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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Mia O'Hare

Niall Horan's rise from teen talent show contestant to superstar Voice USA judge

Niall Horan shot to fame when he became part of One Direction and reached uncharted territory for any band coming out of the X-Factor.

The pop group became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time having finished third on the ITV singing competition and quickly signed to Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records.

Alongside Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik, Niall released five albums and topped charts across the world with hits including What Makes You Beautiful and Best Song Ever.

And the rest as they say, is (a whole lot of) history.

But Niall, 29, has continued his music career away from the group as well as taking on some other high-profile roles - even stepping into the White House to celebrate St Patrick's Day with President Biden.

Niall shot to fame as One Direction appeared on the X Factor (UK Press via Getty Images)

X Factor

Niall was just 16 when he appeared on the talent show in its seventh series.

At his audition in Dublin, he sang So Sick and was met with mixed feedback from the judges - Louis Walsh was in his favour, but Cheryl and Katy Perry felt he needed some time to grow.

In the end, he was voted through to bootcamp where he sang Oasis hit Champagne Supernova but failed to qualify.

However, Nicole Scherzinger made a suggestion that would change Niall's life forever.

She decided to put the Irish singer with four other boys who also failed to move along in the competition.

The group got together for two weeks to get to know each other and to practice and One Direction was born.

During the live shows, the band started to pick up a following and finished in third place, behind runner-up Rebecca Ferguson and winner Matt Cardle.

Super-stardom

After X Factor, the band shot to fame with their debut single What Makes You Beautiful and soon released their first album.

One Direction became the first UK group to have their debut album reach number one in the United States.

They continued to release hits and tour the world before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2015 after Zayn left the band.

The boy band reached global success (ITV)
Niall went solo after the group split (Getty Images for MTV)

Unusual next steps

In 2016, the Irish star founded a golf management company, Modest Golf.

It has since signed several golf players and the company earned its first European tour win in 2019 when Italian golfer Guido Migliozzi won the Kenyan Open.

Solo career

Niall released his first single This Town with Capitol Records in 2016, which has peaked at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart.

In 2017, he embarked on a worldwide tour to promote his album Flicker.

His album reached the top of the Billboard 200 as well as charts in Ireland and the Netherlands.

Niall released his second album in 2020 which reached number one in the UK.

He recently sent fans into a frenzy by announcing his long-awaited third album will be dropping on June 9.

Niall has just announced his third album (Getty Images for Universal Music)
The Irish star has become a judge on The Voice (Art Streiber/NBC via Getty Images)

Superstar judge

At the beginning of this year, the former 1D star became one of the coached on The Voice.

He made it debut on the singing show last month and admitted it's been a little strange to go from a contestant on a similar show to now coaching singing hopefuls.

"It's strange coming from the X Factor days to now and being on the other side of things. I'm basically seeing multiple different versions of myself on the show in front of me.

"Seeing these really young 16, 17-year-olds reminds me of me when I was there and I'm struggling to make those hard decisions," he said.

Niall has already made the decision he will not be watching any of the show, admitted: "We can’t watch it in the UK at the moment so I'm staying away. I don't really want to watch it - it could be a disaster!"

Niall is a coach alongside Chance The Rapper, Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton.

Romance

Niall embarked on a lockdown romance with designer shoe buyer Amelia Woolley and the pair were seen together heading out to a restaurant after Covid restrictions lifted.

Their romance has been kept low-key publicly since.

Niall was previously linked to American actress and singer Hailee Stienfeld.

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