Nickelodeon's "iCarly" and were booked to have their own TV series on the network. To contain the anticipation, the band announced a headlining tour in North America from May to July 2012.