Zayn Malik

Background

Zain Javadd Malik, also popularly recognized as Zayn Malik or Zayn, was born on January 12, 1993, to Yaser Malik, who works as an employee, and Tricia Brannan Malik, a chef at a local elementary school in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. He grew up with three sisters: Doniya, Waliyha, and Safaa. With his father being an immigrant Pakistani and his mother being of British and Irish descent, he experienced a few socializing challenges throughout his school days. He grew up listening to his father’s urban music recordings, and as a teenager, he began to enjoy listening to R&B, hip hop, Bollywood music, and reggae. During his school days, he penned raps and sang for the first time on stage with Jay Sean, during his visit. Nonetheless, he was heavily active in school performances throughout high school, and he boxed from the ages of 15 to 17.

Zayn began his musical career by appearing on the reality program “X-Factor.” He received positive feedback from the show’s judges but had pulled out of the competition during boot camp. However, he was granted the opportunity to continue his fight as a group, which featured Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, and Niall Horan in addition to Zayn. Thereafter, the group was called One Direction. Their debut album, “Up All Night,” was released in 2011, with the album debuting at the top of the music charts in 16 countries around the world. The single ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ garnered widespread popularity and led fans to cry with joy. The song eventually won the Brit Awards-2012. Since then, the band has not looked back and has continued to produce successes. They became the first British music band to have three albums enter the top of the Billboard 200. Afterward, in March 2015, Zayn departed the band, saying that in One Direction he’s unable to express himself in music the way he would have liked to.

His solo career began with RCA Records. In 2016, he released his first album, “Mind of Mine,” which topped several music charts, including the U.S. Billboard. In the first four days following its release, his debut song, ‘Pillow Talk,’ topped the iTunes charts in over 80 countries and was streamed over 13 million times. This song also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making the singer the third British singer to reach this pinnacle. In December, the single ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Forever,’ from the soundtrack of the movie “Fifty Shades Darker,” was released and sung by Zayn, alongside the famous singer Taylor Swift, and it reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

Zayn always made headlines when it came to his love life. The 17-year-old singer had romantic connections with two of the “X-Factor” contestants: Geneva Lane and Rebecca Ferguson. He had an affair with Perrie Edwards in 2012. They announced their engagement a year later; however, they split up in 2015. At Kendall Jenner’s birthday party in November 2015, he met supermodel Gigi Hadid. They confessed their love for each other shortly after. Zayn proposed to Gigi in December 2016, but she declined. They were together as a couple since 2017, separated several times, and in 2020, they became parents to a baby girl named Khai. While they split in 2021, they co-parent their baby daughter.