Niall Horan eyeing move into folk music

One Direction star Niall Horan wants to move away from his pop roots and write folk music.

The Steal My Girl singer, 22, has used the boyband's hiatus, which began in January (16), to focus on his interests outside his pop career, in particular his love of golf.

However he has not abandoned music and has been working on new material with top pop songwriter Wayne Hector.

Niall's fans may be in for a surprise when he does release a solo record, as he's looking to experiment by writing folk songs.

"I don't know where it will go, there's nothing suspicious in the pipeline," he tells Britain's Daily Star newspaper. "I've just been writing. Writing is something I got involved with early on. I try to go in and write with different types of songwriters, mixing Wayne with someone who does folk music or something like that. I'm interested in blending the two genres together."

Earlier this month (May16), Wayne, who as well as working with One Direction has written for Nicki Minaj, Westlife and Christina Aguilera revealed that Niall had been in the studio, but had been initially focused on writing for others rather than making a solo record.

"We are writing together but he wants to do it for other people not himself at the moment," he told the Daily Star. "We have no idea where it will end up."

Like his other One Direction bandmates, Niall has also worked on projects outside music, including hosting his own charity golf tournament with English professional golfer Justin Rose on Sunday (30May16).

The Horan and Rose charity golf event and gala dinner raised more than $1.17 million for charities, with $817,320 going to Cancer Research U.K. and the remainder being split between Irish Autism Action and the Kate & Justin Rose Foundation.

Speaking about why he was proud to raise money for the cancer charity, Niall says, "Everyone knows a family member or friend who has died of cancer.

"It's the leading cause of death in kids and teens, so we want to do our bit to stop that."

Special guests at the charity golf event included English soccer star John Terry, cricketer Kevin Pietersen and his wife, the pop star Jessica Taylor and Niall's fellow The X Factor alumni Olly Murs, who performed live for those in attendance.