HAPPY Birthday Mr Harry Styles, the youngest member of One Direction, who celebrates his twenty-first birthday today, Sunday 1 February 2015.
For those of you who may be unaware who Mr Styles is, here is the back story. Styles auditioned for the television series The X Factor as a solo artist, making it through the rounds, until it was the point at which artists made it through or went home. Simon Cowell and the X Factor judges grouped Styles and four other singers together, christened them One Direction and sent them through to the live shows, where they made it through to the X Factor final - Finishing an honourable third.
Whereas some X Factor winners and runners up have faded, that third placed boy band went from strength to strength. Finding fame meant Styles finding himself in the public eye - Leading to some high profile romances and relationships.
Styles found himself the 'Cougar bait' for television presenter Caroline Flack, who was older than her teenage boyfriend at the time of their relationship.
Harry dated the model
Cara Delevingne - Both pictured left - But sadly, this relationship was not to last. At this point, Styles embarked upon his most high profile romance and relationship, when he wooed Miss
Taylor Alison Swift in late 2012, during the time Taylor was promoting her recently released album,
RED. Some thought tracks on RED referred to Styles - '
I Knew You Were Trouble.' in particular - Swift said this was not the case.
Taylor and Harry were dubbed '
Haylor' and their relationship was a transatlantic one - Spending time together in New York, USA; Spending time together in the Lake District, Cumbria, England. Mr Styles and Miss Swift certainly did a lot of good for winter fashions during their relationship, as pictured (
right). It was also rumoured that Styles and Swift spent Christmas 2012 together, but it was in the new year of 2013 that the news broke that
Haylor were no more. There were reports of the outgoing Styles, always eager to face the media, shying away from the cameras; reports of Swift sitting on her own in an airport lounge, tears running down her face, following what appears to have been the final act of
Haylor - A winter holiday gone wrong, Styles leaving on an earlier flight, leaving Swift in tears at the airport.
Singers and musicians at the top of their game generally come into contact when the music industry requires them to; Styles' first public
squirm at the appearance of Swift was at the 2013
Brit Awards, when Taylor was presenting an award. As Swift made her way to the stage, the television cameras cut to Styles - That was an opportunity they were not going to miss. Swift returned to the stage to perform '
I Knew You Were Trouble.' later in the show; by this time, Harry was elsewhere.
The friendship between Styles and Swift appeared to have descended even further, when during a 2013 awards ceremony in the United States, One Direction were on stage to collect an award. As Harry gave an acceptance speech, Taylor, sat on the front row of the audience with Selena Gomez, was seen and heard to berate Styles with the phrases "
fuck you" and "
shut the fuck up", as Swift's best friend Gomez was lapping up Swift's new vocabulary.
As the saying goes, '
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned', and in Swift's case, you don't get away without being referenced in a song - Or in Harry's case, two. Taylor released the album
1989 in late 2014, with two songs referring to her relationship with Harry: '
Style', which features the lines '
You got that long hair slicked back / White T- Shirt'; and '
Out Of The Woods', which gave more clues, including a visit to hospital following an accident: '
Remember when / You hit the brakes too soon / 20 stitches in a hospital room' and going on to say '
I walked out' and '
I'm setting you free' - Possibly the final acts of
Haylor.
Harry soon found romance with the young American model
Kendall Jenner, the daughter of Bruce and Kris Jenner. Kris is also
mother hen of the Kardashians, which is why you may see the likeness of her elder siblings in the picture to the right. This was another short-lived romance for Harry, but he and Kendall have remained friends.
Is this the end of the story, I hear you cry? Well, fear not, as we come to the present day. Mr Styles has gone on to find romance with a young lady whose occupation is a lingerie model. It's a hard life, so to speak.
Harry's new romance is with
Nadine Leopold, an Austrian
Victoria's Secret model, based in New York City (
pictured right). Nadine is also 21, having celebrated her birthday in January. In the days leading up to his twenty-first birthday, the media have reported that Harry is 'in love' with Nadine and that there is 'nobody else' he would rather spend his birthday with. Though on this day, Sunday 1 February, the media reports Harry throwing a party for his birthday, with exes Cara and Kendall on the guest list, along with many other British and American guests celebrating, including Mr David Beckham and family, who have been invited to Styles' coming of age.
I do hope you appreciate this post in honour of Mr Styles on the occasion of his birthday and join in sending our regards. I shall leave you with a portrait of Harry.
Enjoy.
