One Direction

In 2017 Styles made his debut as an actor, taking on the role of a British soldier during World War II in the film Dunkirk (2017); his performance received positive reviews. In 2020, a year after the release of his second solo album, Fine Line (2019), which broke U.S. sales records for a British male singer and earned him nominations for British Male Solo Artist and British Album of the Year at the 2020 BRIT Awards,

Styles accepted a leading role in the film Don’t Worry Darling (2022), a psychological thriller directed by Olivia Wilde. His third solo album, Harry’s House, was released in 2022, the same year as the release of the romantic drama My Policeman, a film set in 1950s Brighton,

England, in which Styles played the leading role of a gay policeman.

From early in his career, Styles was known for his philanthropy. He frequently donated proceeds from his concerts and tours to charities and took moments onstage to bring awareness to equal rights, gender equality, and other causes. He also promoted the slogan “Treat People with Kindness,” after which he wrote a song of the same name that appeared on Fine Line. Styles received numerous nominations and awards, among them the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance, for his song “Watermelon Sugar,” for which he also won the 2021 BRIT Award for British Single of the Year.

One Direction, British-Irish male vocal group whose stylish good looks and bright pop-rock sound captivated young fans around the world in the early 2010s. The members were Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson. The group formed in 2010 on the British television show The X Factor, a talent contest for aspiring singers. Each of the five members

Each of the five members auditioned and originally competed as a solo performer, but early in the season they were advised to pool their talents. Taking the name One Direction, the boys—all were between 16 and 18 years old at the time—attracted substantial attention, especially from young female viewers, for their charismatic stage presence and vocal skills. Although One Direction ultimately fell short of winning on The X Factor, the show’s mastermind, Simon Cowell, offered the act a recording contract soon after the season ended.

In the tradition of earlier pop-music “boy bands,” One Direction was promoted as a set of teen idols who were musically compatible but also distinct in style and personality. After building its fan base in early 2011 by touring the British Isles with fellow The X Factor contestants, the group entered the recording studio. The resulting album, Up All Night (2011), filled with cheerily harmonized pop songs about carefree revelry, first-time heartbreak, and other adolescent concerns, was an immediate hit both at home and in other European and Commonwealth countries. Its popularity was fueled in part by the song “What Makes You Beautiful,” a buoyant empowerment anthem that topped the British and Irish singles charts and in early 2012 was named best British single at the Brit Awards (the British equivalent of the Grammy Awards). Although the American market had often bedeviled otherwise popular British boy bands, One Direction, aided by a social media campaign that introduced the group to potential overseas fans, had little difficulty breaking through. Up All Night debuted at number one on the Billboard album chart upon its 2012 release and went on to sell more than a million copies in the United States. The quintet extended its worldwide success with its sophomore release, Take Me Home (2012), which departed little from the winning formula of its predecessor. In 2013 the group was the subject of a 3-D concert-tour documentary, One Direction: This Is Us, and released a third hit album, Midnight Memories. Two years later, while touring in support of the album Four (2014), One Direction announced that Malik had left the group. The remaining four continued to tour but announced a planned hiatus shortly before the release of Made in the A.M. (2015), and the band members began issuing solo albums thereafter