Niall James Horan Biography

Niall Horan was born on September 13, 1993, in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland. During his school years, he showed talent for singing and performing. At the age of 16, he auditioned for the television show The X Factor and was accepted into the competition. Although he did not make the final rounds as a solo vocalist, he joined forces with four other contestants to form the successful boy band One Direction.

Childhood and School Years

Niall James Horan was born on September 13, 1993, in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland. His parents, Bobby and Maura Horan, divorced when he was a child. He and his older brother, Greg, moved back and forth between their parents' two households before settling in with their father.

Niall grew up in Mullingar and attended St. Kenny National School, where he performed in school plays and sang in the school choir. He attended secondary school at Coláiste Mhuire (Mary's College), also in Mullingar. As a teenager he performed at the Mullingar Arts Centre (in a fund-raiser for the local football team, the Shamrocks) and at The Academy in Dublin.

Competing on 'The X Factor'

In 2010, when he was 16 years old, Horan auditioned for the television talent competition The X Factor. He moved up through several rounds of preliminary auditions culminating in a performance for the program's judges, including Simon Cowell and guest judgeKaty Perry, in Dublin. He sang a version of Ne-Yo's "So Sick" and was accepted into the official competition. Although he was eliminated as a solo contestant after the semifinals, the judges combined Horan with Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik andLouis Tomlinson to form the boy band called One Direction.

Fame and One Direction

Although One Direction did not win the final round of The X Factor, the band immediately received a contract with Cowell's label Syco and recorded its first album, Up All Night, which became a best seller in the United Kingdom in 2011 and the United States in 2012.

Horan is the only One Direction member born outside England, and he is the second youngest member of the band. He claims to be inspired by classic swing music and by the vocalist Michael Bublé. He is known for his blonde good looks and boy-next-door appeal, and he has been romantically linked with the actresses Demi Lovatoand Freya Mavor, despite denying both rumors.


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