Matthew Healy, the son of actors Denise Welch
and Tim Healy, grew up in Newcastle and Cheshire. He met Ross MacDonald, Adam Hann and George Daniel at
Wilmslow High School in Wilmslow in 2002; as teenagers they played together.
The band formed when the local council worker organised numerous gigs for teens.
Healy found Hann who "came up to him and said he wanted to play one of these shows."
The band began playing covers until they "eventually wrote a song", according to Healy.
"We started from then and we've been making music together since we were about 15."
After Hann invited the members to form a band, they passed their early days covering punk songs in a local club.
Healy was originally the drummer but took over vocals after the previous singer left to start another band.
George Daniel was recruited as the new.drummer to complete the final line-up.
The band formerly performed under Me; and You Versus Them, Forever Drawing Six, Talkhouse, the Slowdown, Bigsleep, and Drive Like I Do, before settling on The 1975. Healy recounts that the name was inspired by scribblings found on the backpage of a poetry book by Jack Kerouac that stated "1 June, The 1975".
The release of the band's first EP, titled Facedown,
in August 2012 saw the band's first UK airplay on national radio with lead track "The City",
which was also featured as part of a BBC Introducing show with Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1.
The 1975 once again garnered national radio attention in late 2012, with BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe
championing their single "Sex" from the
eponymous EP, which was released on 19 November.
They embarked on a United Kingdom and Ireland tour extended into early 2013, before
beginning a US tour in Spring 2014. Upon the release of Music for Cars on 4 March 2013,
The 1975 found mainstream chart success with "Chocolate", reaching number 19 in the UK Singles Chart.
On 20 May 2013 the band released IV, which included a new version of "The City".
The track charted in UK and received airplay in several other countries.
The 1975 toured extensively to support releases and to build hype before releasing their debut.
The band supported Muse on the second leg of
The 2nd Law World Tour at the Emirates Stadium in London
on 26 May 2013. They also toured with The Neighbourhood in the United States in June 2013, and supported
The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park on 13 July. In August, the band performed on the Festival Republic Stage
at 2013 Reading and Leeds Festivals.
In a feature article, Elliot Mitchell of When the Gramophone Rings wrote that releasing a string of EPs before the debut album was "a move that he deemed necessary to provide context to the band's broad sound, rather than just building up with singles alone." Matthew Healy said, "We wouldn't have been able to release the album without putting out the EP's first, as we wanted to make sure we could express ourselves properly before dropping this long, ambitious debut record on people."
Their self-titled debut was released on 2 September 2013,
co-produced by Mike Crossey, known for his work
with Arctic Monkeys and Foals.
The 1975 were selling out shows even before the debut of their full
length as Healy recalls in an interview with The AU Review. The lead single is a re-worked "Sex",
which was released on 26 August 2013. The song premiered on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1
show on 8 July 2013, and a music video premiered on YouTube on 26 July.
The 1975 debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
The 1975 toured in the UK in September 2013, among others performing in Kingston upon Hull as headliners at Freedom Festival, a celebration of the city's shortlisting for 2017 UK City of Culture designation, and at iTunes Festival on 8 September as an opening act for indie electronic quartet Bastille. The band undertook a North American tour in October, a European for November, and in January 2014 the band performed in New Zealand and Australia. In September 2013, the band performed three sold out shows at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire. In April 2014, the band performed for the first time in a major American music and arts festival: Coachella. The band played at Royal Albert Hall the same month. In May, the band's recorded output was distributed digitally while they were touring North America. Healy noted that the band had recording scheduled in Q2 2015.
On 1 June 2015, the band's social accounts were terminated, which caused intense speculation. A comic strip was posted on Healy's Twitter a day prior but is now on their manager, Jamie Oborne's account, which suggested the band's break-up. The next day, the accounts were reinstated, but the cover images and profile photos were white and light pink, instead of the usual black and white, revealing it to be a publicity stunt.
On 8 October, the band announced their second album,
I Like It When You Sleep,
for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It. 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.
The album was released on 26 February and topped the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. The band released a free download of "How to Draw" on Twitter and through Target Exclusive. It was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize.
On November 2016, member George Daniel teased the band's third album by releasing a video on his Instagram account captioned "2018", containing snippets of audio along with Healy playing the keyboards.
On 3 April 2017, Healy tweeted "I like it when you sleep is coming to an end" before following up with "Music For Cars" — speculated to be the title for the album, as well as referencing the eponymous EP. Healy confirmed this later in April to Zane Lowe on Beats 1, which is scheduled to be released in 2018. In March 2017, the band confirmed that two songs for the new album have already been written. In June, Healy also confirmed that Drive Like I Do, one of the 1975's prior incarnations, will release a debut album as a side project 'in a few years'.
In November, Healy teased the release of an EP within 2017. Besides being confirmed, the EP was delayed to 2018, with Oborne stating that "something" would be released instead; the band's debut live album, DH00278. He also confirmed that no singles from Music for Cars will be released in 2017, however the band did confirm that they will release something on June 1, 2018, leaving fans waiting in anticipation for new music.