Niall Horan

• 1. Introduction

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  Niall Horan was 16 years old when he stood in front of the judges of The X Factor in Dublin and sang Ne-Yo's "So Sick." The Irish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist was born in Mullingar, Westmeath, on the 13th of September 1993. The year was 2010, and the show was in its seventh series. What did the judges make of him? How does a teenager who taught himself guitar from online videos become a name known across several continents? And what is left to build once the biggest stage has been left behind?

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• 2. A Guitar Nobody Played

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  Greg Horan, born in 1987, was given a guitar for his 15th birthday and used it exactly once. The instrument then "sat around for a while" until his younger brother picked it up. Niall was 11 and taught himself to play by following YouTube tutorials.

  Niall was five when his parents, Bobby Horan and Maura Gallagher, née Nolan, divorced. The two boys lived with their mother for a year and spent that year apart from their father. They later decided to move in with him. As a child, Niall also had asthma.

  His aunt discovered his singing by accident. She was riding in a car with him when he started to sing, and she assumed the radio was on. As a teenager he performed at the Mullingar Arts Centre during a fundraiser for the local football team, the Shamrocks. He also won a support slot with Lloyd Daniels, a former X Factor contestant, at the Academy club in Dublin. Daniels's old show would soon be the place where Horan himself was judged.

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• 3. Made at Bootcamp

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  Louis Walsh liked what he heard from the teenager in Dublin. Cheryl Cole and guest judge Katy Perry thought Horan needed time to grow. The decision came down to four voices. Simon Cowell said yes, Cole said no, Walsh said yes, and Perry, doubts and all, decided to say yes as well.

  At bootcamp, Horan sang "Champagne Supernova" and failed to qualify for the Boys category. Guest judge Nicole Scherzinger had another idea. Horan was placed in a group with four other boys who had also missed out as soloists. That made them eligible for the Groups category. The judges felt the five were too talented to send home, so they agreed with Scherzinger's suggestion to form a boy band.

  The five were Horan, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik, and together they became One Direction. Styles came up with the name. He thought it would sound good when announcer Peter Dickson read it out on the live shows.

  Within the first four weeks of the live shows, the group was Cowell's last remaining contestant. They went on to be the last act eliminated, finishing behind runner-up Rebecca Ferguson and winner Matt Cardle. They left without a trophy, but Cowell then signed them to a reported £2 million record contract with Syco.

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• 4. Arena Years

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  In January 2011, One Direction began recording their debut album in Los Angeles. A month later, they joined other contestants from the series on The X Factor Live Tour. Their first single, "What Makes You Beautiful," came out in September 2011 and reached number one in several countries. "Gotta Be You" and "One Thing" followed as top ten hits in the UK. Up All Night arrived in Ireland and the UK that November, reaching number one and number two. Its international release in March 2012 made One Direction the first UK group to see a debut album top the US chart. The Up All Night Tour was their first as headliners.

  September 2012 brought "Live While We're Young," which peaked at number three in both the UK and the US. The follow-up, "Little Things," became the band's second UK number one single. Take Me Home followed in November 2012 and reached number one in more than 35 countries. After it topped the Billboard 200, One Direction became the first boy band in US chart history to score two number-one albums in a single calendar year. They were also the first group to do so since 2008. The Take Me Home Tour played more than 120 shows across four continents.

  In August 2013, the 3-D concert documentary One Direction: This Is Us was released and became a box office success. It grossed over $68.5 million.

  Midnight Memories, released on the 25th of November 2013, was the best-selling album worldwide that year, with 4 million copies sold. The Where We Are Tour that followed grossed over $290 million. It was the highest-grossing tour of 2014 and the 15th highest-grossing of all time. It is still the highest-grossing tour ever by a vocal group.

  In November 2014, the album Four debuted at number one in 18 countries. One Direction became the only group in the 58-year history of the Billboard 200 whose first four albums all debuted at number one. February 2015 brought the On The Road Again Tour, with shows in Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.

  Made in the A.M., the fifth album, arrived in November 2015, led by the singles "Drag Me Down" and "Perfect." It reached number one in multiple countries, including the UK, and number two on the US Billboard 200. After it, the group went on an indefinite hiatus, and Horan signed a solo deal with Capitol Records.

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• 5. Flicker to Homecoming

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  On the 29th of September 2016, Horan released "This Town," his first single for Capitol Records. It peaked at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart and number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100. "Slow Hands" followed on the 4th of May 2017 and also entered the top 10 in the UK and the top 20 in the US.

  In August 2017, Horan began the worldwide Flicker Sessions 2017 tour to promote his debut album, Flicker. A third single, "Too Much to Ask," came out on the 15th of September 2017. The album was released on the 20th of October 2017 and debuted atop the Billboard 200. It also reached number one in Ireland and the Netherlands, and the top three in Australia and the UK.

  On the 8th of November 2017, Horan performed "Seeing Blind" with Maren Morris at the 51st Country Music Association Awards. The Flicker World Tour followed in 2018. His song "Finally Free," for the Smallfoot soundtrack, earned a Hollywood Music in Media Awards nomination for Best Original Song in an Animated Film. He also performed Flicker tracks for RTÉ, and the recordings from that session became a live album, Flicker: Featuring the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

  In March 2019, Horan was featured on Julia Michaels' song "What a Time." His second album, Heartbreak Weather, was previewed by "Nice to Meet Ya" on the 4th of October 2019, "Put a Little Love on Me" on the 6th of December 2019, and "No Judgement" on the 7th of February 2020. The album was released on the 13th of March 2020 and debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart. The Nice to Meet Ya Tour, which Horan announced on the 30th of October for 2020, was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  Lockdown gave Horan time to co-write a new version of Ashe's song "Moral of the Story," released in June 2020. On the 7th of November 2020, he played a live-streamed concert at the Royal Albert Hall to support his touring crew and the organization We Need Crew.

  In 2021, Horan and English singer Anne-Marie released a single called "Our Song." That year he also joined other UK musicians in recording a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Everywhere" for the BBC's Children in Need. In 2022 came a television special sponsored by Guinness, Homecoming: The Road to Mullingar with Lewis Capaldi. It aired on Virgin Media Ireland and was later released to Prime Video.

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• 6. The Show and Dinner Party

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  Horan released "Heaven," the lead single from his third album, The Show, on the 17th of February 2023. A week later, it debuted at number 4 on the Irish singles chart. On the 17th of March 2023, he performed it at the White House for the Saint Patrick's Day celebration of U.S. President Joe Biden and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. The second single, "Meltdown," followed on the 28th of April 2023.

  The Show arrived in June 2023 and reached number one in multiple countries, including on the Irish and UK album charts. In the United States it peaked at number 2. Reviews were generally positive. Critics praised the cohesive production and Horan's vocal performances, while noting a shift toward more mature pop-rock influences.

  That summer, Horan made his festival debut at the Boston Calling Music Festival. He also played the Isle of Wight Festival and TRNSMT.

  In 2024, The Show: Live on Tour became Horan's first headlining tour since 2018. It began in Europe and continued through Oceania and North America. Many dates sold out rapidly, including multiple nights in London, Sydney and New York. It became his first tour to pass 1 million ticket sales.

  In October 2025, Horan was featured on a new version of Thomas Rhett's song "Old Tricks," released on the deluxe edition of About a Woman. The track pairs Rhett's country style with pop-leaning harmonies from Horan, and it found success on country radio in the United Kingdom.

  On the 6th of February 2026, Horan teamed up with British singer Myles Smith on the single "Drive Safe." That month he announced on social media that he had finished his fourth studio album, Dinner Party, due on the 5th of June. The title track was released as the first single on the 20th of March 2026, and "Little More Time" followed on the 23rd of April 2026. A tour called Dinner Party: Live on Tour is listed for 2026-2027.

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• 7. Beyond the Music

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  In 2016, Horan and Mark McDonnell founded Modest Golf, a golf management company. Horan has also been involved with the Drive, Chip and Putt initiative, which encourages and supports young golfers. He has said he wants to increase female participation in golf and add support and promotion for women golfers.

  In early 2023, Horan became a coach on the 23rd season of The Voice. On the 23rd of May 2023, Gina Miles, a member of his team, won, making him the winning coach on his first season. Huntley, another member of his team, won the 24th season on the 19th of December 2023. In May 2025, it was announced that he would return after a three-season hiatus for the 28th season. Aiden Ross won that season, and Horan became the first coach in the show's history to win his first three seasons.

  Charity work has run alongside all of this. As a member of One Direction, Horan supported Comic Relief in 2013. In 2015 came the Action 1D campaign, launched "to end extreme poverty, tackle inequality and slow down climate change with the help of their millions of fans."

  In May 2014, Horan hosted the Charity Football Challenge at Leicester City's King Power Stadium to raise money for Irish Autism Action. The celebrity match drew 10,000 spectators and raised about £300,000. In 2016, he supported the same charity with limited-edition T-shirts. He also took part in Soccer Aid in 2016 and 2019 to raise funds for UNICEF.

  Since 2016, Horan's golf management agency and the golfer Justin Rose have staged fundraising shows called "Horan & Rose." The proceeds go to Cancer Research UK and The Black Heart Foundation.

  Horan also has political views on the record. In 2010 he canvassed for the Labour Party, and he has expressed support for the Repeal of the Eighth Amendment and the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2017, he received an Arnie Award for his work with charities.

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• 8. Knee, Mind and Music

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  In the summer of 2010, Horan injured his knee while playing football with friends and was diagnosed with a floating kneecap. Football, golf and Gaelic football were the sports he enjoyed while growing up. The problem recurred several times over the next couple of years. In 2013, he dislocated his knee onstage during a concert in Antwerp, Belgium.

  He went to the United States for major reconstructive surgery in January 2014, after the tour ended. Chelsea manager José Mourinho then invited him to do physical therapy with the team. Horan spent more than seven weeks working with the players and their physical therapist at the club's training ground in Surrey.

  In April 2018, Horan said he had mild OCD and anxiety. He is also colourblind. He has difficulty telling orange from red, green from yellow, and shades of blue from purple.

  Horan dated the American actress and singer Hailee Steinfeld from late 2017 to 2018. He began dating account manager Amelia Woolley in 2020. He splits his time between Los Angeles and South London. He is Catholic, is the godfather of his nephew, and supports the English football club Derby County.

  His music has been classed as soft rock, pop and pop rock, with touches of country and folk. His tenor voice has been described as "sweet, high, and slightly grainy." He grew up listening to rock bands such as the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Coldplay, and to crooners including the Rat Pack members Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. Among the singer-songwriters who inspire him are Damien Rice, Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

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