Liam Payne going solo with new record deal
Liam Payne is preparing to officially embark on a solo career after signing a new contract with Capitol Records UK.
The One Direction star announced the news to fans on Twitter.com on Thursday (21Jul16).
"Happy to have signed to @CapitolUK," he writes. "They have an
amazing history of artists, I hope I can follow in their
footsteps."
"One direction will always be my home and family but I'm very
excited to see what this chapter brings," he adds.
The news comes after Liam's bandmate Harry Styles reportedly signed
an $80 million contract with Columbia Records - the same label
behind the group - in June (16).
Since One Direction went on hiatus in late 2015, the boys have been
working on their own projects. Harry has been forging an acting
career, after landing a role in Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, a
World War II drama about the evacuation of Allied troops from
French beaches in 1940, Louis Tomlinson is working on his record
label and looking after son Freddie, and Niall Horan has been
working on his golf management agency. Niall is also eyeing up a
solo career, according to reports, with Simon Cowell's label Syco
and One Direction's management Modest.
Liam has been writing his own music and earlier this year (16), his
collaboration with rappers Juicy J and Wiz Khalifa leaked online.
Fans were quick to assume the song, which was reportedly one of
five tracks Liam, Juicy and producer TM88 had worked on together,
was the British singer's debut solo single.
However, he was quick to take to his social media accounts to set
the record straight.
Liam is also being kept busy with his personal life and romance
with Cheryl Fernandez-Versini.
Meanwhile, Zayn Malik was the first member of the group to go solo
after leaving the band last year (15), and he has enjoyed a huge
amount of success with singles including Pillowtalk and Like I
Would.