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 early on, 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.

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 became one of the world's top-ten best-selling albums of the year. Its lead single, "Sign of the Times", topped the UK Singles Chart. Styles made his acting debut in Christopher Nolan's 2017 war film Dunkirk. His second album, Fine Line (2019), debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with the biggest first-week sales by an English male artist in history, and was listed among Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2020. Its fourth single, "Watermelon Sugar", topped the US Billboard Hot 100.

Throughout his career, Styles has earned several accolades, including two Brit Awards, a Grammy Award, an Ivor Novello Award, and an American Music Award. Aside from music, he is also known for his flamboyant fashion, and is the first man to appear solo on the cover of Vogue magazine.

Early life and education

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 to business partner John Cox; the Coxes divorced years later. In 2013, she married 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 grandfather, and the first song he recorded was Elvis Presley's "The Girl of My Best Friend". Styles attended 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.

Career

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 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. They began to gain considerable popularity in the UK, and within the first four weeks of the live shows, they were Cowell's last act in the competition. The group eventually reached The X Factor final, 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, followed later that year. The album contained three songs co-written by Styles, and 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".

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

While in the band, Styles co-wrote the song "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart" for Ariana Grande's album My Everything (2014).

2016–2018: Harry Styles and Dunkirk

As a solo artist, Styles joined Jeffrey Azoff's Full Stop Management as well as talent agency CAA, and signed 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 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. In March 2017, he announced that his first solo single, "Sign of the Times", would be released on 7 April. The song went on to peak at number one on the UK Singles Chart and at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. It is a glam rock-influenced soft rock power ballad, and has 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.

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". 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 feature 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 won the part over "thousands of young men"; Nolan later admitted 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.

2019–present: Fine Line and further acting roles

"Lights Up", the lead single from Styles's 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.

Fine Line followed 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 features a similar sound sonically to Harry Styles, while incorporating additional 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". Four other singles, "Falling", "Watermelon Sugar", "Golden" and "Treat People with Kindness", were released from the album. "Watermelon Sugar" became Styles's fourth UK top-ten single, charting 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 received the Favorite Pop/Rock Album for Fine Line at the 48th American Music Awards, the Best International Artist at the 34th ARIA Music Awards, and the Chart Achievement 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 Best Pop Solo Performance. "Watermelon Sugar" also earned him 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, the brother of Thanos, in the mid-credits scene of the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Eternals, which was released in November 2021. He also launched his cosmetics brand, Pleasing, that month. Styles will next star as Jack in the upcoming psychological thriller film Don't Worry Darling, directed by Olivia Wilde. He will also portray the titular policeman in My Policeman, a film adaptation of the 2012 novel of the same name.

Musical style and influences

Styles's musical style has been described as soft rock, pop, and rock, with elements of folk and Britpop. The musical style on his debut solo album was described as 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 music 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 who in turn worked with him on Fine Line.

Public image

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 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. Styles 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." For public appearances, he has incorporated a selection of Saint Laurent, Burberry and Gucci, appearing in a number of campaigns for the latter.

His fashion 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 personal style 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's 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. 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." 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 by saying, "To not wear [something] because it's females' clothing, you shut out a whole world of great clothes." He went on to say that "what's exciting about right now is you can wear what you like" and that the lines "are becoming more and more blurred."

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 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 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 about 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.

Styles's sexuality has long been a subject of speculation. When asked in a 2013 interview with British GQ whether he was bisexual, he replied, "I'm pretty sure I'm not." In 2017, Styles said he does not feel a need to label his sexuality, adding that "being in a creative field, it's important to be progressive" and "everyone should just be who they want to be". When asked in December 2019 about his flamboyant image, use of LGBTQ aesthetics and 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 position in second place on the list in 2020 and 2021 with an estimated net worth of £63 million and £75 million, respectively.

Philanthropy and advocacy

In 2013, Styles and fellow One Direction member Liam Payne became ambassadors for the cancer charity Trekstock, and raised over US$800,000 through the online fundraising platform Prizeo. In 2014, Styles endorsed Emma Watson's HeForShe gender equality campaign. 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 alongside other artists 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. It also promoted water conservation via recycling and reducing plastic water bottle usage.

Styles has 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." Regarding Brexit, he stated that "anything that brings people together is better than things that pull people apart" and went on to say 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 posted in support of Black Lives Matter, urging fans to share and donate in support. 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.

Treat People with Kindness

"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 a December 2019 interview 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.

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)

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Tours

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