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Simon Philip Cowell (born October 7, 1959)
is an English artist and repertoire ("A&R") executive for BMG in the UK,
but is best known as a judge on the television programmes Pop Idol, The
X Factor, American Idol and Britain's Got Talent. He is notorious for
his unsparingly blunt and often controversial criticism of the
contestants. He is known for combining activities in the television and
music industries, having produced singles and records for various
television characters such as the Power Rangers.
****
Born: October 7, 1959
Brighton, East Sussex, England
Occupation: A&R executive and TV producer
Salary: $43 million [1]
Net worth: £60 million[1]
****
Cowell became a judge on the first season
of Pop Idol in the year of 2001, and did the same for American Idol in
2002 and his acerbic style of judging was a major reason for these shows
becoming popular. This was especially so for American Idol, where in its
first season, talk about "that nasty guy Simon" gained the show media
attention, more so than the hosts or contestants. Cowell's fame (or
infamy) grew, fed by his deliberately insincere signature phrase, "I
don't mean to be rude, but …", inevitably followed by an unsparing
denigration of the contestant's talents, personality, or even physical
appearance. One from 2005 was "You look like the Incredible Hulk's
wife." Cowell also appeared on the one-off World Idol program in 2003,
where it became clear that each country's version of the Idol had
attempted to come up with its own "Simon Cowell", further proving his
effectiveness as a villain. In 2003, Cowell placed #33 on Channel 4's
list of the all-time 100 Worst Britons perhaps due to some people
perceiving him as spiteful and arrogant.
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 #1 UK hits. In June 2003, Cowell sold his
half-share in S Records for $42 million to BMG, thus becoming a
multi-millionaire.
I Don't Mean to be Rude, But…
In December 2003, Cowell published a book,
I Don't Mean to Be Rude, But…. In it, he recounted his childhood, his
years working in the music industry, his experiences on Pop Idol and
American Idol, and finally, his tips for being successful as a pop star.
Il Divo
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 four young opera singers of four different nationalities.
Inspired by the success of Il Divo, Simon created a child version,
Angelis who entered the charts at number 2, beating competition from
many similar groups emerging at christmas 2006.
The X Factor
In 2004, Cowell created (under his
production company Syco), and was a judge on the then new British TV
talent show The X Factor, with Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh. The X
Factor was a success with viewers and returned for a second and third
series in 2005 and 2006.
Cowell was sued by Pop Idol creator Simon
Fuller in 2005 over The X Factor, saying it was too much a copy of Pop
Idol, but after a while, they settled out of court. The case was
adjourned on the first day, and settled with Cowell's Idol salary
increased to $36 million a year from $8 million before while Simon
Fuller would gain a minority stake in X Factor. Upon the settlement,
Cowell signed a new five-season American Idol agreement with Fox.
American Inventor
On March 16, 2006, Simon Cowell's next
competition show, American Inventor, debuted on ABC. Fledgling
entrepreneurs from across America will compete to see who can come up
with the best new product concept. The winner, Janusz Liberkowski,
received USD$1 million and the opportunity to develop his idea into a
business. The show returns again in 2007.
America's Got Talent
Cowell is the executive producer of
America's Got Talent, along with Fremantle producers of the Idol series.
However, Cowell is not a producer of any of the Idol series, only a
judge. 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). The show heads to Britain and
Australia in 2007.
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.
Guest appearances
Cowell appeared as a guest voice in an
episode of The Simpsons ("Smart and Smarter"), in which he gets beaten
up by Homer (while criticizing Homer's punches), and made a cameo
appearance as himself in Scary Movie 3, where he sits in judgment during
a battle rap (and subsequently gets killed by gunfire for criticizing
the rappers). He also appears as a character in Shrek 2 as a judge in
Far, Far Away Idol, but does not provide the voice.
Cowell introduced entertainer Dick Clark at
the 2006 Primetime Emmy Awards.
Grease
Simon Cowell also has a new show, which
will be broadcast on Britain's ITV television station. The new show is a
talent show, however is quite different to Cowells other show, X Factor.
This show is not just limited to singing but is for talent in general.
The aim of the show is to find the new 'Danny and Sandy' for a new
musical version of Grease.
Trivia
Besides judging unknowns, occasionally
Cowell comments on already-established pop icons, for example, opining
in Esquire magazine that Beyoncé Knowles was overrated, or on the more
positive side, saying that Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" was one of
the best pop records ever made. [3]
Simon was killed by Ryan Seacrest on
Celebrity Deathmatch via stool-leg through the temple. Before this, it
was a one sided fight with Simon winning.
When he was Punk'd by Ryan Seacrest and
Randy Jackson on the season Five premiere, he became the seventh
resident of a country outside of North America to get "Punk'd".
He appeared on an episode of Who Wants to
be a Millionaire? and Saturday Night Live in 2004.
Cowell maintains an apparently lavish
lifestyle with several houses in San Francisco and one in London, as
well as a Ferrari and a Rolls Royce Phantom.
In 2006, Cowell, as well as American Idol,
were satirised in the film American Dreamz in which Hugh Grant played an
essentially useless host and obnoxious judge of an American Idol type
show. In the same year, they were parodied in the Nickelodeon television
episode "Fairy Idol" from The Fairly OddParents produced by Butch
Hartman.
Simon and American Idol were also parodied
in Shrek 2's Far Far away Idol.
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 the Liana's driver rankings after the
eighth series, Cowell was the eighth fastest overall and the third
fastest non-professional driver.
Also 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
approx 40%. [4] [5] (NB: UK Income Tax 40% for earnings over £33,300)
In Tony Hawks' book One Hit Wonderland,
Cowell says that he does occasionally make mistakes- "The first time I
saw Gary Barlow in Take That, I said to the producer: 'Ditch the fat
one.'"
Cowell guest-starred (filling in for Regis)
in the popular talk simagehow Live with Regis and Kelly during American
Idol's finalist week in early 2006.
In his 2003 book I Don't Mean to Be Rude,
But...: Backstage Gossip from American Idol & the Secrets that Can Make
You a Star, Cowell cites Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You out of My Head"
as one of the five all-time greatest pop records.
During the audition process for the fifth
season of American Idol, Cowell passed over the season's top two most
successful contestants: Chris Daughtry and eventual winner Taylor Hicks.
By contrast, only a few weeks into the top 12, Cowell announced on Larry
King Live that he thought the winner would either be Kellie Pickler,
Daughtry, or Hicks.
Live on The X Factor on 18 November 2006,
Simon stated that he was 50% Scottish as he was being targeted by fellow
judges as anti-Scottish. The week before he said he was 25% Scottish.
The Dragon Ball Z character, Zarbon, has a
voice similar to Simon's.
References
-
^ Times Online
-
^ a b Cowell, S. (2003)
"I Don't Mean to Be Rude, But...", Broadway Books, ISBN
0-7679-1741-3
-
^ USA Weekend - "Simon
sez (... everything, with brutal honesty)"
-
^ Times Online
-
^ UK Income Tax Rates
****
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