Louis Tomlinson has posted an emotional tribute to thank his late mother Johannah Deakin on the eighth year anniversary of his first X Factor audition.

The 26-year-old lost his mother to leukaemia in December 2016. Yet despite battling enormous grief, he returned to the UK talent competition with Steve Aoki only days after her passing, saying that she was the one who told him to keep moving forward with the performance of "Just Hold On".

The show is where he first came into the limelight as one fifth of One Direction, where together the lads embarked on a life-changing path which saw them turn into global superstars. 

Taking to Twitter yesterday, he wrote: "8 years today I went for my first audition on the X factor.

"Thanks you to my beautiful mum for talking me into going! Thank you to each and every person who’s ever supported !" 

The former One Direction star also shared a photo of himself on Instagram (see below) on the day of his audition and tried to make light of the bittersweet occasion, captioning it: "8 years ago today. The skinny tie and shirt combo was a must back then 😝"

Since going solo, Tomlinson also released "Back to You" last year on July 21 - his collaboration with Bebe Rexha and Digital Farm Animals. It went on to be a global chart hit, becoming Number One in 37 countries, selling over 1 million copies, and was streamed over 220 million times. The song was also certified gold in the UK, which means that it sold over 400,000 units.

"Back to You" was the second solo single released by Tomlinson after One Direction announced their hiatus.

On top of that, the British singer-songwriter has also released "Just Like You" and "Miss You," and is set to release his highly-anticipated debut solo full-length album this year, much to his massive and loyal fanbase's delight. 

CHECK OUT LOUIS TOMLINSON'S INSTAGRAM POST AS WELL AS HIS ORIGINAL AUDITION AND X FACTOR FOOTAGE, BELOW: