Portal:Cheshire/Selected biography/23
One Direction is a boy band active from 2010 to 2016, which shot to fame after finishing third in the television singing competition The X Factor. Singer Harry Styles (born 1 February 1994) is from Holmes Chapel, and the group's other members are from England and Ireland. Their prominent social media presence was judged a factor in their rapid success. Their style includes teen pop, dance pop, pop rock and power pop.
The group's 2011 debut album Up All Night topped the charts in sixteen countries, and was the first debut album by a British group to enter the US Billboard 200 chart at the top. Their subsequent albums, Take Me Home, Midnight Memories and Four, topped the charts in most major markets. A fifth album, Made in the A.M., was released in 2015. Their first single "What Makes You Beautiful" reached number one in the UK charts; subsequent hit singles include "Live While We're Young", "Story of My Life" and "Steal My Girl". The biographical film This Is Us was released in 2013. One Direction won seven Brit Awards and four MTV Video Music Awards. Zayn Malik left in 2015, and the band has been on hiatus since 2016.