Harry Styles

Harry Edward Styles was born on 1 February 1994 in Redditch, Worcestershire, the son of Anne Cox (née Selley) and finance worker Desmond "Des" Styles. When he was a child, he moved with his parents and older sister Gemma to Holmes Chapel, Cheshire. His parents divorced when he was seven and his mother later was remarried to Robin Twist, who died of cancer in 2017. Styles has an older stepbrother named Mike and a stepsister named Amy, children of Twist. Styles said he had a "great childhood" and was always supported by his parents. As a child, he recorded covers on a karaoke machine he was given by his grandad, and the first song he recorded was Elvis Presley's "The Girl of My Best Friend". Styles attended Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School. While at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive, he was the lead singer for the band White Eskimo, which won a local Battle of the Bands competition. At the age of 16, he worked part-time at the W. Mandeville Bakery in Holmes Chapel.

Following a suggestion from his mother, on 11 April 2010, Styles auditioned as a solo contestant for the seventh series of the British televised singing competition The X Factor, singing a rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely". He advanced to bootcamp, but failed to progress to the "Boys" category at "judges' houses". Four others in his age group also failed, but they were put together as an ensemble in July 2010, during the "bootcamp" stage of the competition, thus qualifying for the "Groups" category mentored by Simon Cowell. The group consisting of Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik, got together for two weeks to practise. Styles said he had suggested the name One Direction to his bandmates and they agreed to keep it. Within the first four weeks of the live shows, they were Cowell's last act in the competition, and they quickly gained popularity in the UK. The group eventually reached The X Factor final, and finished in third place.

In January 2011, it was confirmed that One Direction had signed a reported £2 million record contract with Cowell's label Syco Records. The group's debut single, "What Makes You Beautiful", bowed at number one on the UK Singles Chart in September 2011, and their first studio album, Up All Night, was released two months later. One Direction became the first British group to have their debut album reach number one in the United States. The album featured a multitude of writers, but included three songs written by Styles and his groupmates. In November 2012, One Direction released their second album, Take Me Home, which spawned the group's second UK number one single, "Little Things".

Styles dated television presenter Caroline Flack from November 2011 to January 2012; their relationship stirred controversy as she was fourteen years his senior. He briefly dated American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift later in 2012, leading to fan and media speculation about them writing songs about each other after their breakup. From 2017 to 2018, Styles was in a relationship with model Camille Rowe who heavily inspired his 2019 album, Fine Line.

One Direction: This Is Us, a documentary and concert film about the group directed by Morgan Spurlock, was released in 2013. In November that year, the group released their third album, Midnight Memories, which spawned the successful singles "Story of My Life" and "Best Song Ever", the former being the first song co-written by Styles to be released as a single. The album was the best-selling album of the year. Following its release, the band embarked on the Where We Are Tour which was the highest-grossing tour of 2014 and remains the highest-grossing tour of all time by a vocal group. Styles co-wrote the song "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart" for Ariana Grande's album, My Everything, released in August 2014. Later in November, One Direction released their fourth album, Four, which was the last to include Malik, due to his exit from the group in early 2015. One Direction became the only group in the 58-year history of the Billboard 200 albums chart to have their first four albums debut at number one. In August 2015, the group confirmed rumours of an extended hiatus following the completion of their fifth album, Made in the A.M., and related promotional activities. Styles said he had suggested the hiatus in late 2014 while working in the studio, not wanting to "exhaust" the fan base. Over the course of their career, One Direction have sold 70 million records worldwide, including 7.6 million albums and 26 million singles in the US, becoming one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. The group amassed numerous accolades, including seven Brit Awards, seven American Music Awards, six Billboard Music Awards, and four MTV Video Music Awards.

Styles' sexuality has long been a subject of speculation. When asked in a GQ interview in 2013 whether he was bisexual, he responded, "I'm pretty sure I'm not." In 2017, Styles said he did not feel any need to label his sexuality, adding that "being in a creative field, it’s important to be progressive." When asked in December 2019 about his flamboyant image, use of LGBTQ aesthetics and sexual ambiguity, he stated,

In 2013, Styles and fellow One Direction member Liam Payne became ambassadors for the cancer charity Trekstock, and raised more than $800,000 through the online fundraising platform Prizeo. In 2015, Styles sponsored water wells in India via Drop4Drop in support of Life Water's World Water Day campaign. The following year, he donated his hair to the UK charity Little Princess Trust, which supplies and funds wigs made of real hair to children who have hair loss as a result of illnesses. In May 2017, to celebrate the release of his debut album, he played intimate shows at The Garage in London and at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, with all proceeds benefiting charities. That October, he performed alongside other artists at CBS Radio's We Can Survive concert at the Hollywood Bowl for breast cancer awareness. Styles' first tour raised $1.2 million in charity donations from ticket sales, Live Nation's contributions, and GLSEN's Pride campaign toward 62 charities around the world. It also promoted water conservation via recycling and reducing plastic water bottle usage.

Styles splits his time between two homes in North London, having previously lived in the Sunset Strip area of West Hollywood, California. He also owns a loft apartment in the Manhattan borough of New York City. He lived in the attic of producer Ben Winston's home in Hampstead Heath, London, for 20 months at the beginning of his career while he looked for his own house. Styles believes in karma, and when Chelsea Handler asked if he believes in God, he responded, "I feel like anyone who says 'I'm spiritual' sounds a little wanky. But yeah, I definitely consider myself to be more spiritual than religious. I'm not super tied-in to certain rules but I think it's naïve to say nothing exists and there's nothing above us or more powerful than us. I think that's a little narrow-minded. [...] I definitely think there's something, that it's not just us. It's kind of crazy to think that it's just us." He has dozens of tattoos, one of which (the words "Late Late" on his arm) was done during a live appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden in 2015.

In February 2016, Styles left One Direction's management company, Modest Management, and joined Jeffrey Azoff's Full Stop Management. Styles launched his own record label, Erskine Records, in May and signed a recording contract with Columbia Records as a solo artist in June. Styles co-wrote the song "Someday" with Meghan Trainor for Michael Bublé's album, Nobody but Me, released in October. Recording for Styles' debut album took place throughout 2016 in Los Angeles, London, and Port Antonio, Jamaica, where Styles and his collaborators had a two-month writing retreat in the autumn. Jeff Bhasker executive produced the album, and Alex Salibian, Tyler Johnson, and Kid Harpoon served as producers. In March 2017, Styles announced that his first solo single, "Sign of the Times", would be released on 7 April. The song subsequently peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart and at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is a glam rock-influenced soft rock power ballad, and has frequently drawn comparisons with the work of David Bowie. Rolling Stone ranked it as the best song of 2017. Its music video featured Styles flying and walking on water, and won the Brit Award for British Video of the Year. In April, Styles was a musical guest on Saturday Night Live in the US, and made his debut televised solo performance in his native country on The Graham Norton Show.

Regarding Styles' time in One Direction, AllMusic writer Tim Sendra opined that his "charming persona and elastic vocals had him positioned as the Timberlake of the group." Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt described him as "a dimpled, rakish prankster happy to wear the mantle of Class Clown". In 2016, Styles cut his signature long hair, and was featured in Another Man magazine, after which Anne T. Donahue of The Guardian labeled him an "artthrob" who offers "something other than token shirtlessness" and telegraphs "an allegiance to the niche worlds of art and fashion rather than aiming for mainstream notoriety." Billboard's Chris Payne took note of how Styles' "vibe has always screamed rock star."

Styles won the British Style Award at the 2013 Fashion Awards. He was ranked first and fifth in 2016 and 2017, respectively, on British Vogue's "The 50 Fittest Boys" list. He was also voted the "Sexiest Male in Pop" for three consecutive years between 2016 and 2018 in a poll by British radio network Capital. In 2018, Styles was voted fourth on British GQ's list of 50 best-dressed men, in which fashion designer Michael Kors deemed him "the modern embodiment of British rocker style: edgy, flamboyant and worn with unapologetic swagger." Journalist and editor Anna Wintour chose Styles to be a co-chair of the 2019 Met Gala alongside Lady Gaga and Serena Williams, which preceded the art exhibition Camp: Notes on Fashion.

His self-titled debut album was released in May 2017, whereupon it debuted at number one in several countries, including Australia, the UK and the US. The record was heavily influenced by 1970s soft rock and was described by Variety as a "classic cocktail of psychedelia, Britpop, and balladry". The album received generally favourable reviews from critics, and was included in several publications' lists of the best albums of 2017. Harry Styles yielded two more singles, "Two Ghosts" and "Kiwi". The film, Harry Styles: Behind the Album, which documented the writing and recording process for the album, was also released in May exclusively on Apple Music. Styles embarked on his first headlining concert tour, Harry Styles: Live on Tour, from September 2017 through to July 2018, performing in North and South Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The tour setlist included covers of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain", several One Direction songs, as well as previously unreleased material.

Styles made his film debut in Christopher Nolan's war film Dunkirk, in July 2017, playing a British soldier named Alex who is a part of the Dunkirk evacuation in World War II. He appeared alongside an ensemble cast which included Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, and Tom Hardy. Styles beat out "thousands of young men" for the part; Nolan later stated he was unaware of the extent of his fame and that Styles was cast "because he fit the part wonderfully and truly earned a seat at the table." The Daily Telegraph film critic, Robbie Collin, praised Styles for his "bright, convicted, and unexpectedly not-at-all-jarring performance".

In November 2017, BBC One broadcast Harry Styles at the BBC, a one-hour television special presented by Nick Grimshaw. At 2017 ARIA Music Awards, Styles received an award for Best International Artist. He guest hosted The Late Late Show with James Corden in December. Together with Jack Antonoff and Ilsey Juber, Styles co-wrote "Alfie's Song (Not So Typical Love Song)", performed by the band Bleachers, for the soundtrack of the film Love, Simon (2018). He also served as an executive producer on the CBS sitcom Happy Together, which premiered in October 2018 and was inspired by his time living with television producer Ben Winston. In 2018, Styles began modelling for the Italian fashion house Gucci, appearing in several campaigns for the brand.

Styles has received scrutiny for not addressing issues and being lukewarm in political stances. In an April 2017 interview in France, when asked about his view on Brexit, Styles said, “I don’t really comment on politics. I think anything that brings people together is better than things that pull people apart”, adding that equality “doesn’t feel like politics” to him but “feels much more fundamental”. In May 2017, Styles was asked whether issues like Brexit, Black Lives Matter and Donald Trump’s presidency and the sociopolitical unrest has impacted his music. He said that his song “Sign of the Times” is “looking at several different things [...] just the state of the world at the moment”, and “it’s very easy to feel incredibly sad about a lot of things. It’s also nice sometimes to remember that while there’s a lot of bad stuff, there’s also a lot of amazing people doing amazing things in the world.” In an interview with The Times, Styles said he is “probably going to vote for whoever is against Brexit” and that while he is “not educated enough on the subject to really go toe-to-toe with someone about it”, he thinks “what it symbolizes is the opposite of the world I would like to be in. I think the world should be more about being together and being better together and joining together, and I think it’s the opposite of that.”

In November 2017, Styles was criticized for ignoring hundreds of Black Lives Matters signs from fans at his concerts and not showing support for the movement and black fans, and well as making non-committal or “bare minimum” gestures viewed as “damage control”. He later acknowledged race at a concert by saying “If you are black, if you are white [...] I love you all”, receiving mixed responses for “not addressing the problem at hand” and not acknowledging the racial oppression black people face.

"Treat People with Kindness", also abbreviated to "TPWK", is a slogan used by Styles to promote his message of love, acceptance and kindness to people. Styles started using the slogan on his debut concert tour in 2017, on a badge on his guitar and on tour merchandise, including Pride t-shirts sold to raise funds for GLSEN. In an interview in December 2019 he said, "It was a pin I had on my guitar strap and we made t-shirts for it, then I saw a lot of t-shirts around. I'd be driving or something and see someone in one and I started feeling like, 'Oh this is a bit of a thing'". This gave Styles the idea of writing a song to go with the slogan titled "Treat People with Kindness", which is the penultimate track on his second studio album, Fine Line.

Styles has shown support for the LGBT community by waving the rainbow flag on stage, wearing LGBT-themed clothing and supporting LGBT fans in concerts. In 2018, his online store sold t-shirts with the slogan "Treat People With Kindness" in a rainbow print for Pride Month, with profits benefiting GLSEN. Styles also added "Black Lives Matter" and "End Gun Violence" stickers to his guitar in 2018, and tweeted in support of the March for Our Lives petition and actress Emma Watson's HeForShe gender equality campaign. In December 2019, in response to not using his influence more to support specific causes, Styles stated:

"Lights Up", the lead single from Styles' second album Fine Line, was released in October 2019, debuting in third place in the UK. The song features a "soft-touch re-entry into the pop slipstream" according to music writer Jon Caramanica. Styles performed "double duty" as host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live in November. The second single preceding Fine Line, "Adore You", was released in December, peaking at number seven in the UK and at number six in the US. Styles also once again guest hosted The Late Late Show with James Corden that month.

Styles wore skinny jeans, sheer blouses, floral prints, flamboyant suits and heeled boots during his time in One Direction. Nicole Saunders of Billboard noted that his fashion had "blossomed from a teen wearing purple Jack Wills hoodies to a carefully executed blend of '70s rock with a glamorous magpie feel" over the course of the group's five-year stint. As a solo artist, he opted for "candyfloss" custom pink suits, sequined tops, printed satin flares and gradually heightening heels. Vanity Fair's Erika Harwood stated that Styles went from "boy-bander" to "luxury suit connoisseur" in describing his change in style. During his first solo tour, he collaborated with student designer Harris Reed, whose work with Styles comprised "flowing fabrics, ruffles and frills". He began wearing sweater vests, baggy high-waisted pants and a pearl necklace in 2019, which prompted Jacob Gallagher of The Wall Street Journal to call him the "popularizer of the manly pearl necklace." While performing on American morning program The Today Show in February 2020, Styles wore a custom rainbow cardigan by JW Anderson that inspired a TikTok trend of fans creating their own versions of the sweater.

In May 2019, Styles was named second on the Sunday Times Rich List of musicians in the UK under 30, with an estimated net worth of £58 million, having previously featured third on the previous year's list with an estimated net worth of £50 million. He maintained his position in second place on the list in 2020 with an estimated net worth of £63 million.

In October 2019, teaser posters including the phrase "Do you know who you are?" and the acronym "TPWK" were spotted in London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York and Australia, which fans were able to connect to Styles and his new album release due to the reference to his "Treat People with Kindness" motto. At the same time to mark World Mental Health Day, Styles launched a website bot called "Do You Know Who You Are?" that gives users positive randomised messages using words such as bright, determined, loving and wonderful, and ending with "TPWK. LOVE, H".

In March 2020, Styles performed an NPR Tiny Desk concert. In July, he narrated a bedtime story titled Dream with Me for the relaxation app Calm. Styles will star in the upcoming psychological thriller film Don't Worry Darling, directed by Olivia Wilde; he is replacing Shia LaBeouf, who had departed the film, and will play Jack.

In November 2020, Styles became the first man to have solo cover of Vogue, for its December issue.

In light of the killing of George Floyd in May 2020, Styles posted support for the Black Lives Matter movement, encouraging fans to share and donate in support. He attended a Los Angeles Black Lives Matter protest the following month. In late October 2020, Styles endorsed Joe Biden for the 2020 United States presidential election, stating "If I could vote in America, I’d vote with kindness".