Zayn Malik biography covering one direction, solo career, and relationships

Zayn Malik ( born January 12, 1993. Zayn is a British singer and songwriter. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction, which formed on the British version of the singing competition show “The X Factor” in 2010. Along with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson, Malik spent five years as a member of One Direction, releasing five studio albums and embarking on four world tours. In March 2015, Malik announced he was leaving the band to pursue a solo career.

“When I was in the band, there were times where I needed time away to go see my family and recollect my thoughts. But right now, I feel like I have the time to process things, and I’m doing things in my own space, so it’s a good place to be in.”

He also reflected on his book Z, saying that “I feel like writing anything down is a little bit of a therapy process…It’s a way of alleviating your mind and getting it out there. For me, it was a little bit of that. I kind of enjoyed it.” He added that “it was fun to reminisce on things and think about what was good and what was bad and make sense of it all. I didn’t have time to do that in the band. I feel myself growing every day as a person, as we all do, just getting older and wiser hopefully.”

Whilst he had a tough time with fame, he was always a pleasure to meet and work with. Of course, neither his solo stardom nor his time in One Direction would be possible without the support of his parents. He noted that “if you tell your parents at any age that you’re going to go off and share some massive dream like becoming a music star or an actor or something that’s not easily achieved, it’s going to be questionable…but they’ve fully supported me in everything.” After all, it was his mother,

After leaving One Direction, Malik signed a recording contract with RCA Records and released his debut solo album, “Mind of Mine,” in March 2016. The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, and featured the hit singles “Pillowtalk” and “Like I Would.” Malik’s second album, “Icarus Falls,” was released in December 2018 and featured the hit single “Let Me.”

Zayn Malik’s real name

Zayn’s name is actually spelt with an ‘i’ (Zain), and means “beautiful” in Arabic. He once said that ‘Zayn’ looked more original and adopted it as his stage name. His middle name is Javadd, often wrongly written as Javaad, Jawadd or Jawaad. This makes his real full name Zain Javadd Malik.

Where is he from?

He was brought up in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Other famous Bradfordians include magician Dynamo, Kimberley Walsh from Girls Aloud, Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson and Gareth Gates.

Zayn spoke out about growing up in Bradford in a letter to the Prime Minister in November 2022, calling for free school meals to be rolled out for every child in poverty across England. He wrote: ‘I know what that shame feels like, have seen it first-hand, as growing up in Bradford, relied on Free School Meals.

‘I personally experienced the stigma surrounding food insecurity. My hope is that in writing this letter we can all ensure that no child ever has to experience this hunger and stigma again as my experience is not unique; it is a struggle that many children in England are sadly going through right now.’h

Zayn’s school life

Zayn attended Lower Fields Primary School as a youngster before moving on to Tong High School. At school, Zayn starred as one of the ultra-cool, leather clad T-Birds in a production of Grease. Much to his horror, footage of the performance is all over the Internet! D’oh!

His nickname at school was ‘Z’ (pronounced the UK way ‘zed’ rather than the American “zee”), and his three favourite subjects at school were English, art and drama.

Zayn’s family

Zayn was born to British Pakistani father Yaser and an English mother Tricia Malik (maiden name Brannan). He once admitted to being a bit of a handful for his parents when he was younger, telling Glamour: “I was a bit of a handful when I was a kid because I was quite hyperactive. Even in the house my mum used to put me in my pram because I was so full-on.”

He has three sisters called Doniya, Waliyha and Safaa. Malik in Arabic means ‘king’ or ‘chieftain’, and the crown tattoo on Zayn’s chest represents that.

During his time on The X Factor, Zayn’s grandad sadly passed away. In tribute, he has his name Walter tattooed on his chest in Arabic.

Relationships

Malik has also been involved in several high-profile relationships, including Zayn dated fellow X Factor star Rebecca Ferguson for four months, but the relationship ended in July 2011 when they “drifted apart”. Rebecca is six years older than Zayn. Pop star Perrie Edwards of the group Little Mix, and model Gigi Hadid. He also dated with model Neelam Gill.

Early Years

Zain Javadd Malik grew up in Bradford, England. His father is of Pakistani descent and his mother is English. She converted to Islam when married. He has an older sister and two younger sisters. As a teenager, Zayn Malik began appearing on stage in school productions. He sang on stage for the first time during a visit to his school by singer Jay Sean. 

X-Factor

Zayn Malik auditioned for X Factor in 2010 at age 17. He sang Mario’s “Let Me Love You” for his audition and advanced to boot camp. However, he failed to advance past boot camp. Instead, the judges decided to place him, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson into a new group named One Direction. The group was coached by Simon Cowell. They advanced past the judges’ houses stage and participated in the live finals. One Direction finished the competition in third place behind Rebecca Ferguson and winner Matt Cardle.

One Direction

Although Zayn, Louis, Harry, Liam and Niall didn’t win The X Factor, they went on to become one of the show’s most successful acts of all time. They released five albums: ‘Up All Night’ (2011), ‘Take Me Home’ (2012), ‘Midnight Memories’ (2013), ‘Four’ (2014) and ‘Made in the A.M.’ (2015).

Zayn’s favourite track on ‘Up All Night’ is the Kelly Clarkson penned ‘Tell Me A Lie’, and he has approximately five-and-a-half minutes of solos across the record. Asked to sum up 1D’s debut album ‘Up All Night’ in one word, Zayn once described it as “anthemic” and admitted he’s totally flabbergasted by the success of One Direction in America.

One Direction became worldwide sensations. Their first studio album Up All Night reached #1 on the album chart in both the US and the UK. One Direction became the first British act to debut at #1 on the US album chart with their first album. Soon the group was acknowledged as one of the most successful boy bands of all time. Four consecutive albums by One Direction hit #1 on the US album chart and they sold more than 50 million records worldwide.

On March 25, 2015, Zayn Malik announced that he was leaving One Direction. He cited the need to lead a normal life and retreat from the celebrity spotlight. Despite rumors to the contrary, Zayn Malik stated that his fellow group members were fully supportive of his decision.

As a member of One Direction, Zayn Malik was particularly noted for reaching moving high notes in their songs. Perhaps the best example is a high note held near the end of their smash hit single “Best Song Ever.”

Singles

• 2016 – “Pillowtalk” – In January 2016, ten months after announcing his departure from One Direction, Zayn Malik released his first solo single under the mononym Zayn. The song was inspired by his relationship with Perrie Edwards and written shortly before they broke up. In the chorus, he referred to the relationship by singing, “It’s our paradise and it’s our war zone.” “Pillowtalk” debuted at #1 on the pop singles chart in both the US and the UK. Zayn was only the third UK artist to accomplish the feat in the US. “Pillowtalk” also climbed higher in the US chart than any One Direction song. Their peak was #2 with “Best Song Ever.” The accompanying music video featured model Gigi Hadid
• 2016 – “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” with Taylor Swift – Zayn collaborated with Taylor Swift for a single from the soundtrack to the film Fifty Shades Darker. Jack Antonoff, formerly of the group fun, co-wrote and produced the recording. The lyrics of the song are based on the plot of the movie. “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and found success across adult contemporary, dance, adult pop, and mainstream pop radio.

Albums

• 2016 – Mind of Mine – Zayn Malik’s first solo album Mind of Mine was released under the single name Zayn. Although primarily oriented toward R&B, the album includes influences from pop, hip hop, and reggae music among others. In interviews, he explained that he was returning to the R&B music he embraced when first auditioning for X Factor. A primary collaborator on the album was producer and songwriter Malay, known for his work with Frank Ocean on the album Channel Orange. Mind of Mine hit #1 on both the UK and US album charts. Zayn received critical acclaim for striking out in his own R&B influenced direction. He also sang one song “Flower” in his father’s native Urdu using vocal styles associated with the Sufi devotional music known as Qawwali. 
• Icarus Falls was released in 2018, and Nobody is listening 2021.

Solo artist

After leaving 1D, Zayn worked with producer Naughty Boy on solo music, before signing a solo deal with RCA Records in July 2015. He released single ‘Pillowtalk’ in January 2016 which went to Number 1 in the UK and the US, making him the British artist to debut at Number 1 in the US with a debut single. His debut album ‘Mind of Mine’ came out two months later in March 2016.

Releasing his autobiography ‘Zayn’ in November 2016, and released ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Forever’, a collaboration with Taylor Swift, in December 2016. The song appeared on the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack, and won Best Collaboration at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards and the 2017 MTV Millennial Awards.

Zayn was nominated for three BRIT Awards, British Single of the Year and British Video of the Year for ‘Pillowtalk’ and British Video of the Year for ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Forever’ with Taylor Swift.

In 2018, he released his second album ‘Icarus Falls’, and also covered one of Elvis Presley’s songs, uploading the audio of ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love (Cover)’ to his YouTube channel.

After contributing a cover of ‘A Whole New World’ to the soundtrack of Disney’s 2019 live-action remake of Aladdin, Zayn’s next big release was his third album ‘Nobody Is Listening’ in January 2021, but was unfortunately dropped by his label in October 2021.

Facts

He once admitted to fancying Megan Fox and had a secret man crush on Justin Timberlake.

His favourite book is Harry Potter.

Zayn can’t swim and is scared of open water (also known as Aquaphobia). Despite this he likes sharks – especially hammerheads!

His favourite band of all time is *NSYNC, and his favourite song of all time is ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson.

Zayn is also a huge Chris Brown fan and lists ‘All Back’ as one of his most-played songs, with his favourite album being ‘Graffiti’ by the singer.

One of Zayn’s most memorable mottos is, “Never live life in the fear of death, no matter how hard life gets, don’t lose hope.”

Zayn is a Muslim and once tweeted, ‘La ila ha ill lalla ho muhammed door rasoolalah’, a common declaration of faith that means, There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.

Zayn has a bizarre pre-gig superstition – he always brushes his teeth before getting on stage. He admitted to us that his habit “is a little bit weird.”

Just like Harry Styles, Zayn is a cat lover, although his first pet was a Staffordshire Bull Terrier called Tyson! When he was younger, he also had two cats called Lily and Lolo, and his favourite animal is a lion.

Zayn once described Olly Murs as “like an older brother.” Bless!

Zayn says he’s the neatest member of One Direction and jokingly described his bandmates as ‘pigs’.

Zayn says that if he wasn’t in One Direction he’d like to be an English teacher.

Zayn loves drawing when he has the spare time.

One of his pet hates is people chewing loudly with their mouth open. We agree, Zayn!

Zayn’s first kiss was with a girl called Sophie Kirk when he was 10-years-old. He told heat: “She was a little bit taller than me, so I had to stand on a brick. She was one of triplets and I kind of dated all three of them.”

If Zayn could have dinner with anyone dead or alive it would be Michael Jackson.

In addition to his music career, Malik has also made appearances in film and television, including a role in the documentary film “One Direction: This Is Us” and a guest appearance on the British cooking competition show “MasterChef.” He is also known for his fashion sense and has been the face of several high-profile fashion campaigns. He has also been involved in various charity works.

Earlier this year Zayn Malik has signed with UTA for representation across music, he represented by Nicola Carson (ZenKai Management) and Taryn Zimmerman.

Zayn is currently working in New York, for his new album and coincidentally and speculations are rife that Zayn Malik and BLACKPINK’s Rosé are collaborating for a project (Zayn Malik’s manager started following BLACKPINK member Rose on Instagram).

Overall, Zayn Malik is a very talented and successful musician, known for his distinctive voice and his work as a solo artist and as a member of One Direction. He continues to be a prominent figure in the music industry and has shown that he can stand on his own in the spotlight.