Simon Cowell
Look up the term ‘music mogul’ in any dictionary and you’ll find a picture of Simon Cowell, flashing that smug smile that has made him one of the most famous men on the planet. Cowell has been credited with singlehandedly changing the face of modern pop music. His artists have dominated the popular music charts for the last two decades, selling millions of albums and breaking records all over the world, and he himself has become one of the most recognised faces on television.
Cowell’s career began in the mail room at EMI where his father was an executive. Having dropped out of school at the age of 15, he worked at a number of ‘menial’ jobs before discovering the exciting world of the record label. He worked hard at EMI and was eventually hired as an A&R assistant before working his way up the position of producer. He eventually left EMI and a few years later went to work for Iain Bruton at his Fanfare label. This was a very important period for Cowell. Although the label eventually went bankrupt, he learned a huge amount about the music industry and it became obvious that he had an innate talent for recognising the commercial potential of an artist. It was at Fanfare that he met a young Sinnita who was to become his girlfriend and subsequent lifelong friend.
After Fanfare’s demise Cowell was hired as A&R by BMG where he was to have massive success with boybands Five and Westlife, and where he first realised the earning potential of TV stars in the music industry – Robson and Jerome, The Teletubbies and Zig and Zag being a few of the TV personalities to have hit records with him.
In 2001 Cowell was to embark on an enterprise that has changed the way future stars are discovered and opened up the music industry to the boy or girl next door with a big dream. Joining forces with Simon Fuller he launched the Pop Idol franchise which became a worldwide phenomenon and led to the development of American Idol, one of the biggest TV talent shows on the planet. Pop Idol was hugely successful and launched the career of pop star Will Young whose debut single, Evergreen/Anything is possible broke the record for the fastest selling single of all time. The show was then replaced by The X Factor which was the launch pad for the global phenomenon that is Leona Lewis.
Cowell is widely known and both loathed and admired for his frank put downs of contestants on his shows, but the fact remains, the man knows talent when he sees it. Although 2010 will be his last appearance on American Idol, the show that made him famous in the US, he has just signed a deal with Fox TV to bring the X Factor to American audiences. The show is scheduled to begin production in 2011 and will no doubt be as successful as every other show Cowell has put his name to.
