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One Direction, an English-Irish pop boy band, formed in London in 2010 after each of its members initially auditioned as solo artists for the British singing competition show *The X Factor*. The original lineup consisted of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson. Harry Styles is credited with coining the band's name, often abbreviated to 1D. Guest judge Nicole Scherzinger and long-time judge Simon Cowell both claimed to have conceived the idea of forming the group, with unseen footage from *The X Factor* in 2022 confirming Scherzinger's significant role in selecting the members. The band ultimately finished third in the seventh series of *The X Factor* in 2010, after which Simon Cowell signed them to a reported £2 million record deal with Syco Records. They also signed with Columbia Records in North America.
