One Direction to split for year after new album

The hugely successful boy band One Direction will take a year-long break next year so that members can pursue separate interests, a report in a British newspaper said on Monday. The break will come after the band, reduced to four members following the departure of Zayn Malik earlier this year, release their fifth album in March, the report in the Sun said.

The band, who enjoys a massive global teenage following, did not comment on the tabloid report on their various Twitter accounts. A spokesman for One Direction has declined too to comment on the report. Publicist Simon Jones said he wouldn't comment on "speculation."

The Sun newspaper reported that band members would go separate ways for at least a year after finishing a tour this autumn and promoting their fifth album.

One Direction formed in 2010 after five teenagers - Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik - auditioned individually for the British TV talent show "The X Factor." Simon Cowell had the idea of putting them together as a boy band, and they became one of Britain's most successful musical exports.

Speculation about a split grew after Malik quit the group earlier this year, but the other members said they planned to continue as a quartet. One Direction is currently on the North American leg of a tour that is due to end Oct. 31 in Sheffield, England.

dr/jil (AFP, Reuters)