One Direction - One Direction: Who We Are: Our Official Autobiography

Its hard to believe that I was only 17 when One Direction started. That feels like a different lifetime to me now so much has happened since this band began. Inevitably, because weve been quite successful, when I look back at my life its coloured by the whole One Direction experience.

I see traits in my personality now that I know help me in the band, but when I think about it I can see them in me as a kid too. I was always on the go as a young lad I needed to be doing something all the time. I used to be everywhere, all over the place, especially when I was in my early teens. It used to annoy my dad cos Id want to go and play football over the field by my house or go running. Id come home completely covered in mud after playing football all day and Dad would say, You smell like a sweaty little boy! He always used to say that. Eventually I had a pair of trousers for every day of the week cos it was impossible for my mum to keep up with the washing. Liam! Youre always so busy, busy, busy! You never sit still! Where do you get the energy from? Busy, busy, busy. I was sitting in half my classes covered in mud and after school my parents would rip me to bits: What do you think youre doing walking round like that? Do you know who that reflects on?! I was only having a bit of fun ... I just found it hard to sit still. Boxing and athletics were good outlets for all that energy. I loved my sports, still do.

I used to bounce off the walls at home a fair bit too. We lived in a three-bedroom house with five people Mum, Dad and my sisters Ruth and Nicola. We were a tight family and we loved each other, of course, but the house was small and crammed with all our stuff in it so there were times when wed argue. Mum and Dad were always having to be careful with money and work hard, and we sometimes did get on top of one another. Its inevitable, I suppose. There were just too many kids growing up in a small house. Id want to watch my favourite show on the telly but my sisters would want to see their stuff, or wed be arguing over something and nothing. Id shout into the kitchen, Mum, I want to watch the football but Ruth says shes watching something else! but Mum was just trying to get everything sorted around the house and keep everyone happy! Typical family stuff, really, but because the house was so small we were in each others faces the whole time.

When I was a kid I was constantly running, playing football, messing about outside on the go all the time so I spent a lot of time in the shower later!

So I used to spend a lot of time outside, playing football, going over the field and causing a bit of trouble, just playing with my mates. Then as soon as I got home Id be up into my bedroom on the PlayStation. I guess I was quite independent at times. I suppose all teenagers have that phase, to be fair.

However, one thing that I always absolutely loved doing was singing. Choirs, a local performing-arts group ... karaoke when I was a little older. Wherever and whenever I could sing or perform, I would. My dad was amazing. When I was a kid he was my driving force to get out there and perform to people. I never saw anything like this as in One Direction happening. In fact I dont think anybody could ever have seen this coming. But for some reason whether he was just crazy or not, I dont know Dad was convinced Id end up doing something in music. Liam, hed say, youve just got to get out there and perform. We need to get you more and more gigs. You can sing, and youve got what it takes, son. You can do this, I know you can. He thought that Id maybe do just a solo record in the UK, but never anything worldwide. Then One Direction kicked off. So maybe he wasnt the crazy one after all?

Back in the day he used to take me to all my gigs, he cut my CDs for me to put my backing tracks on, hed do my sound, all the driving. He was like my tour manager when I was young, and if I did something wrong Id get a telling off from him the same way as I would now from One Directions tour manager, Paul. Dad taught me so much.

That impulse to always be busy carried over into my singing. As a kid I was constantly after doing more and more gigs. I didnt care where they were or who I was singing to I just wanted to perform, graft and learn. Dad would say, Liam, Ive got you a gig in this local club, but its pretty small and theres no money in it, and Id be like, I dont care, Dad, lets do it. Bring it on. We were both like that, to be fair. No gig was too small or too far away. Whatever, whenever, we both knew any shows at this point were all great experience for me. This has served me well in One Direction because its meant that when the madness all kicked off I was at least reasonably experienced already. Thats why I used to start all the band songs off back then, because the management knew Id been on stage many times before. We were so young when One Direction started and I guess it made sense to utilise whatever limited experience we did have.

Im proud that I did a lot of groundwork for the band when I was younger. I performed to some of the strangest crowds you could ever play to! I once played in Rhyl at this event called the Sunshine Festival. Except it was tipping down with rain and I dont remember seeing any sunshine the whole day. It was decent money (50 for three songs, I seem to remember), but when I got up on stage there were about ten people maximum! just standing around in a field looking bored. I still made the effort, though, Hello Rhyl! I was jumping all over the stage, and I remember there was this one mother feeding her baby with a spoon the whole time while I bounced around like a nutter. That was an odd gig.

On another occasion I played the Oceana Centre in Wolverhampton, which was near where I lived. The crowd was a bit lively and about halfway through the second song this lad just dashed a 50p coin at me. It hit my face, cutting my cheek open. I had two songs left and no way was I gonna let him stop me, so I dabbed the blood off, carried on and finished the set. Thanks, mate!

I have very fond memories of family holidays as a kid, I was always up to something, never sitting still, great fun! (cont. over the page...)

It wasnt all baby food and coin-throwing, of course. I used to get paid quite well sometimes. I remember getting 350 for six minutes work at one show, which for a 14-year-old lad felt pretty amazing! And, of course, as a lot of people know, I was lucky enough to sing Black & Gold at Wolverhampton Wanderers stadium one time. They can fit nearly 30,000 people in that bad boy and, because it was before their game against Man Utd, the ground was rammed. I was really nervous but I got a great round of applause, which was a relief because I wasnt sure how a football crowd would react to some kid coming out and singing. Mind you, I didnt tell them I was a Baggies fan!

By the time I entered The X Factor the first time, aged 14, I really fancied performing as a career. My dad had always said, I want Simon Cowell to hear your voice, Liam. We just need to get you in front of Simon ... So when they dropped the age restriction to 14, I was on that website filling in the form quick as a flash. It all looks pretty manageable on the telly in a way, but actually you need guts to have a pop at The X Factor . I was only a kid, so it was a huge step to try to get in the competition, queue for hours and hours, then actually set foot on the stage when you know youre about to sing for Simon and the judges. And then the day itself getting up early, making my slot, keeping the nerves under control and not crumbling that was all a big ask. I just kept reminding myself how much I enjoyed singing and harnessed the feeling that I wanted to show the judges what I could do.