Louis Tomlinson

Louis William Tomlinson (born Louis Troy Austin; 24 December 1991) is an English singer, songwriter and producer.

He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction.

Louis Troy Austin was born on 24 December 1991 in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, to then 18-year-old Johannah "Jay" Poulston and Troy Austin, who left when he was an infant.

He is estranged from his father and later took on his then stepfather Mark Tomlinson's surname, legally changing his name to Louis William Tomlinson.

He was raised with four younger half-sisters; Charlotte, Félicité (2000–2019), and twins Phoebe and Daisy from Poulston's marriage to Mark.

Tomlinson auditioned for The X Factor in 2009, but failed to progress past the producer's audition.

He was determined to return the following year.

Tomlinson auditioned on the British music competition series The X Factor in 2010.

After being eliminated as a solo performer, he was placed into a group with four other contestants which went on to become one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.

In 2010, Tomlinson auditioned for the seventh series of the singing competition The X Factor in front of main judges Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh and guest judge Nicole Scherzinger.

He sang a rendition of "Elvis Ain't Dead" by Scouting for Girls before Cowell requested he sing another song.

He then sang "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's and received three yeses from the judges, sending him through to bootcamp.

He failed to progress to the "Boys" category at the end of the final bootcamp stage of the competition at Wembley Arena, London, in July 2010.

However, after a suggestion from Scherzinger, he was put together with Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Harry Styles to form a five-piece boy band, thus qualifying for the "Groups" category at judges' houses, mentored by Cowell.

Subsequently, the group got together for two weeks to get to know each other and to practise.

Styles came up with the name One Direction.

For their qualifying song at judges' houses and their first song as a group, One Direction sang an acoustic version of "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia.

Cowell chose to put them through to the live shows and later commented that the performance convinced him that the group "were confident, fun, like a gang of friends and kind of fearless as well."

Within the first four weeks of the live shows, the group became Cowell's last act in the competition and quickly gained popularity in the UK.

He also has three other half-siblings; a younger paternal half-sister, Georgia, and twins Doris and Ernest (born 2014) from Poulston's relationship with Dan Deakin, whom she later married.

Tomlinson has some Belgian ancestry.

Tomlinson attended The Hayfield School and later Hall Cross School (now Hall Cross Academy), both located in Doncaster.

He failed his first year of A levels at the Hayfield School and ended up going to Hall Cross School and starting his A levels again.

He had a number of jobs, including at a Vue cinema and at Doncaster Rovers football stadium as a waiter in the hospitality suites.

At Hall Cross, Tomlinson appeared in several musical productions, which gave him a growing sense of ambition and determination.

Taking the lead role of Danny Zuko in the Hall Cross musical production of Grease motivated him to audition for The X Factor.

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.

When Tomlinson was 14, he was kicked out of a band and replaced with a new vocalist.

The band was called The Rougue and they mainly did Oasis covers.

Tomlinson has cited this experience as motivation for him to audition for The X Factor.

Following the group's hiatus in 2016, Tomlinson released "Just Hold On" with Steve Aoki as a debut solo single in December 2016.

It peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart and was certified platinum in the UK.

In 2017, he released "Back to You" with American singer Bebe Rexha and "Miss You".

That same year, he appeared on Debrett's 2017 list of the most influential people in the UK.

In 2018, he appeared on the fifteenth series of The X Factor as a judge and a mentor of the "Boys" category.

In 2019, Tomlinson released the singles "Two of Us", "Kill My Mind", "We Made It", "Don't Let It Break Your Heart" and "Walls".

His debut solo studio album, Walls, was released in January 2020, where it debuted at No. 4 in the UK and No. 9 in the US Billboard 200.

Tomlinson's second studio album, Faith in the Future, was released in November 2022, where it debuted at No. 1 in the UK and No. 5 in the US Billboard 200.