Simon Cowell received surprise call from Harry Styles after One Direction members 'unfollowed music mogul'
Simon Cowell revealed that Harry Styles recently called him to reminisce about the "great time" the pair had during their One Direction days.
The music mogul, 64, formed the boy band - featuring Harry, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson - in 2010 on ITV's The X Factor.
In June, while appearing on Steven Bartlett's podcast, Diary Of A CEO, Cowell reflected on his time managing the band and praised their monumental success.
And now Cowell has revealed that his conversation triggered memories for Grammy-winning Styles, 30, prompting the singer to give him a call.
The Britain’s Got Talent judge told Hello: “It was great to hear from him. He said listening to the podcast reminded him of what a great a time we had together.”
However, it seems not all is well between the Cowell and other band members, as Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan unfollowed him on social media just days after the interview, where he also shared his biggest regret from managing the band.
One Direction were originally formed in 2010 on Cowell’s show The X Factor where he mentored them.
While they only finished in third place on the ITV talent show, he signed them to his label Syco Records and they then went on to sell more than 70 million records across the globe.
Four years after they originally shot to fame, member Zayn Malik announced that he was quitting the group after struggling in the spotlight. Then a year later, the remaining members announced that they would be taking an indefinite hiatus following their final tour.
While Tomlinson and Horan appeared on good terms with the music mogul over the years, this now no longer seems the case as they unfollowed him online after Cowell’s appearance on Bartlett’s podcast when he admitted that he "regretted” not keeping the One Direction name.
"That's the problem, could have made an animation or whatever but when you give an artist the name, it's not yours and that's my only regret," he told the Dragon’s Den star.
Cowell then went on to offer to buy the name from the lads, saying: "So if you're listening, I'll buy it back from you. But that's the only thing I do regret. If one of the band members, for whatever reason say they don't want to tour, it can stop the others touring, so if it was me who owned the name, it wouldn't be a problem."
He confirmed that although One Direction are on a hiatus, the members continue to own the name, meaning he is unable to profit from them.
The dad-of-one recently announced he is looking to put together a “new one direction” and has launched a global talent search.
