Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English reality television judge, entrepreneur, philanthropist, film, record, and television producer. He is most recognized as a judge on the British TV talent competition series Pop Idol, The X Factor, and Britain's Got Talent, and the American TV talent competition shows American Idol, The X Factor, and America's Got Talent. Cowell owns the television production and music publishing house Syco...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth7 October 1959
CityLondon, England
I have always hated celebrities lecturing people on politics.
I grew up when the whole Motown thing was huge. The charts in those days were dominated by groups more than solo artists at one point.
I do a couple of hundred press-ups a day but I haven't been to a gym in years.
I couldn't think of anything worse than being in an unhappy marriage. It worries me because I've seen it destroy people.
Holding auditions in front of an audience is testing.
Every show I've ever, you know, produced, essentially it's the show I want to watch myself.
If you've got a big mouth and you're controversial, you're going to get attention.
Sincerity is romantic. I don't think you need gestures.
The biggest shock when I lost it all was the realization that so much of my life had been out of my control. When I started to make the money back, I vowed that it would never happen again. I bought things only when I could afford them. There was no big mortgage, no cars on hire purchase. I remember buying a TR6 sports car for £6,000, and funnily enough it gave me more pleasure than the Porsche ever had.
I genuinely believed no one would want to marry me. I am difficult to live with. I'm selfish, quite weird and I need time on my own to think - and then I work all night long. That is difficult for someone to deal with. And it would drive me mad - I could never be my own girlfriend!
Music should always be polarizing. What one person likes, somebody else hates. And I hate that kind of snobbery in pop music. The fact that so many people are getting upset over this one song is hysterical. And if people like it, that's great.
I don't mind being cast as some kind of a pantomime baddie, but I am very fair in business. I always have been. I pride myself on being fair.
The secret of my success is that I make other people money. And, never, ever, be ashamed about trying to earn as much as possible for yourself, if the person you're working with is also making money. That's life!
Well, it's basically the viewers who determine it. We - well, basically the producers and myself chose the people we felt had the best reaction, you know, through the press, the Internet, the people we thought deserved a second chance. And they've chosen a winner, I believe.