One Direction - Dare to Dream - Life as One Direction

On the subject of girls, when I was about six I was friends with a girl called Phoebe Fox. Her mum and mine were best mates, and I bought her a teddy bear the same as my one and everything. She was the cutest little girl. I had a few other girlfriends here and there when I was really young, but I didn’t have an actual girlfriend until I was 12. Then I went out with a girl called Emilie, and for quite a long time considering how young we were. She’s still a good friend of mine now. I was also with a girl called Abi. I guess you could say that she was my first serious girlfriend.

I’ve been single now since the end of 2009 and I’m fine with that. I’m not consciously looking for a girlfriend, but if I meet someone I like it would be great. I do like being with someone and if the right person came along, then we’d see what happened.

When I was about 12 we moved back to Holmes Chapel, and that’s when my mum met my stepdad, Robin. I really liked him and I was always asking her if he was coming over, but she wanted to make really sure that Gemma and I were okay with him being around. She worried about it a lot, so in the end I used to text him and tell him to come over because I thought he was a really cool guy. I’ve always got on well with him and I still do now.

I was really pleased when Robin proposed to my mum. He did it completely by surprise while they were watching Coronation Street on Christmas Eve a few years ago. I was at my girlfriend Abi’s house at the time and I remember getting a call from my mum and how happy I was when she told me they were going to be getting married. I’m not sure when they’re planning to do it, and even though a few people have suggested this, I don’t think it’s very likely that One Direction will be playing at the wedding.

My mum and I have always been close. I’m such a mummy’s boy. I’m really close to my dad Des as well, and he’s very supportive of everything I’m doing. I think we’re probably quite alike in a lot of ways.

My sister and I have generally got on very well too. I know that a lot of siblings argue, and we had our moments when we were growing up, but we hang out together a lot now and she even came on part of the tour with me.

I’ve made a few style mistakes in my time, and sadly there is photographic evidence! My hair has changed a lot over the years. It started white blond and curly when I was born, then went brown and straight, and then started going curly again when I was 12. So it’s been through several phases. The worst thing was probably when I had blond streaks put in it when I was about eight. I looked like a real chav. I thought it was cool when I went into school the day after having it done, but looking back I looked like a douche. I lived in tracksuits, and as all I ever wanted to do was go out on my bike, I guess it fitted in with my image.

I really enjoyed secondary school and I worked pretty hard, but I enjoyed myself as well. Life is all about balance. I played badminton a lot in secondary school. My dad is really good at it, so I got that from him, and I was always really competitive. I liked the fact that it wasn’t the most obvious sport to get into, and that you need quite a lot of skill to play it. I like things that involve skill and I love anything that’s a bit of a challenge.

At the end of Year Eight I became mates with a guy called Will and he became like my brother. We had the same sense of humour and we got on really well from the word go. He and a friend called Hayden were really keen to start a band, and a guy called Nick had just started to play bass so he joined them too. They wanted to enter a battle of the bands competition at school and they needed a singer, so they asked me to try out.

That was a bit of a shock as I’d only ever sung to myself in the shower or in the car. I knew I could sing a note, but I had no idea how I’d be. But I’d always imagined what it would be like to be in a band, so I started practising with them. We were always singing ‘Summer of 69’ by Bryan Adams and ‘Be My Girl’ by Jet, so we decided to perform them in the competition.

We were all ready to go and we started filling out the application form, but we didn’t have a name and we couldn’t think of anything. It got to the day before the show and we had to put something down, so we decided just to go for something completely random. I suggested White Eskimo, and we hadn’t thought of anything better, so we wrote it down and from then on that’s who we were.

The competition was in the school canteen, and we decided that we were all going to dress in a similar way so we all had white shirts and black ties on. At the time we thought we looked really cool. All of our friends were down at the front of the stage when we sang ‘Summer of 69’, and afterwards this girl came up to me and said, ‘Where did that come from?’ Three finalists were chosen, including us, and we all had to sing again – and we ended up winning, which was amazing. After that we decided to take things a bit more seriously when it came to practising.

The band changed a bit after the competition because we got a new bassist, and also a guitarist called Jacob. We used to practise every Wednesday after school at Will’s house. Then we landed our first gig.

A girl in my school said that her mum was getting married and wanted us to play at the wedding, so we rehearsed solidly for two days. We had a set list of about 25 songs that the bride had chosen, and we learnt the lot. We used my stepdad’s PA system and we went along and set it all up and it all went really well. We felt like a proper band. We performed a lot of Bob Marley tracks, some acoustic songs, and I also sang ‘Halleluiah’.

One of the guests at the wedding was a music producer, and afterwards he came and spoke to us and told us we were really good. He also said that I reminded him of Mick Jagger, which of course I loved.

We got paid £160 for the gig, which worked out at £40 each. And we got free sandwiches. What more can you ask for? We practised more and more after that. Will’s mum is a TV and radio presenter called Yvette Fielding. She was really supportive, giving us advice and helping us with everything. Now we were serious about carrying the band on and trying to get a deal or something one day.

I had always thought about going in for The X Factor, and watching Eoghan Quigg and Lloyd Daniels in 2009 – young lads like me – made me want to do it even more. I also think that being in front of an audience with the band had given me a taste for performing. I loved being on stage and I wanted to do more and more.

I didn’t know if I had what it took, and I was really nervous about actually taking the step and applying, so in the end my mum filled out the application form and sent it off for me – and I’m so grateful she did. I often have those moments when I think, ‘What if she hadn’t done that’ or ‘What if so and so hadn’t happened?’ I had one the other day when we were all sitting down looking at an article about us. It hit me that if I hadn’t gone in for The X Factor I would still be at college. Instead I’m travelling around the country – and other parts of the world – with four of my best mates, having the best time it’s possible to have.