Biography of Zayn Malik
Zayn Jawaad Malik is a pop star, songwriter, model, and former vocalist of the Anglo-Irish band One Direction.
ZAYN – Zayn Malik, former member of One Direction
Since 2015, he has been building a musical career as a solo artist. His debut disc “Mind of Mine”, released in 2016, took a leading position in the world charts. He became the first British singer in history to top the US Billboard 200 and the UK Album chart at the same time.
Childhood
The future popular performer was born on January 12, 1993 in the city of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in the north of England. His mother, Patricia Malik, is an Englishwoman who converted to Islam after marriage. She worked as a halal chef in an elementary school. Father Yazer had Pakistani roots and was a simple worker. In addition to their son, three daughters grew up in their family.
Zayn Malik as a child
Parents strictly followed the religious education of their son – he diligently went to the mosque and read the Koran. Until the age of 11, he attended elementary school, where he experienced difficulties in communicating with peers because of his nationality. He then attended high school, actively participated in school productions, boxed from the age of 15 to 17, and in the future was going to become an English teacher.
As a teenager, Zayn fell in love with R&B, reggae and hip-hop, and began to write rap himself. He said in one of the interviews that as a teenager he even performed on stage with singer John Sean when he visited their school.
Career
In 2010, Zane traveled to Manchester to audition for the X-Factor song contest. At the audition stage, he sang the popular song “Let Me Love You” from the 2004 album “Turning Point” by American r’n’b singer Mario. All three judges – Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger – said yes, praising his performance.
At first, he claimed victory in the solo category, but dropped out of the TV competition during the training camp stage. However, he was invited to continue the fight, but as part of a group: in addition to Zane, it included Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Niall Horan. Subsequently, the team was called One Direction.
Zayn Malik in One Direction
Zane and other musicians of the boy band won the hearts of millions of fans with their bright personality and the quality of performance of famous hits from the repertoire of Snow Patrol, Rihanna, Pink, The Beatles. In the final, talented guys took 3rd place and signed a cooperation contract with Syco Records. The show was the first step towards their resounding success among the youth audience.
Zayn Malik’s tattoos are a small part of them
In 2011, the first disc of the musical group “Up All Night” was released. It topped the charts in 16 countries around the world. The lead single “What Makes You Beautiful”, which subsequently won the Brit Awards-2012 (the British analogue of Grammy), was madly liked and made the fans cry with delight.
The musicians made a world tour: toured Britain, New Zealand, North America, Australia. There was always a full house at the performances of the young and talented team. A year later, the next disc “Take Me Home” appeared, which took the top lines in the charts of 35 countries, including Britain, France, Spain and Australia. His first track “Live While We’re Young” topped the iTunes pre-order charts in 40 countries and was called “pop perfection”.
The new stars of show business gave a concert in New York’s Madison Square Garden, then made another world tour, which included more than a hundred performances, which were held with unfailing success.
Zayn Malik named youth “fashion icon”
With the release of their third CD Midnight Memories in 2013, which topped the most prestigious US Billboard 200 chart, they set another record – they became the first British band to have three discs in a row debut at the top position of the main American hit parade.
The third concert tour of the boy band took place in a number of cities in Colombia, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and other countries. It ended in the USA and brought the musicians a total of more than $ 280 million. The fourth disc of the musicians “Four”, like the previous ones, turned out to be the leader of the American chart.
Development of solo creativity
In March 2015, Zayn left the boy band. One of the reasons for his exit from the stellar band, the singer called the impossibility of expressing himself in music the way he would like within One Direction. The boy band performed in the pop-rock genre, and he preferred to focus on R&B in his work.
Zayn Malik quits One Direction due to creative differences
As a solo artist, he began to collaborate with RCA Records. In 2016, his first studio disc “Mind of Mine” was released. It became number 1 in many world charts, including the main US chart. Key single “Pillowtalk” (“Intimate conversation”) debuted at number one on iTunes in 90 countries. In the first four days after its release, it was listened to over 13 million times. He topped the Billboard Hot 100, making him the third British artist to hit the top right away (after Adele with “Hello” and Elton John with “Candle in the Wind 1997”, dedicated to Princess Diana). The music video for it was recorded with the participation of the singer’s girlfriend, American model and TV presenter Gigi Hadid.
In 2016 he won a lot of awards: MuchMusic Video Award for Best International Music Video Artist, MTV Video Music Award for Best Visual Effects, Teen Choice Award for Choice Music: Best Single by a Singer, MuchMusic Video Award for Most Buzzworthy International Artist or Group.
Zayn Malik – MTV star
In the same year, due to health problems (an anxiety disorder), he canceled a performance at the Summertime Ball mini-festival held by British radio station Capital FM, apologizing to fans. For the same reason, his concert scheduled for October 11 in Dubai did not take place.
He collaborated with fellow musicians – participated in the release of the composition “Cruel” by the electro-R&B duo Snakehips, in the creation of the single “Freedun” by the English rapper MIA In August, the men’s magazine GQ released an interview with the star and his exclusive photo shoot. In December, the single “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” was presented, the soundtrack to the film “50 Shades Darker”, performed by Zayn along with the famous singer Taylor Swift. It peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
Zayn Malik’s personal life
During his participation in The X Factor, the 17-year-old singer had a romantic relationship with fellow contestants: first with 20-year-old Geneva Lane, then with 23-year-old Rebecca Ferguson. Since 2012, he has had an affair with Parry Edwards. A year later, they announced their engagement, but in the summer of 2015 they broke off relations.
Zayn Malik is selective in his choice of girlfriends
In November, at a birthday party for model Kendall Jenner, he met supermodel Gigi Hadid. Soon they declared themselves a couple. In December 2016, he proposed marriage to her, but the beauty refused him. Nevertheless, they met 2017 together, still calling themselves a couple.
Zayn Malik and his girlfriend Gigi Hadid
They converged and diverged more than once, but, apparently, they nevertheless realized that they could not live without each other. In April 2024, journalists found out that Gigi was pregnant with Zayn. At the end of September, she gave birth to a girl.
The young man is a believing Muslim. He admitted that he smokes, but wants to get rid of this bad habit. As it turned out, he loves to cook, even bakes pies.
Zayn Malik against Islamophobia
There were rumors in the press about his intimate relationship with One Direction buddy Liam Payne. Liam is the only member of the group with whom Zayn continued to communicate after he left the band.
Rumors surfaced after photo of Zayn and Liam kissing
In 2014, Malik was included in the list of the most stylish men according to British GQ, a year later, according to a survey by Capital FM, he was named “the sexiest guy in pop music.” In 2016, he was ranked #5 in Glamor Magazine’s 100 Sexiest Men.
Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid for Vogue (2016)
Zayn Malik now
In January 2017, the premiere of the video for the song “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” by Zayn and Taylor Swift for the film 50 Shades Darker took place. This video, which shows him and the singer vandalizing their hotel rooms, had 100 million views by March. He also released the single “Still Got Time” with Canadian rapper PARTYNEXTDOOR, which became the 20th hit in the world.
In the same period, the Giuseppe x Zayn shoe collection was presented, created by the singer in partnership with fashion designer Giuseppe Zanotti. The creator of the brand called Zane a fashion icon, and described the style of the new line as “light coolness with the right amount of a modern rebel.” In June, the next fashion collaboration of the pop star appeared: Zayn x Versus Versace, which included sweatshirts, T-shirts, baseball caps, bombers, parkas, all unisex products.
Zayn Malik launches his own shoe collection
Here we can mention a small incident. In an interview with American Vogue, the singer and his girlfriend Gigi admitted that they sometimes change individual items of clothing. As a result, their photo, where the characters are depicted in unisex outfits, is called “the embrace of gender fluids.” After a mass of critical comments on the Web regarding the incorrect identification of the couple as transgender people, the magazine had to apologize to them with a promise to be more careful in covering the topic in the future.
Zayn Malik and his girlfriend on the cover of Vogue (2017)
In 2017, the artist won the Brit Awards for Best British Single, Best British Video, People’s Choice Award for Favorite Song of the Year, iHeartRadio Music Award for Best Music Video, MuchMusic Video Award for Most Buzzworthy International Artist or Group.