Simon Cowell says One Direction can go solo (as a side job)

Los Angeles  - Simon Cowell will let One Direction go solo - as long as they don't split up.

The 55-year-old music mogul - who put the group together on The X Factor in 2010 - is happy for Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson to work on other projects, as long as it is just "on the side" and doesn't affect their main job as part of the chart-topping boy band.