Harry Styles & Niall Horan: The Biography - Choose Your Favourite Member of One Direction. Sarah Oliver
Matt Cardle, only got a £1-million contract – so to be offered a £2-million contract was awesome. They couldn’t tell anyone but Anne must have guessed when she saw Harry beaming from ear to ear that night. If he hadn’t got a record deal, he definitely wouldn’t have been in the mood to party.
Harry and the boys got to go home for Christmas, but they had to move permanently to London. There was no way Harry was going to college to do his A-levels! The boys knew that 2011 was to be an amazing year for them and they were looking forward to going on The X Factor Live Tour to perform at major arenas in the UK and Ireland. Before they went on the tour the boys were flown out to Los Angeles to start working on their album. There was no time to waste because their fans couldn’t wait to rush out and buy their music.
It was strange for Harry to go from freezing England to sunny America; he didn’t need his coats and sweaters, that’s for sure. The boys weren’t recognised abroad so they could chill out by the hotel swimming pool or go shopping if they had some free time; they could do the things that would now have been impossible in London.
After less than a week of recording, they had to fly back home as there were some important tour rehearsals for the X Factor Live Tour that they couldn’t afford to miss. They would be performing for up to 20,000 people on some nights and the stage was massive, so they had a lot to learn in a relatively short space of time. The performances would be a lot more physical than their X Factor performances as they had to do some dance routines, which had to be learnt before the first night in Birmingham’s LG Arena on 19 February. They would also be singing one song they hadn’t performed before, ‘Forever Young’, as well as ‘Only Girl’, ‘Chasing Cars’, ‘Kids in America’ and ‘My Life Would Suck Without You’.
On the opening night Louis told the audience, ‘Can you believe, five months ago we didn’t even know each other, so thank you for making this happen. Thank you.’ To come onstage and see fans holding up One Direction banners was something our favourite boy band will never forget. The tour got really good reviews, with theTelegraph reviewer noting that, ‘The main draw for the girl-dominated crowd were Cowell-mentored boy band One Direction. Hysterical screams greeted their every move. Hyperventilating ensued when they ran through the crowd. When cheekily cherubic heart-throb Harry Styles danced to the front, squeals reached fever pitch. The merchandise sellers knew their market – judging by their stalls, you’d think this was a One Direction concert.’
As soon as the tour dates had been announced many teachers, parents and pupils from Harry’s old primary school had booked tickets. Mrs Jarrold wrote in her head teacher’s blog on Saturday, 12 March 2011: ‘What an evening we had at the MEN Arena watching the X Factor tour and of course One Direction. I know many of you went to the show in the afternoon and the evening one too. We all felt very proud and happy for Harry Styles!’
DID YOU KNOW?
All The X Factor finalists swapped numbers when they were on the show, but afterwards Harry and the One Direction boys had to change theirs so they lost contact with some of the acts.
DID YOU KNOW?
For Harry performing in Manchester was the tour highlight – lots of his family and friends were there to support him. He thought the loudest crowd was at the O2 in London or maybe Dublin. His favourite song to perform was ‘Forever Young’.
There was a wrap party after the tour finished, which Harry found emotional. The performers had all spent so much time with each other that it was hard to say goodbye, even though they could keep in touch. Mary Byrne was going back to Ireland and other acts were dispersing across England. Some of them had managed to secure record deals so that was a big positive, but not everyone. The ones who hadn’t been signed had to go back to their normal lives.
Harry and Louis decided to go skiing in Courchevel, France, together with two of their friends because it was the last time they’d be able to take a holiday for a while. Harry had never skied before so he had a lot to learn, but Louis taught him the basics.
A couple of fans who happened to be in the resort when the boys were there tweeted: ‘16/04/2011 proud to say I met @louis_tomlinson and @ harry_styles in a bowling alley in courcheval. I met you in courchevel. Best day of my life.’
The paparazzi didn’t follow them there, which was a good thing, but one photo of them waiting to go with their skis on and another of Harry, wearing bright orange ski trousers, with a fan on the slopes did circulate on Twitter.
DID YOU KNOW?
Orange is Harry’s favourite colour.
Harry’s sister Gemma initially only told her close friends at university that Harry was her brother because she didn’t want people to treat her differently, but after One Direction finished third on The X Factor she couldn’t keep it a secret any longer. Big fans of the boys recognised her on the street and started pointing and shouting, ‘It’s Gemma Styles’ – she has more than 600,000 fans on Twitter now!
Gemma got to see Harry every week when he was on The X Factor, but once the show finished she didn’t get to see him very much at all because he was busy touring and then recording for One Direction’s first album. Whenever she can, she visits him but it is difficult because she lives in Sheffield. When she’s on her university holidays she flies out to see him wherever he is and they also catch up using Skype, Twitter and their mobile phones the rest of the time.
DID YOU KNOW?
Once, after they’d been for a family meal at T.G.I. Friday’s, Harry was sick all over Gemma because he’d eaten too much!
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