Zayn Malik Biography, Age, Height, Weight, Girlfriend, Family, Wiki & More

Zayn Malik was born as Zain Javadd Malik. He grew up in East Bowling, located south of the Bradford city center. He attended Lower Fields Primary School and Tong High School in Bradford. As a teenager he took performing arts courses and appeared in school productions.

 

In 2010, 17-year-old Malik auditioned in Manchester for the seventh series of reality-television competition The X Factor. He sang "Let Me Love You" by rhythm-and-blues vocalist Mario as his audition song and was accepted into the next round. He was eliminated before the final round of the competition, but judges Nicole Scherzinger and Simon Cowell grouped him with fellow competitors Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson to form a new act for the remainder of the show. Performing as One Direction, this group became one of the most popular finalists in their season of The X Factor. They finished the competition in third place and they were immediately signed to Cowell's Syco music label.

 

One Direction topped the pop music charts with their first single, "What Makes You Beautiful," when it was released in September 2011 in the United Kingdom. Their debut album, Up All Night, was a best-seller in both the United Kingdom and the United States in 2012. In March 2015, Malik surprised fans by dropping out of the group's world tour. A spokesperson for the band tweeted that "Zayn has been signed off with stress and is flying back to the UK to recuperate." On March 25, however, Malik announced that he was leaving One Direction for good.

 

Not long after leaving One Direction, Malik launched his solo music career with a demo version of "I Don't Mind," which was leaked online by producer Naughty Boy. Official singles soon followed, including "Pillowtalk" and "It's You."  Both of these tracks were featured on his first album, Mind of Mine, which debuted in March 2016.