One Direction

n 2010, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson auditioned as solo candidates for the seventh series of the British televised singing competition The X Factor.[4] They failed to progress to the "Boys" category at "judges' houses", and, after a suggestion by Nicole Scherzinger, a guest judge,[4] they were put together to form a five-piece boy band at Wembley Arena, in London, England, in July 2010, during the "bootcamp" stage of the competition,[5] thus qualifying for the "Groups" category. Subsequently, the group got together for two weeks to get to know each other and to practise.[6][7] Styles came up with the name One Direction.[6] For their qualifying song at "judges' houses", and their first song as a group, One Direction sang an acoustic version of "Torn".[8] Simon Cowell later commented that the performance convinced him that the group "were confident, fun, like a gang of friends, and kind of fearless as well."[9] Within the first four weeks of the live shows, they were Cowell's last act in the competition.[10] The group quickly gained popularity in the UK.[9]

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.[11] Shortly afterwards it was confirmed that One Direction had been signed by Cowell to a reported £2 million Syco Records record contract.[12][13] Recording for their debut album began in January 2011, as they flew to Los Angeles to work with RedOne, a record producer.[14] A book licensed by One Direction, One Direction: Forever Young (Our Official X Factor Story), was published by HarperCollins in February 2011,[15] subsequently topping The Sunday Times Best Seller list.[16] The same month, the boy band and other contestants from the series participated in the X Factor Live Tour.[17] During the tour the group performed for 500,000 people throughout the UK.[18] After the tour concluded in April 2011, the group continued working on their debut album.[14] 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.[19][20]

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