Louis William Tomlinson is an English singer, songwriter and actor, known as a member of the boy band One Direction. He made his debut as a singer with his band The Rogue, Tomlinson auditioned as a solo artist for the British television series The X Factor. After being eliminated as a solo performer, Louis was brought back into the competition, along with four other contestants, to form the group that would later become known as One Direction, which is where he found his husband and forever soulmate, Harry Styles. His debut solo album, “Walls” was released in 2020.
Early Life[]
Tomlinson was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, to Johannah Poulston and Troy Austin, who split up when he was a toddler. He is estranged from his father. He later took on his then stepfather Mark Tomlinson's name. He has seven half siblings. His mother died, after a short battle with leukaemia, in December 2016. His half sister, Félicité, died in 2019, as a result of an accidental overdose.
Tomlinson was a sixth form student at Hall Cross School and is a former pupil of the Hayfield School.[ He failed his first year of A levels at the Hayfield School and ended up going back to Hall Cross and starting A levels again. He had a number of jobs, including at a Toys R Us, Vue cinema and at Doncaster Rovers football stadium as a waiter in the hospitality suites. Tomlinson, along with two of his siblings, had extra roles in Fat Friends. After Fat Friends, he attended an acting school in Barnsley. He had small parts in an ITV drama film If I Had You and BBC's Waterloo Road. At Hall Cross, Tomlinson appeared in several musical productions. He admitted to not applying himself academically in school, but he thoroughly enjoyed being with his friends and being involved with musical productions. Taking the lead role of Danny Zuko in the Hall Cross musical production of Grease motivated him to audition for The X Factor.
One Direction[]
Following The X Factor it was confirmed that One Direction had been signed by Cowell to a reported £2 million Syco Records record contract. They immediately started working on their debut album. In February 2011, a book licensed by One Direction, One Direction: Forever Young (Our Official X Factor Story), was released and topped The Sunday Times Best Seller list. That same month, the boy band and other contestants from the series participated in The X Factor Live Tour. During the tour, the group performed for 500,000 people throughout the UK. After the tour concluded in April 2011, One Direction continued working on their debut album. Recording took place in Stockholm, London and Los Angeles, as One Direction worked with producers Carl Falk, Savan Kotecha, Steve Mac and Rami Yacoub, among others.
In September 2011, One Direction's debut single, "What Makes You Beautiful", was released. A global and commercial success, it reached number one in several countries including the UK.That November, their debut studio album, Up All Night was released in the UK and Ireland. Released internationally in 2012, One Direction became the first UK group to have their debut album reach number one in the USA. Following the album's release, they headlined the Up All Night Tour. Originally, the tour was to solely take place in the UK and Ireland, but shows in Australia and North America were added due to demand.The tour was a commercial success with tickets selling out in minutes and critics raving about the group's singing abilities and stage presence. A video album of the tour, Up All Night: The Live Tour, was released in May 2012. That same month, One Direction's first book to be licensed in America, Dare to Dream: Life as One Direction, was published and topped The New York Times Best Seller list. In September 2012, the band released the song "Live While We're Young", the lead single from their second album. Another single, "Little Things", spawned the band's second number one single in the UK. Two months later, One Direction's second album, Take Me Home, was released, reaching number one in over 35 countries. Reaching number one on the Billboard 200, the group became the first boy band in US chart history to record two number-one albums in the same calendar year alongside becoming the first group since 2008 to record two number-one albums in the same year. After the album's release, the band embarked on the Take Me Home Tour. The tour took place in North America, Europe, Oceania, and Asia, grossing $114 million from 123 shows. In August 2013, One Direction: This Is Us, a 3-D documentary concert film was released, accumalting a box office gross of $68.5 million. One Direction's third book, One Direction: Where We Are: Our Band, Our Story: 100% Official, was released that same month.
On 25 November 2013, One Direction released Midnight Memories, their third studio album, which became the best-selling album worldwide in 2013 with 4 million copies sold globally.[39] "Best Song Ever", the album's lead single, is their highest charting single in the US to date. In April 2014, the band began their third headlining concert tour, and their first all-stadium tour, the Where We Are Tour. Tickets were reported to sell out in minutes, and more shows were added due to "overwhelming demand". Performing 69 shows in Europe, North America, and South America, the band averaged 49,848 fans per show. Grossing over $290 million, the tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2014, the 15th highest-grossing concert tour of all time and is still the highest-grossing tour of all time by a vocal group. In September 2014, One Direction's fourth book, One Direction: Who We Are: Our Official Autobiography was released. One Direction: Where We Are – The Concert Film, the group's second concert film, was released in October 2014. In November 2014, One Direction's fourth album, Four, was released, making it the last album to feature Zayn Malik. Singles included "Steal My Girl" and "Night Changes", both of which achieved platinum status. Debuting at number one in 18 countries, over 3.2 million copies of the album were sold. 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 support of the album, the set off on the On the Road Again Tour, grossing $208 million. In November 2015, One Direction's fifth album, Made in the A.M., was released. Singles "Drag Me Down" and "Perfect" both debuted at number one in various countries, and the album reached number one in multiple countries, including the UK, and it reached number two on the US Billboard 200. Following the release of the album, the group went on an indefinite hiatus.
Often described as forming part of a new "British Invasion" in the United States, the group have sold over 35 million records worldwide, according to the band's management company, Modest! Management. Their achievements include seven BRIT Awards, seven American Music Awards, and four MTV Video Music Awards. According to Nick Gatfield, chairman and chief executive of Sony Music Entertainment UK, One Direction represented a $50 million business empire by June 2012. They were proclaimed 2012's "Top New Artist" by Billboard. Tomlinson, along with his other band members, appeared in an episode of iCarly in spring 2012.