Harry Styles

Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer, songwriter and actor. His musical career began in 2010 as a solo contestant on the British music competition series The X Factor. Following his elimination, he was brought back to join the boy band One Direction, which went on to become one of the best-selling boy bands of all time before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016.

Styles released his self-titled debut solo album through Columbia Records in 2017. It debuted at number one in the UK and the US and was one of the world's top-ten best-selling albums of the year, while its lead single, "Sign of the Times", topped the UK Singles Chart. Styles' second album, Fine Line (2019), debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with the biggest ever first-week sales by an English male artist, and was the most recent album to be included in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2020. Its fourth single, "Watermelon Sugar", topped the US Billboard Hot 100. Featuring the chart-topping single "As It Was", Styles' third album, Harry's House (2022), was widely acclaimed and broke several records.

Throughout his career, Styles has received several accolades, including two Brit Awards, a Grammy Award, an Ivor Novello Award, and an American Music Award. Styles made his acting debut in Christopher Nolan's 2017 war film Dunkirk. Aside from music and acting, he is known for his flamboyant fashion. He is the first man to appear solo on the cover of Vogue.

Early life
Harry Edward Styles was born on 1 February 1994 in Redditch, Worcestershire, England, the son of landlady Anne Twist (née Selley, formerly Cox) and finance worker Desmond "Des" Styles. When he was a child, he moved with his parents and older sister, Gemma, to the village of Holmes Chapel in Cheshire. His parents divorced when he was seven years old, and his mother later remarried business partner John Cox, although they divorced years later. Through her subsequent marriage in 2013 to Robin Twist, who died of cancer in 2017, Styles has an older stepbrother named Mike and a stepsister named Amy.

Styles said he had a "great childhood" and was always supported by his parents. As a child, he sang covers on a karaoke machine he was given by his grandfather, and the first song he recorded was Elvis Presley's "The Girl of My Best Friend". Styles attended the Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School, where 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.

2010–2015: The X Factor and One Direction
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 further. Four others in his age group who were also eliminated were put together to form a band in July 2010 to compete in the "Groups" category, mentored by Simon Cowell. The group consisting of Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik practised for two weeks; Styles suggested the name One Direction to his bandmates, and they agreed to keep it. They began to gain considerable popularity in the UK, and within the first four weeks of the live shows, were Cowell's last act in the competition. The group eventually reached the final of The X Factor and finished in third place.

In January 2011, One Direction signed a recording contract with Cowell's label Syco Records. Their UK number one debut single, "What Makes You Beautiful", and their debut studio album, Up All Night, were released later that year. The album, which contained three songs co-written by Styles, made One Direction the first British group to have their debut album reach number one in the United States. Their four succeeding studio albums—Take Me Home (2012), Midnight Memories (2013), Four (2014) and Made in the A.M. (2015)—all debuted at number one in the UK.

Midnight Memories was the world's best-selling album of 2013, and its accompanying Where We Are Tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2014 and remains the highest-grossing tour of all time by a vocal group. After the release of Four, 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. The albums spawned a string of successful singles, including "Live While We're Young", "Little Things", "Best Song Ever", "Story of My Life", "Drag Me Down" and "History". Styles also co-wrote the song "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart" for Ariana Grande's 2014 album My Everything.

Not wanting to "exhaust" the fan base, upon Styles' suggestion, the band went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016, after completing promotional activities related to Made in the A.M. Since their debut, 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.

2016–2018: Harry Styles and Dunkirk
As a solo artist, Styles joined Jeffrey Azoff's Full Stop Management and talent agency CAA, signing a recording contract with Columbia Records in the first half of 2016. Around this time, he also launched his own record label, Erskine Records. Recording for Styles's debut album occurred throughout 2016 in Los Angeles, London and Port Antonio, Jamaica, where Styles and his collaborators had a two-month writing retreat in the autumn. In March 2017, he announced that his first solo single, "Sign of the Times", would be released on 7 April. The song peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart and number four on the Billboard Hot 100. A glam rock-influenced soft rock power ballad, it drew comparisons to the work of David Bowie. Rolling Stone ranked "Sign of the Times" 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 the UK on The Graham Norton Show. 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 influenced by 1970s soft rock and was described by Variety as a "classic cocktail of psychedelia, Britpop, and balladry". It 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 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.

Styles made his feature film debut in Christopher Nolan's war film Dunkirk, in July 2017, playing a British soldier named Alex in the Dunkirk evacuation during 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 won the part over "thousands of young men"; Nolan later admitted he was unaware of the extent of Styles' fame and that he 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 the Best International Artist award. 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.

2019–2021: Fine Line
"Lights Up", the lead single from Styles's second album, Fine Line, was released in October 2019, debuting at number three in the UK. The song featured a "soft-touch re-entry into the pop slipstream", according to music writer Jon Caramanica. Styles served as both 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. That month, Styles again guest-hosted The Late Late Show with James Corden. Fine Line was released on 13 December. The album was recorded at the Shangri-La studio in Malibu, California with the same production team behind Styles's debut album and featured a similar sound to Harry Styles while also incorporating elements of funk and soul. It received generally positive reviews from critics. The album peaked at number two in the UK and topped the US charts, breaking the record as the biggest sales debut from an English male artist in the US since Nielsen SoundScan began electronically tracking sales data in 1991. Singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks, who referred to Styles as "the son [she] never had", likened Fine Line to Fleetwood Mac's album Rumours and commented that it inspired her to write new music. Rolling Stone ranked it at number 491 in their 2020 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Five other singles, "Falling", "Watermelon Sugar", "Golden", "Treat People with Kindness" and the title track, were released from the album.

"Watermelon Sugar" became Styles's fourth UK top-ten single, peaking at number four, as well as his first number-one single in the US. A tour to support Fine Line, entitled Love On Tour, which was originally set to take place throughout 2020, was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the 2020 Brit Awards, Styles was nominated for British Male Solo Artist and British Album of the Year. In March 2020, he performed an NPR Tiny Desk concert, and in July, he narrated a bedtime story titled Dream with Me for the relaxation app Calm. Later that year, Styles won the Favorite Pop/Rock Album award for Fine Line at the 48th American Music Awards, the Best International Artist award at the 34th ARIA Music Awards, and the Chart Achievement Award at the 27th Billboard Music Awards. He was also named Variety's Hitmaker of the Year. At the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in March 2021, he received three nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album (Fine Line), Best Pop Solo Performance ("Watermelon Sugar") and Best Music Video ("Adore You"), winning for Best Pop Solo Performance. "Watermelon Sugar" also earned Styles his second Brit Award for British Single of the Year during the 2021 ceremony. At the 2021 Ivor Novello Awards, "Adore You" won the award for Most Performed Work. Styles made a cameo appearance as Eros / Starfox, brother of Thanos, in the mid-credits scene of the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Eternals, which was released in November 2021. He launched his cosmetics brand, Pleasing, that month.

2022: Harry's House and further acting roles
In 2022, Styles achieved critical and commercial success with his third album, Harry's House. Its lead single "As It Was" debuted atop the UK and US charts, becoming his second solo number one single in both countries. The album similarly debuted atop the UK and US charts as the fastest-selling record of 2022 to date. During its release week, Styles occupied the top spot of the album and singles charts in both the UK and US with Harry's House and "As It Was", respectively. With four tracks from the album concurrently charting within the US top 10, he became the first British solo artist to achieve this feat. He headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April.

Styles is set to star as Jack in the upcoming psychological thriller film Don't Worry Darling, directed by Olivia Wilde, and will portray the titular character in My Policeman, a film adaptation of the 2012 novel of the same name. Styles auditioned for the role of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann's musical biopic Elvis. Luhrmann stated that while "Harry is a really talented actor...the real issue with Harry is, he's Harry Styles. He's already an icon."

Artistry
Styles's music has been described as soft rock, pop, and rock, with elements of folk and Britpop. The musical style on his debut solo album was called a "mish-mash of Los Angeles' style classic rock and ballads" by NME, invoking an "intimately emotional Seventies soft-rock vibe" by Rolling Stone, and "synthesis[ing] influences from the last half-century of rock" by Time magazine. His debut album was influenced by the artists he grew up listening to, such as Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac, as well as the songwriting of Harry Nilsson. Styles praised Nilsson's lyrics as being "honest, and so good, and I think it's because he's never trying to sound clever." Upon listening to Pink Floyd's 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon as a child, he said he "couldn't really get it, but I just remember being like—this is really fucking cool." He has also cited Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley, and Paul McCartney (including his side project Wings) as influences, while mentioning Shania Twain as his main inspiration both musically and in fashion.

Styles's favourite album is Astral Weeks by Northern Irish musician Van Morrison, which he called "completely perfect"; he also considers Etta James's album At Last! to be "perfect". Joni Mitchell's 1971 album Blue inspired Styles to contact the album's dulcimer instrumentalist, with whom he worked on Fine Line.

Public image and fashion
Regarding Styles's 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 labelled 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 opined that Styles's "vibe has always screamed rock star." Styles wore skinny jeans, sheer blouses, floral prints, flamboyant suits and heeled boots while 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. Styles began wearing sweater vests, baggy high-waisted pants and pearl necklaces in 2019, which prompted Jacob Gallagher of The Wall Street Journal to call him the "popularizer of the manly pearl necklace." For public appearances, he has incorporated a selection of Saint Laurent, Burberry and Gucci, appearing in a number of campaigns for the latter.

His style has been noted as "flamboyant", "fashion-forward" and "fun". Citing his use of the colour pink, Styles quoted English musician and The Clash's bassist Paul Simonon in a Rolling Stone interview: "Pink is the only true rock & roll colour." Ann Powers of NPR wrote that his fashion recalls the Spice Girls' "theatrical parade through pop's sartorial heritage" and that he "comforts with fashion's way of telling stories through artful accessories." Tom Lamont of The Guardian noted that some of Styles' fashion choices have contributed to "an important political discussion about gendered fashion."

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 and was 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." He was voted GQ's Most Stylish Man of the Year in 2020.

Styles co-chaired the 2019 Met Gala, which coincided with the art exhibition Camp: Notes on Fashion, alongside journalist Anna Wintour, singer Lady Gaga, fashion designer Alessandro Michele and professional tennis player Serena Williams. In 2020, Styles became the first man to appear solo on the cover of Vogue, for its December issue. Following criticism from conservative commentators and activists for wearing a Gucci gown on the cover, Styles defended his decision, stating, "To not wear [something] because it's females' clothing, you shut out a whole world of great clothes" and that "what's exciting about right now is you can wear what you like" as lines "are becoming more and more blurred."

Since One Direction's early years, a group of shipping conspiracy theorist fans, often called "Larries", has been dedicated to proving that Styles and Louis Tomlinson, name blended as "Larry Stylinson", are secretly a couple that has been closeted by a homophobic music industry. Academics Clare Southerton and Hannah McCann connects the fan-group to phenomena like queer reading, queerbaiting and slash fiction. The "ship", according to Vox in 2016 "one of the largest elements of the One Direction fandom, which itself is one of the largest fandoms on the internet", proliferates on social media and has led to online bullying and harassment of Styles' and Tomlinson's girlfriends and, according to Tomlinson, hurt their friendship.

Personal life
Styles splits his time between two homes in North London, having previously lived in the Sunset Strip area of West Hollywood, California. He sold his Los Angeles residence, having become disillusioned with the city. He also owns a loft apartment in Manhattan. 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 stated that he considered himself to be "more spiritual than religious" and that it is "naïve to say nothing exists and there's nothing above us or more powerful than us." In a 2020 interview with Vogue, Styles shared that he practices pilates, meditates daily and that he had been adhering to a pescatarian diet for three years.

From November 2011 to January 2012, 17-year-old Styles dated television presenter Caroline Flack; 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 French-American model Camille Rowe, who inspired his 2019 album Fine Line. Since January 2021, Styles has been in a relationship with actress and director Olivia Wilde.

When Styles was asked in a 2013 interview with British GQ whether he was bisexual, he replied, "Bisexual? Me? I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I'm not." In a 2022 interview, Styles stated that the expectation that he should publicly label his sexual orientation is "outdated". He said, "that's my personal experience", and "it doesn't matter, and it's about not having to label everything, not having to clarify what boxes you're checking". When The Guardian in 2019 questioned the authenticity of his flamboyant dressing style and his perceived sexual ambiguity, he stated: "Am I sprinkling in nuggets of sexual ambiguity to try and be more interesting? No. ... In terms of how I wanna dress, and what the album sleeve's gonna be, I tend to make decisions in terms of collaborators I want to work with. I want things to look a certain way. Not because it makes me look gay, or it makes me look straight, or it makes me look bisexual, but because I think it looks cool. And more than that, I dunno, I just think sexuality's something that's fun. Honestly? I can't say I've given it any more thought than that."

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 second-place position on the list in 2020 and 2021, with estimated net worths of £63 million and £75 million, respectively. He topped the list in 2022, becoming the richest musician under 30 in the UK, with his net worth being estimated at £100 million.

Philanthropy and advocacy
In 2013, Styles and fellow One Direction member Liam Payne became ambassadors for the cancer charity Trekstock, raising over US$800,000 through the online fundraising platform Prizeo. When the Westboro Baptist Church picketed a One Direction concert in July 2013, Styles used the moment to speak up, responding that he "believes in equal rights for everyone". In 2014, Styles joined gay equality charity Stonewall's #FirstSnog campaign in celebration of their 25th anniversary; endorsed Emma Watson's HeForShe gender equality campaign; and showed support for Michael Sam, the first openly gay player drafted by an NFL team, by wearing his jersey on stage during One Direction's concert in St. Louis. In 2015, he 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 at CBS Radio's We Can Survive concert at the Hollywood Bowl for breast cancer awareness. Styles's first tour raised US$1.2 million in charity donations from ticket sales, Live Nation's contributions, and GLSEN's Pride campaign toward 62 charities around the world, while his second tour raised US$1 million for its charity partners Physicians for Reproductive Health, Black Voters Matter and Choose Love, as well as local efforts including aid for food insecure families in need during the holidays. Both tours also promoted water conservation via recycling and reducing plastic water bottle usage. Styles has further shown support for the LGBT community by waving a rainbow flag onstage, 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. That year, Styles also tweeted in support of the March for Our Lives petition, and added "Black Lives Matter" and "End Gun Violence" stickers to his guitar. Styles identifies as a feminist. In December 2019, in response to an interview question about not using his influence more often to support specific causes, Styles stated: "Because of dilution. Because I'd prefer, when I say something, for people to think I mean it. To be honest, I'm still searching for that one thing, y'know. Something I can really stand up for, and get behind, and be like: This Is My Life Fight. There's a power to doing the one thing. You want your whole weight behind it."

On the impact of events such as Brexit, the Black Lives Matter movement and Donald Trump's presidency on his music, he said that "it's very easy to feel incredibly sad about a lot of things" but that it is "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." Styles leans to the political left, and he visited the House of Lords in 2016 to attend a debate on Brexit following an invitation by Labour peer Lord Winston. Regarding Brexit, he stated that "anything that brings people together is better than things that pull people apart" and stated that it symbolises "the opposite of the world [he] would like to be in." In light of the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, Styles showed support for Black Lives Matter, urging fans to share and donate in support, and pledged to donate to a bail fund for arrested Black Lives Matter activists. He attended a Los Angeles Black Lives Matter protest the following month. Despite being a British citizen, Styles endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 United States presidential election. On June 2, 2022, Styles announced he was donating his appearance fee from Apple's AirPods' spatial audio campaign to the International Rescue Committee, a global humanitarian aid organization that is responding to the more than six million refugees being forced to flee Ukraine.

Treat People with Kindness
"Treat People with Kindness", abbreviated to "TPWK", is a slogan used by Styles to promote his message of love, acceptance, and kindness to others. Styles began using the slogan during his debut concert tour in 2017 on a badge on his guitar and tour merchandise, including Pride T-shirts sold to raise funds for GLSEN. In a December 2019 interview, he stated, "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'". The initiative gave Styles the idea to write a song titled after the slogan, which serves as the penultimate track on his second studio album, Fine Line.

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; fans were able to connect the posters to Styles and his new album release because of 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".

Discography

 * Harry Styles (2017)
 * Fine Line (2019)
 * Harry's House (2022)

Tours

 * Harry Styles: Live on Tour (2017–2018)
 * Love On Tour (2021–2023)