Simon Cowell reveals surprise call from Harry Styles in which the singer recalled the “great times” with One Direction

Simon Cowell has revealed that Harry Styles recently called him to remember the “great time” they had together during the One Direction days.

The 64-year-old talent scout founded the boy band – consisting of Harry, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson – in 2010 on “The X Factor” on ITV.

Simon spoke about his time managing the band and praised their huge success when he appeared on Steven Bartlett’s podcast Diary Of A CEO in June.

And his interview seemed to bring back memories for Grammy-winning singer Harry, 30, as Simon revealed to Hello! magazine this week that the singer had called him. “It was great to hear from him,” Simon said. “He said listening to the podcast reminded him of what a great time we had together.”

However, not everything is rosy between the talent coach and the band members, as Louis and Niall unfollowed him on social media a few days after the interview – in which he also expressed his greatest regret about having managed the band.

Simon raved about the Watermelon Sugar hitmaker and was impressed that he took the time to call despite his ever-increasing fame.

“I thought it said so much about him that he would bother to make that call,” added the “X Factor” judge.

After the end of “The X Factor,” Simon signed One Direction to his label Syco Music and the group developed into one of the highest-selling boy groups of all time.

In 2015, however, Zayn left the band to pursue solo music and the remaining members split up for good a year later.

During the podcast Simon announced that he regretted leaving the band own the name One Direction – meaning he was unable to carry on the band’s legacy after their split.

“The only regret I have is that the name actually belongs to me,” he said. “The name belongs to you. I could have made an animation or something.”

“So if you listen to One Direction, I’ll buy it again!”

When Steven asked if each of the pop stars owned 20 percent of the name, Simon said he couldn’t remember the exact agreement, but new content related to the band, such as films or television shows, could not be released without the consent of all band members.

Simon plans to launch a new competition this year to find the next big boy band, as he believes no band has matched the success of One Direction since then.

And after admitting his regret about the One Direction name, he vowed not to make the same mistake again this time.

He said: “That was very naive of me. Next time I have to announce the name.”

However, this may not have gone down well with some band members, because according to The Sun, Niall and Louis broke off ties with their former boss just days after the interview aired.

MailOnline contacted Louis and Niall’s representatives for comment at the time.

Simon also revealed the first piece of advice he gave Harry, Zayn, Niall, Liam and Louis on their way to success.

“It was clear from the moment they appeared on the show that they were going to be really, really successful,” he said. “They were the perfect group. They made a lot of money.”

“I told them never to complain about paparazzi because they will take pictures of them. Don’t complain about an invasion of privacy because people will always want to have a photo with them. Don’t complain about the long working hours.”

“I told them if any of the above is a problem, then they should do something else because all of this is going to happen. I told them about the grueling schedule – it’s part of it. It’s just part of it, you lose a lot of privacy.”

He added: “If you want to be an accountant, you won’t have any of these problems, but it won’t be as much fun.”