Born Harry Edward Styles on February 1, 1994, there are very few core facts left unturned when it comes to the pop megastar. Some may know that Styles grew up in Cheshire, England, or that his star tattoo has five points for all the members of One Direction. Styles was also the youngest member of One Direction, and knows how to play the kazoo — and dulcimer (see below).
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Maybe most die-hard fans know everything about Styles, or perhaps he’s still a man of many mysteries.
Nevertheless, here’s a look at five interesting facts about the pop star.
1. His First Band was White Eskimo
Before he auditioned on The X Factor UK and ultimately became part of One Direction, Styles was in a band called White Eskimo.
Styles formed the band in 2010 with his best friends Will Sweeny, Nick Clough, and Haydn Morris when they met at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School in Cheshire, England. The band played weddings and any events they could and even won a Battle of the Bands competition.
“Winning the battle of the bands and playing to that many people really showed me that’s what I wanted to do,” shared Styles in previously unseen X Factor footage from his 2010 audition. “I got such a thrill when I was in front of people singing. It made me want to do it more and more.”
White Eskimo continued on with guitarist Marcus Chetwood, bassist Rob Mcintosh, and drummer Alex Lewis and released their 2015 EP, 100X, and several singles through 2018, including a cover of the 1979 Joe Jackson hit “Is She Really Going Out with Him?”
2. He Suggested the Band Name: One Direction
Styles claims that he was the one who came up with the band name One Direction.
After Styles along with Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik failed to make it through their X Factor UK auditions as solo acts, they formed One Direction. As they were scrambling to get the group together—and find a name—One Direction is one Styles said he suggested.
“I think it was me,” said Styles. “I know they’re not here to defend anything else, but it was me. I thought it sounded good. We threw around names for a little bit, and I honestly don’t know. I suggested it and everyone was like ‘Yeah we like that’ and then it kind of stuck, and that was what it was.”
Read the full story behind the band name One Direction HERE.
3. He Fell in Love with Joni Mitchell’s Dulcimer
Obsessed with listening to Joni Mitchell‘s Blue while working on his second album, Fine Line, Styles was also so enchanted by the sound of the dulcimer used on the album that he tracked down the luthier who made the instrument for Mitchell nearly 50 years earlier.
“I was in a big Joni hole,” said Styles. “I kept hearing the dulcimer all over Blue, so I tracked down the lady who built Joni’s dulcimers in the ’60s.”
Styles found Joellen Lapidus in Culver City, California, and bought one of the dulcimers, which he plays on the Fine Line track “Canyon Moon.”
“When Harry Styles came to my home to purchase a dulcimer, I had no idea that he was a big star,” said Lapidus. “We jammed on several dulcimers I had for sale and he picked the one with the most heart in it: the Crying Seahorse Dulcimer. I had no idea who he was until the dulcimer player Kevin Roth called me up one day and said ‘How do you know Harry Styles?'”
Lapdius added, “It just made me laugh. I was so happy I had no idea who he was because it allowed us to have a very pure musical moment together.”
A longtime fan of Mitchell’s, Styles has paid homage to the folk legend many times and even covered her song “Big Yellow Taxi” on BBC Radio 2 in 2021. When Styles first revealed the title of his third album, Harry’s House, in 2023, Mitchell gave him some praise on Twitter.
“Love the title,” she wrote, adding a photo of Styles’ Harry’s House album cover. Mitchell wrote and recorded a song called “Harry’s House” on her 1975 album, The Hissing of Summer Lawns, which was medlied with the 1958 jazz standard by Joe Hendricks and Harry Edison.
4. He Had a Guest Role on ‘iCarly’
Before Styles was taking on bigger roles like the 2017 war drama Dunkirk or the Marvel Studios superhero flick, Eternals, and 2022 thriller Don’t Worry Darling, Styles had a guest role on the Nickelodeon hit iCarly.
In 2012, he and his One Direction bandmates appeared on the iCarly episode “iGo One Direction.”
Styles played himself and pretended to get sick to get some attention from Carly. One Direction later performed their 2011 hit “What Makes You Beautiful” on the show.
5. He’s Written Many Songs for Others
Along with co-writing songs within One Direction and the majority of his own solo catalog, Styles has also penned songs for Ariana Grande, Michael Bublé and Meghan Trainor, and Bleachers, among others.
Check out 5 Songs You Didn’t Know Harry Styles Wrote for Other Artists HERE.
Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage
