|
Simon was raised in Elstree, Hertfordshire by his mum and dad. (Eric and Julie Cowell)
Simon has one full brother named Nicholas, who is younger than him. Simon has three half-brothers:
Michael, John, and Tony, and a half-sister named June.
Simon dropped out of school when he was 15
years-old. His dad got worried because he had some bad job interviews. Since his dad was an executive at recording
giant EMI Music Publishing, got Simon a job in the mail room.
He knew some people and got rehired as the
assistant to an A&R man. Then he worked his way up to be a record producer. But it wasn't long before he left
the company to set up his own label, Fanfare, with Iain Burton.
In 1989, Fanfare went bankrupt. This made
Simon go into debt too and to move back in with his parents.
He showed everyone that he knew what he was tlking about
when he found 'Westlife'. He is also credited with the start of TV hits from the likes of cartoon puppets 'Zig
& Zag', 'The Teletubbies' and 'Robson & Jerome'.
Not only has Simon made records, he also breaks them: over
a ten year period, via his company S Records, he has made sales of over 25 million albums, over 70 top 30 records, and
17 Number 1 singles. His band 'Westlife' has achieved an whopping 10 Number 1 hits alone.
Following the success
of the Popstars on the TV series, Simon Cowell came together with Simon Fuller to make a ‘talent’ show
where the public decides who wins. This show became ‘Pop Idol’.
‘Pop Idol’ became a big hit
and over 11 million people watched. The first ever winner, Will Young, picked up 4.6 million votes in a live final. Even
though Simon liked the runner-up, Gareth Gates, Will Young’s debut release 'Evergreen'/'Anything Is Possible',
broke the record for the biggest selling debut single ever - reaching 1.8 million sales. Thanks to Simon cropping up in the
‘production’ credits of most of his artists' records, he has cleverly managed to secure himself a share of the
royalties.
Despite his successes, Simon has also turned down many bands that went on to find success elsewhere –
most notably ‘The Spice Girls’ and ‘Take That’, simply because he thought Gary Barlow was too fat
to be a star!
|
NEXT >> |
Simon is a celebrity now, in his own right, serving as a judge on both the UK and US. American Idol is the US version
of the ‘Pop Idol’. His blunt talking has earned him many nicknames, including "Mr Nasty" and "Judge with
a Grudge".
He still goes back and forth between the UK and US, and has his own company, Syco TV, which co-produced
The X Factor.
In 2006, Cowell signed to two record-breaking deals. In the US, he agreed to remain as a judge on American
Idol, earning £20 million per season. He also has a deal with Fox which allows his production company to broadcast Got Talent
and American Inventor on other networks.
In the UK, he signed a multi-million pound "golden handcuffs" deal with ITV
for 3 years, which gave ITV rights to his hit talent show The X Factor.
Everything seems to be going great with Simon.
|
