One Direction: Harry Styles is 'still a member of another band'

Long before any of the members of One Direction had begun taking over the globe with more than 70 million records sold worldwide, they were all regular boys from small towns. Niall Horan came from Ireland, while Zayn Malik hailed from Bradford in Yorkshire. Styles, who turns 28-years-old today, was born and bred in Redditch in Worcestershire, where he made his first attempt to break into the music industry.

Just before the X Factor, Styles was part of a band called White Eskimo. The high school band was comprised of four members, one of which was Will Sweeny, who gave an interview about Styles a few years ago.

Shockingly, when Styles joined the band, he did not want to be at the front and centre of the band. Sweeny recalled: "Harry said: 'I don't want to sing,' but I didn't give him a choice. I pushed him to sing."

Despite this, their first gig went extremely well.

Styles' talents helped the band win their school's Battle of the Bands competition - his first real display of talent.

The Watermelon Sugar star seemed to enjoy being in the group, but his mother had different plans for him. Styles' mother signed him up to the X Factor, and kickstarted the rest of his career. Sweeny was along for the entire ride, however, following Styles to his new journey.

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Although Styles has never publicly commented on whether he was still a part of the band, One Direction fans found out. Sweeny noted: "We've thought about changing the name over the years, so that we don't associate the band with Harry, but in the end we haven't, because it's hard enough making it in this industry, and we see it as a great way to expand our reach."

The band did not last, however.

In December 2020 White Eskimo split up. At the time, Sweeny released a statement that read: "I'd like to explain that the band, White Eskimo, formally split up. It was an extremely tough decision and many nights of tears were had. White Eskimo has been my life for nearly 11 years. I tried my best to keep it going for all those years. It was my heart and soul, my passion — everything to me. But sometimes — in any relationship — you know when you need to leave. You know when it's time to move on. Everything we ever achieved as a band gave me the absolute ability to start writing this new chapter. It will always be my 1st greatest achievement."

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