Liam James Payne was an English singer and songwriter. He was widely known as a member of the pop group One Direction, one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. Payne twice appeared as a solo auditionee on the British television series The X Factor; in the 2010 series, he was invited to join One Direction alongside fellow contestants. They placed third and went on to achieve global success. After One Direction's hiatus in 2016, Payne pursued a solo career, signing with Republic Records in North America. In 2017, he released his debut solo single "Strip That Down", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart and number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100, and was certified platinum in both countries. His debut studio album, LP1, was released in December 2019. During the first three years of his solo career, Payne sold over 18 million singles, 2.4 million albums, and amassed 3.9 billion streams. In addition to his solo work, Payne produced remixes under the monikers "Big Payno" and "Payno". He collaborated with other musical artists and remixed tracks for both his group and singer Cheryl. Payne died in October 2024, after having fallen from a third-floor balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Zain Javadd "Zayn" Malik, born 12 January 1993 in St. Luke's Hospital, is from Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Born to British Pakistani father Yaser and an English mother, Tricia Malik (née Brannan), he has one older sister Doniya, and two younger sisters Waliyha and Safaa. On auditioning for The X Factor, Malik said "I was looking for an experience". He cites urban music as his main musical influence, growing up, he was into R&B and rap. For his X Factor audition, he performed the Mario R&B song, "Let Me Love You". He as well as other members of One Direction further notes artists such as Bruno Mars, as a "dream collaborator.