MUMBAI: TV mogul Simon Cowell says he's given One Direction bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson permission to work on solo material as long as they stay together.

Cowell told The Sun newspaper that he doesn't mind if the boy's band works on their own individual projects on the side, as long as they come back to the band, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

“I hear Harry is going to go solo all the time. My advice is they should stay together. They can still do things whenever they want. They should stay together,” he said.

The ‘X Factor’ judge signed One Direction to his Syco record label after mentoring them to third place on the British talent show.

The boys have been working on their own music alongside their work as a band with Malik teaming up with Naughty Boy and Harry Styles recording a duet with singer Meghan Trainor.