2002–2011: Beginnings, and early years of the 1975 in 2014|250x250px In 2002, at the age of 13, Healy was recruited by
Adam Hann to be the drummer of a band he was forming with
Ross MacDonald at
Wilmslow High School. When their potential lead singer dropped out after a rehearsal, Healy also became the lead vocalist. He eventually met
George Daniel who took over as the band's drummer. Daniel recalled that Healy was "the most outwardly passionate person in school — endearing, and intimidating". Before making their own music, the band covered punk and emo songs while hanging out at their school's music hall and at Healy's house. After leaving school, Healy persuaded his bandmates to attend universities in Manchester to keep the band together. While he briefly attended music school, he had short-lived jobs at
FatFace, as a
barista at
Caffè Nero, and as a
delivery boy at a Chinese restaurant. Healy's mother worried about his future but his father "believed in [him] unquestioningly".
2012–2014: Rise to fame Before settling on the band name the 1975 in 2012, they played under various names – Talkhouse, the Slowdown, Bigsleep, Drive Like I Do – around
Greater Manchester. Healy recounted that the final name came from the scribblings found on his copy of the novel
On the Road by
Jack Kerouac that were dated "1 June, The 1975". The 1975 were rejected by every major record label, The band subsequently released four extended plays from 2012 to 2013 –
Facedown, Sex, Music for Cars, and
IV. The band began to build momentum in late 2012. Radio DJ
Zane Lowe, who was then at the BBC, gave airplay to the EP
Facedown, and the band had radio success with "
Sex" and "
Chocolate", and released their debut album,
The 1975, in 2013. In reviewing the album, Michael Hann of
The Guardian said "the best of the writing here – and it works better at length – is fabulous." The band sold out three nights at London's Brixton Academy, supported
the Rolling Stones at Hyde Park, and played the Pyramid Stage at
Glastonbury Festival.
2015–2017: Breakthrough The band released their second album,
I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It, in 2016. It landed at No.1 at the
UK Albums Chart and also topped the
Billboard 200 with 108,000 equivalent units sold, becoming the longest album title at No. 1 in the chart history. They premiered the lead single, "
Love Me", simultaneously scheduling a support tour in Europe, North America, and Asia. They premiered the second single, "
UGH!", on 10 December on Beats 1. The album's third single, "
The Sound", debuted on
BBC Radio 1 on 14 January 2016. The 1975 released the fourth single, "
Somebody Else", on 15 February on Beats 1 before the album's release. "A Change of Heart" premiered on Radio 1 on 22 February, four days prior to the album's release. Their performance at Glastonbury Festival in 2016 was highly praised with
NME hailing Healy as "Britain's Greatest New Popstar". Alexis Petridis of
The Guardian praised Healy's "witty self-awareness and deprecation" elaborating that he "has an eye for a prosaic detail that undercuts the air of bustling self-importance". The album reached number one in both the UK and US, Healy directed the music video of
Pale Waves single "
Television Romance", which he also co-produced.
2018–2021: Critical acclaim A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, the band's
Mercury Prize-nominated third studio album, was followed by
Notes on a Conditional Form in 2020; both of which topped the
UK Albums Chart. In 2019, Healy received a
Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Song for "Give Yourself A Try" from their third studio album,
A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships. The album also won a
Brit Award for British Album of the Year. In 2020, the band won Band of the Decade, Best British Band, and the Innovator Award at the
NME Awards. Healy's most critically acclaimed songwriting is the song "
Love It If We Made It". The song's lyrics are inspired by
tabloid headlines of articles covering social and political events of that period, such as
police brutality,
Black Lives Matter ("selling melanin and then suffocating black men"), the death of
Alan Kurdi and the refugee crisis in Europe ("a beach of drowning three-year olds"),
Colin Kaepernick's
anthem protest against racial injustice in the US ("kneeling on a pitch"), verbatim quotes from
Donald Trump ("
I moved on her like a bitch"), as well as direct quotes of Trump's tweets ("thank you Kanye, very cool") and a quote from Trump's presidential campaign t-shirt ("fuck your feelings"). The song also refers to
post-truth politics,
attention economy,
prison system in the US,
information overload, and the death of rapper
Lil Peep. Healy has described it as "a montage for the times, but it's not going to change the times. It doesn't provide a solution." The song's lyrics earned Healy the Best Contemporary Song award at the 2019
Ivor Novello Awards, where he was also awarded Songwriter of the Year. Healy and
George Daniel of the 1975 co-produced
No Rome's EP
RIP Indo Hisashi, which was released in August 2018. In 2021, he and Daniel produced
Beabadoobee's solo EP
Our Extended Play, which was released in March 2021. In October 2021, Healy guest-
opened for friend
Phoebe Bridgers at the
Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on her
Reunion Tour where they performed the first live duet of the 1975 "
Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America".
2022–present: Further success In 2022, Healy wrote and produced, with Daniel and
Jack Antonoff, the 1975's fifth studio album,
Being Funny in a Foreign Language, which gave the band its fifth consecutive number one in the UK. Songwriter of the Year at the
Ivor Novello Awards, and won the British Rock/Alternative Act at the
2023 Brit Awards. In April 2023, the band released
Live with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, which reached number two in the UK.
The Observer,
Evening Standard, and
Metro among others. In a review of the tour,
Rolling Stone wrote, "Healy and co. have set an extremely high bar for other gigs this year. Part performance art, part rock show, all bolstered by some of the best pop songs to have emerged in the last decade. It should be considered a defining blueprint on how to do arena shows." In 2022, "Sleep Tight", a Healy and Rob Milton composition, was released by
Holly Humberstone in April 2022, and two tracks written by Healy, "Pictures of Us" and "You're Here That's the Thing", are in
Beabadoobee's album
Beatopia in July 2022. Healy also co-wrote an unreleased song with
Lewis Capaldi for his
Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent album, and he worked with
Taylor Swift on some material for her 2022 album,
Midnights. In 2023, Healy provided additional vocals and drums for
the Japanese House singles "Sunshine Baby" and "Boyhood" respectively. In August 2023, Healy and the band headlined
Reading and Leeds Festivals for the third time with a "10th Anniversary Performance" of their
self-titled debut album released in 2013. This was followed by a concert tour entitled
Still... At Their Very Best which commenced across arenas in North America and Europe in September 2023 and ended in March 2024. == Artistry ==