Niall James Horan (born 13 September 1993) is an Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist, known as a member of the boy band One Direction. In 2010, Horan auditioned as a solo artist for the seventh series of the British televised singing competition The X Factor.He failed to progress to the "Boys" category at the "judges' houses", but after guest judge Nicole Scherzinger suggested that Niall joined One Direction, with Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson, the group became a reality. The five-piece band made it to the final and finished in third place. Even though they didn't win, One Direction was signed by Simon Cowell to a reported £2 million Syco record contract. In his career as a member of One Direction, he has co-written songs such as Taken, Everything About You, Same Mistakes, Back for You and Summer Love, from the albums Up All Night and Take Me Home.In the latter, he also has played guitar. He also co-wrote the songs "Don't Forget Where You Belong, Why Don't We Go There and Story of My Life for the Midnight Memories album,Night Changes, Fool's Gold" and Change Your Ticket for the album Four, Wolves, A.M., Temporary Fix" and Never Enough for the band's fifth album Made in the A.M.