Louis Tomlinson

Louis William Tomlinson (/ˈluːi ˈtɒmlɪnsən/;^[2] born Louis Troy Austin; 24 December 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction. He began his career as an actor, appearing as an extra in ITV drama film If I Had You and the BBC drama Waterloo Road. In 2010, he auditioned on the British music competition series The X Factor. After being eliminated as a solo performer, he was put into a group with four other contestants, forming One Direction.

Following the group's hiatus in 2016, "Just Hold On" was released as Tomlinson's debut solo single in December 2016. It peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart and was certified platinum in the UK. In 2017, Tomlinson released "Back to You" with American singer Bebe Rexha, certified platinum in the USA and UK, and "Miss You". In 2018 Tomlinson appeared on the fifteenth series of The X Factor as a judge and a mentor of the "Boys" category. He became the first former contestant of the show to become the winning mentor due to his mentee Dalton Harris winning the show.

Louis William Tomlinson was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England to Johannah "Jay" Poulston and Troy Austin, who split up when he was a toddler. ^[4][5]. He is estranged from his father.^[6] He later took on his then stepfather Mark Tomlinson's surname.^[7] He was raised with four younger half-sisters; ^[8] Lottie, Félicité (2000–2019), and twins Phoebe and Daisy from Poulston's marriage to Mark.^[9][10] Later he has two more half siblings, twins Doris and Ernest (born 2014) from Poulston's marriage to Dan Deakin.^[11] He also has one paternal half-sister, Georgia.^[12]

Tomlinson attended the Hayfield School and later Hall Cross School (now Hall Cross Academy), both located in Doncaster.^[13] He failed his first year of A levels at the Hayfield School and ended up going to Hall Cross School and starting his A levels again.^[13] He had a number of jobs, including at a Vue cinema and at Doncaster Rovers football stadium as a waiter in the hospitality suites.^[13][14] Tomlinson, along with two of his siblings, had extra roles in Fat Friends.^[13] After Fat Friends, he attended an acting school in Barnsley.^[13] He had small parts in an ITV drama film If I Had You and BBC's Waterloo Road.^[13] At Hall Cross, Tomlinson appeared in several musical productions.^[15][16] He admitted to not applying himself academically in school, but he thoroughly enjoyed being with his friends and being involved with musical productions.^[17] Taking the lead role of Danny Zuko in the Hall Cross musical production of Grease motivated him to audition for The X Factor

 

In 2019, Tomlinson released the singles "Two of Us", "Kill My Mind", "We Made It", "Don't Let It Break Your Heart" and "Walls", preceding his debut album Walls, released in January 2020.

In 2013, Tomlinson was signed as a footballer by Doncaster Rovers of the Football League Championship on a non-contract basis. The same year he also formed his own record label, Triple Strings, as an imprint of One Direction's label Syco.^[3] He appeared on Debrett's 2017 list of the most influential people in the UK