Zayn Malik was born and grew up in Bradford, Britain.
Bradford [ ˈbrædfərd ] is in the Metropolitan Borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire , England , in the foothills of the Pennines 8.6 mi west of Leeds , and 16 mi northwest of Wakefield . Bradford forms part of the West Yorkshire Urban Area conurbation which in 2001 had a population of 1.5 million and it is the fourth largest urban area in the United Kingdom with the Bradford subdivision of the aforementioned urban area having a population of 528,155 . Zayn Malik . Born and raised in Bradford , Malik aspired to pursue a career in music from a young age leading him to audition as a solo artist for the British reality television music competition The X Factor in 2010 .