Niall James Horan was born on 13 September 1993 in Mullingar, Ireland. He has an older brother, Greg Horan. His parents, Bobby Horan and Maura Gallagher, divorced when he was five years old, so he and his brother, Greg, lived with their mother for a year. After spending a year apart from their father, they later decided to move in with him. He attended St. Kenny's National School, a primary school, and Coláiste Mhuire, a Catholic boys school, which are both located in Mullingar.





Horan tried to play the guitar that his brother got for Christmas, but was not able to play it. Horan, then aged 11, taught himself how to play the guitar by following YouTube tutorials. His aunt discovered his talent one day when she was in the car with Niall as he started singing. She originally thought the radio was on. As a teenager, he performed at the Mullingar Arts Centre during a fund-raiser for the local football team, the Shamrocks. He was also bagging a support slot with former X Factor contestant Lloyd Daniels at the Academy club in Dublin.









In 2010, Horan auditioned as a solo contestant for British singing competition The X Factor. After being eliminated as a solo performer, Horan joined four other contestants to form One Direction. As a group, they have released five albums, embarked on four world tours, and won several awards.





Following the band's hiatus in 2016, Horan signed a recording deal as a solo artist with Capitol Records. His singles "This Town" and "Slow Hands" from his debut studio album Flicker (2017) reached the top 20 in several countries. The album debuted at number one in Ireland and the United States, as well as charting within the top three in Australia and the UK. He embarked on the Flicker Sessions tour (2017) and the Flicker World Tour (2018) to support the album.