Simon Cowell Profile
Simon Cowell
Born October 7, 1959 (1959-10-07) (age 48) Brighton, East Sussex, England
Occupation A&R executive and TV producer
Net worth ▲ £100 million (~$200 million)
Simon Phillip Cowell (born 7 October 1959) is an Emmy-nominated English artist and repertoire ("A&R") executive for Sony BMG in the United Kingdom and a television producer, more commonly known as a judge on television programmes such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, American Idol and Britain's Got Talent. He is also the owner of the television production and music publishing house Syco. Cowell is notorious for his unsparingly blunt and often controversial criticisms, insults, and wisecracks about contestants and their singing abilities, or lack thereof. He is often parodied in pop culture. His judging is usually blunt but honest. He is known for combining activities in the television and music industries, having promoted singles and records for various artists, including television personalities. Cowell has been the producer and the creative force of many media, most notably Pop Idol and its international offspring. His success since the millennium has brought him worldwide fame and a greatly increased monetary fortune.
Contents
1 Early life 2 Professional career
2.1 Idol franchise and Il Divo 2.2 The X Factor 2.3 American Inventor 2.4 Got Talent franchise 2.5 Celebrity Duets 2.6 Grease is the Word 2.7 Rock Rivals 2.8 Other activities
3 Personal life 4 Controversy 5 References 6 External links
Early life Cowell was born in Brighton, East Sussex, England and brought up in Elstree, Hertfordshire. He has three brothers; Michael, John (millionaire business development and marketing consultant), and Tony (co-author of Cowell's autobiography), and a half-sister, June (who lives with her Spanish daughters in Majorca, Spain), and younger brother Nicholas Cowell who is now a millionaire property magnate. Cowell attended Dover College as did his brother, but left early before sixth form. He took a few menial jobs, but did not get along well with co-workers and bosses, until his father who was executive at the recording giant at EMI Music Publishing, managed to get him a job in the mail room. Cowell also attended St. Columba's College, St. Albans for a year.
Professional career His father's connections originally got him rehired as the assistant to an A&R man. From there onwards, Simon worked his way up to music publisherbut left during the early 1980s to form E&S Music, an independent music publishing company. The business folded within a year of its launch. One year later, Cowell went to work for Iain Burton, manager of choreographer Arlene Phillips, co-founder of dance group Hot Gossip and of nascent independent record label 'Fanfare Records'. Cowell achieved his first real success in the music industry at Fanfare and worked with Burton for eight years becoming a partner and building Fanfare into a highly successful 'indie' pop label. Fanfare had numerous top ten hits with various Pop artists and particularly 'Sinitta', selling more than half a million of her classic hit debut single 'So Macho' and more than half a million albums of 'Rondo Veneziano'. In 1984, Cowell & Burton met up with Pete Waterman for the first time. Waterman was a founding member of the Stock Aitken Waterman songwriting and record producing trio. Waterman helped Fanfare during the second half of the 1980s producing several smash hit singles for 'Sinitta' and licensing 'The Hit Factory' SAW Compilation Albums to Fanfare. In 1989, Fanfare's mother-company a Public Company got into difficulties, forcing Fanfare into the hands of BMG and Cowell, deeply in debt, to move back in with his parents. Later that year, he became an A&R consultant for BMG. Subsequently, Cowell signed up a number of acts to S-Records that made a mark in the pop music world, including Curiosity Killed the Cat, Sonia Evans, Five, Westlife, Robson & Jerome, and Ultimate Kaos. He also released several novelty recordings featuring the likes of wrestlers of the World Wrestling Federation, Teletubbies, Cowell set up another label, Syco Records, in 2002 which later became part of Columbia Records and Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Artists such as Il Divo and contestants from The X Factor and America's Got Talent are released on Syco. In 2006, Cowell signed to two more record-breaking deals. In the USA, he agreed to remain as a judge on American Idol, earning £20 million ($40 million) per season for another 5 years. He also has a deal with FOX which allows his production company to broadcast Got Talent and American Inventor on other networks, but he may not appear on them. In the UK, he signed a "golden handcuffs" deal with ITV, worth approximately £6.5 million a year for 3 years, which gave ITV rights to his hit talent show The X Factor, a British singing talent show, and Grease Is The Word, a musical talent show to find the stars of a Grease production in London's West End. In late 2005, he signed a new contract to remain working for Sony BMG. According to AOL News as posted on August 21, 2007, a reporter for the British newspaper The Mirror conducted an interview with Cowell in mid-August where he claimed that he would complete the three seasons remaining on his contract with American Idol and then "that was it". Cowell explained, "There has to come a point when I will step down from being on camera and remain behind the scenes because you can't keep doing this forever...I think by
Idol franchise and Il Divo Cowell became a judge on the first season of Pop Idol in 2001, and on the first season of American Idol in 2002. Many viewers of American Idol know Cowell best for his bitingly critical comments and attitude. He is so prominently identified with being blunt and harsh in commentary that audiences on American Idol rarely give him a chance to speak, sometimes booing him even before he makes his opinions known. Ryan Seacrest, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson tend to cut him off very quickly as well. With his notoriously critical reputation, Cowell is likened to TV personalities, such as Judge Judy (aka Justice with an Attitude), and Weakest Link's Anne Robinson (aka Queen of Mean). Though comparable to Anne Robinson, Cowell has expressed his dislike for her and has commented in an interview, "I hate her and I hate her show because it's just an act".. Cowell also appeared on the one-off World Idol programme in 2003, where it became clear that each country's version of the Idol had attempted to come up with its own "Simon Cowell" type personality. In 2003, Cowell placed No 33 on Channel 4's list of the all-time 100 Worst Britons. Cowell's S Records signed the top two finishers of the first season of Pop Idol, Will Young and Gareth Gates, both of whom went on to have No 1 UK hits. Efforts began in 2001 materialised in 2004, when Cowell returned to his group manufacturing roots with his latest brainchild, the internationally successful operatic pop group Il Divo, consisting of three opera singers and one pop singer of four different nationalities. Inspired by the success of Il Divo, Simon created a child version, Angelis, beating competition from many similar groups emerging at Christmas 2006.
The X Factor In 2004, with Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh, Cowell was a judge on the first series of the British talent show The X Factor, which he created using his production company, Syco. The X Factor was an instant success with the viewers and returned three more times to its fourth series in 2007. In 2006, he was voted the tenth most terrifying celebrity on television in a Radio Times poll consisting of 3,000 people. He returned for a fourth series on August 18, 2007, alongside Osbourne, Walsh and new judge, Dannii Minogue. Walsh had previously been sacked from the judging panel by Cowell for the fourth series, and was subsequently replaced by Brian Friedman who was a judge on Grease Is The Word. Walsh was later brought back a week into the auditions by Cowell when he and Sharon Osbourne realised they missed Walsh and that without him, there was no chemistry between the judges. Cowell was mentoring the groups in the fourth series and chose the groups Futureproof, Hope and Same Difference to represent him in the live rounds of the show. As the weeks went on, Same Difference made it to the final, where they came third. Futureproof were knocked out in the third week, and Hope in the seventh week. Same Difference were beaten in the final by Rhydian Roberts and Leon Jackson. Leon Jackson became the ultimate winner, due to alleged phone-in irregularities which Ofcom, the media watchdog is investigating. Viewers have complained they were unable to vote for the runner-up Rhydian Roberts .
American Inventor On March 16, 2006, Simon Cowell's next competition show, American Inventor, debuted on ABC. Fledgling entrepreneurs from across the United States compete to see who can come up with the best new product concept. The 2006 winner, Janusz Liberkowski, received $1 million and the opportunity to develop his idea into a business. The show returned again in 2007 but it won't be coming back on 2008 because of money discrepancies between Cowell and ABC.
Got Talent franchise Cowell is the executive producer of America's Got Talent, along with Fremantle producers of the Idol series. The show was a huge success for NBC, drawing around 12 million viewers a week, and beating So You Think You Can Dance on FOX (produced by rival and Idol creator Simon Fuller). A British version aired in 2007, and was screened from 9 June 2007 until 17 June 2007, with ITV screening nine episodes. Fellow judges are Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden. The Australian version aired in 2007 and was screened on 18 February 2007. Judged by Tom Burlinson, Dannii Minogue and Red Symons and hosted by Grant Denyer on Channel Seven.
Celebrity Duets Cowell also executive-produces Celebrity Duets, which can be described as "an Idol show for Hollywood superstars." The show is hosted by Wayne Brady, and its judges are Marie Osmond, Little Richard and David Foster.
Grease is the Word Cowell is also the executive producer of Grease Is the Word for ITV. Grease is the Word is the show to find the next big stars to play Danny and Sandy on the 2007 UK west end revival of Grease. Grease Is the Word was hosted by Zoe Ball and judged by Britons David Ian and Sinitta and Americans David Gest and Brian Friedman. This hasn't turned out to be the success he imagined. Simon himself said, "It has been slaughtered by the critics - and rightly so. It is far too similar to our other formats.”
Rock Rivals Cowell is collaborating with UK production company Shed Media to produce a new show called Rock Rivals which will be a new ITV drama series based on an X Factor type show.
Other activities Cowell has been involved in charity work for many years without getting much attention from the media. He supports children from The Association Of Children’s Hospices and invites them backstage to the screenings of The X Factor. When he can, he stops by some of the hospices to visit the children. He also supports animal rights and has appeared in a video for PETA in which he reminds drivers of the cruelty to animals that can occur when their pets are locked in cars in the summer (see [http://www.peta.org.uk/feat/feat-simoncowell.asp).] In December 2003, Cowell published a book, I Don't Mean to Be Rude, But …. In it, he told the whole story of his childhood, his years working in music and experiences on Pop Idol, Pop Stars Rivals, and American Idol, and finally, his tips for being successful as a pop star. Cowell has appeared as a guest voice in an episode of The Simpsons ("Smart and Smarter"), in which he gets beaten up by Homer Simpson (while criticising Homer's punches). His voice was also heard on an episode of Family Guy, in which he told Stewie that his singing was so awful that he should be dead. He made an MTV Movie Award-winning cameo appearance as himself in Scary Movie 3, where he sits in judgment during a battle rap (and subsequently gets killed by gunfire for criticising the rappers). He also appears in Shrek 2 as a judge in Far Far Away Idol, and also provided the voice. He appeared on an episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (the original British version) and Saturday Night Live in 2004. Cowell has also guest-starred (filling in for Regis Philbin) in the popular talk show Live with Regis and Kelly during American Idol's finalist week in early 2006. Cowell was once the fastest "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" on BBC's motoring show Top Gear, driving a Suzuki Liana around the show's test track in a time of 1:47.1. When Top Gear retired the Liana along with its rankings after the eighth series, Cowell was the eighth fastest overall and the third fastest non-professional driver. On November 11th 2007 Cowell yet again appeared on Top Gear, achieving a time of 1:45.9 thus putting him ahead of Gordon Ramsey and back at the top of the table. Cowell was chosen as the first 'victim' of the re-launched This Is Your Life in an episode broadcast on 2 June 2007. He was presented with the Red Book by Sir Trevor McDonald while presenting American Idol. Besides judging unknowns of the music industry, occasionally Cowell comments on already-established pop icons. For example, he opined in Esquire magazine that Beyoncé Knowles was overrated, and that Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" was one of the best pop records ever made. Talking about Christina herself Cowell stated "She is an unbelievable talent." On July 1, 2007 Cowell appeared alongside Randy Jackson and Ryan Seacrest as a speaker at the Concert For Diana, held at Wembley Stadium. On August 13, 2006, Cowell featured on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in which he had to pick eight records he would take with him if he were to be stranded on a desert island. His choices can be seen here. He was also allowed to take a book and a luxury item. For his book, he elected Hollywood Wives, by Jackie Collins, and for his luxury, a mirror.
Personal life In late 2002, Cowell started dating longtime friend Terri Seymour. In 2006, British newspaper News of the World reported that he had cheated on Seymour with model and socialite Jasmine Lennard, and printed photos of her leaving his home. Photos of a visibly irate Seymour (who was in the US when the story broke) being met at the airport by Cowell were later published in Heat Magazine. However, both Cowell and Lennard, who was also in a relationship, denied that anything untoward had occurred, and attributed the meeting to business. Upon his appearance on Top Gear, it was revealed that Cowell pays more than £21.7m per year in income tax, suggesting that his taxable income is over £54.25m per year with income tax at the time approximately 40%. (NB: UK Income Tax 40% for earnings over £34,600). He appeared on the gameshow Sale of the Century in 1990, as reported in The Sun Newspaper. He is the godfather of pop singer Sinitta's baby.
Controversy Cowell's controversial insults and wisecracks are rarely limited to just the contestant's singing performance, but also deals with their appearance, background, and character. Contestants of all kinds are frequently offended by what he says. In the 2006-07 season of American Idol, Cowell commented that one of the contestants "looked like a bush baby”. In the same season he was also heavily criticized for apparently rolling his eyes at a reference to the Virginia Tech shootings, although, with the help of video evidence, it was proved that he was rolling his eyes at one of his fellow judges, Paula Abdul, not the Virginia Tech massacre.
References
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Simon Cowell
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External links
Simon Cowell at itv.com/xfactor Simon Cowell at the Internet Movie Database Simon Cowell at People.com Video of Simon Cowell in his Ferrari Simon Cowell for PETA Simon Cowell on World Top 100 A&R Chart New York Times: How a Hit Almost Failed Its Own Audition Reviews and short bio of Simon Cowell Playboy Interview: Simon Cowell, February 2007
v • d • e
The X Factor (UK)
Series 1 · 2 · 3 · 4
Hosts Dermot O'Leary · Fearne Cotton · Kate Thornton · Ben Shephard
Judges Simon Cowell · Sharon Osbourne · Louis Walsh · Dannii Minogue · Brian Friedman · Paula Abdul
Winners Steve Brookstein · Shayne Ward · Leona Lewis · Leon Jackson
Winners' singles "Against All Odds" · "That's My Goal" · "A Moment like This" · "When You Believe"
Runners-Up G4 · Andy Abraham · Ray Quinn · Rhydian Roberts
Other alumni Journey South · Chico Slimani · Ben Mills · The MacDonald Brothers · Lucy Benjamin
Spin-offs The Xtra Factor · The X Factor: Battle of the Stars
v • d • e
American Idol
Seasons 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7
Hosts Ryan Seacrest · Brian Dunkleman
Judges Randy Jackson · Paula Abdul · Simon Cowell
Winners Kelly Clarkson · Ruben Studdard · Fantasia Barrino · Carrie Underwood · Taylor Hicks · Jordin Sparks
Winner's Singles "A Moment like This" · "Flying Without Wings" · "I Believe" · "Inside Your Heaven" · "Do I Make You Proud" · "This Is My Now"
Runners-up Justin Guarini · Clay Aiken · Diana DeGarmo · Bo Bice · Katharine McPhee · Blake Lewis
Other alumni Tamyra Gray · Kimberley Locke · William Hung · Jennifer Hudson · Kellie Pickler · Chris Daughtry · Elliott Yamin · Melinda Doolittle
Spin-offs From Justin to Kelly · Juniors · Christmas · Extra · Rewind
Other Underground · Compilation Series · Controversy · Discography · Episodes · Font · Idol series · Magazine · Video game
v • d • e
Pop Idol
Hosts Ant & Dec
Judges Simon Cowell · Pete Waterman · Nicki Chapman · Neil Fox
Winners Will Young · Michelle McManus
Winners' singles "Evergreen" / "Anything Is Possible" · "All This Time"
Runners-up Gareth Gates · Mark Rhodes
Other alumni Darius Danesh · Jessica Garlick · Rik Waller · Sarah Whatmore · Sam Nixon
Persondata
NAME Cowell, Simon Philip
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Artist executive
DATE OF BIRTH 7 October 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH London, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
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Simon Cowell - Wikipedia User-edited article on the record producer and American Idol and Pop Idol judge Simon Cowell.
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