round. But with the judges determined not to lose them, the boys were offered a lifeline – if they were to join together to form a group, they could stay in the competition. With the chance of great musical success within their reach, the boys agreed to become a band – and One Direction was born.
“I didn’t think I would ever want to be in a group,” admits Zayn. “But when I was there and it was happening, and I knew the lads a bit, there was no way I was going to say ‘no’.”
Harry continues, “When we first got together we went to Wembley to see Take That and we thought, “Yeah that’s what we want to be doing.” Fifteen years from now we want One Direction to be playing a gig together at Wembley.”
As The X Factor went live across the UK, One Direction began impressing an average of 16 million viewers each weekend with passionate performances of Kim Wilde’s Kids in America and Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars.
“We’ve all got quite different sounding voices and our own individual style,” explains Zayn. “So we played up to that and played to each of our strengths.” During this time, fans were beginning to appear outside the London-based TV studio in the hope of meeting their idols. In the
backstage green room, fan mail was being delivered by the sackful. When Niall, Zayn, Liam, Harry and Louis set foot on stage each Saturday night, the screams were deafening and it became clear that this new group were becoming a huge deal with the country’s young music fans.
“It’s been crazy but we love seeing the support,” adds Zayn, with honesty. “There were so many people waiting for us outside.”
On 12 December 2010, the boys took to the stage for the final time to perform She’s The One with multi-million selling artist Robbie Williams. This was their last opportunity to impress the judging panel and the entire nation; to secure a future in the music industry. That weekend, One Direction were crowned the third place winners of The X Factor 2010.
Signing to Syco
Despite their success on the show, the boys had to face facts - they hadn’t won the competition, and as a result weren’t given the first prize of a record deal. Now, they were on their own and had to find the means to keep making music together. Although they made clear, disbanding was not an option.
“We came from nothing, and had no
experience as a group at all. By the time we came to the end of the show, we were a completely different group,” remembers Louis. “We worked so hard, and achieved so much. We became really close mates.”
Thankfully, there was someone who already had great belief in the boys; someone who could see that with some professional guidance and financial support, they could go on to be huge musical success. That person was their X Factor mentor, Simon Cowell – and just after Christmas, each member of One Direction received a call, asking them to attend a meeting at the Syco Records head office in London. That day, they were offered their first record deal.
Harry laughs: “Simon Cowell was telling you your life was about to change! It was weird. I feel incredibly lucky to have the life I do.”
The Debut Album Having signed to Syco Records, One Direction immediately began touring – spending two months travelling the UK with the X Factor Live Tour. They performed everywhere from Brighton to Aberdeen and met their growing number of supporters along the way. They even kept an account of their first experience ‘on the road’ and put together a book, Forever Young, which went on to make the best-sellers lists
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