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
You have an advantage if you win. I always think it's best to be remembered as a winner rather than as the runner-up. It's definitely more fun getting the gold than it is the silver.
I break up very well. I am a good breaker-upper.
I've spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on the very best security and I can assure you my homes are as safe as the Bank of England.
At 20, you're cocky and you think you can rule the world, and you get it all wrong.
My dad wasn't someone who was a great disciplinarian, we had a fun relationship, but he gave me really constructive advice in my life, which I still carry today and I do pass on to other people. So if I can have the same relationship with my son as I had with my dad, then I think he'll be very happy and I'll be very happy.
I have total respect for anyone who discovers a band like Snow Patrol. I would be hopeless at signing a rock band, or anything alternative, cause I don't know what that audience are into and I don't particularly like that kind of music.
In TV, film, and music there's a lot of snobbery, and I don't like it. I've never been a cultural snob.
My dad said to me, 'Work hard and be patient.' It was the best advice he ever gave me. You have to put the hours in.
If you only ever heard Lady Gaga, she's the most boring singer in the world.
I love producing shows. And so when you're on a show where other people are making decisions you don't necessarily agree with it, after a while you start to feel like a passenger.
I don't like people who are hypocritical, who pretend to be nice, particularly in show business when they're nice on camera, and then off camera they're absolutely appalling to the makeup people, or the waitress in a restaurant, you know? I don't like - I can't bear those kind of people. So I like people who are, you know, up front in your face.
I have always hated celebrities lecturing people on politics. So forgive me. But I am passionate about this country. I am equally passionate about the potential of the people who live here.
I work out three or four times a week, I have Botox, take tons of vitamins and vitamin infusions - if you believe that these things work, you will feel better.
I don't mind competition at all. I mean, the record business is the most competitive business in the world, probably. So I'm used to that. In a weird way, it kind of makes you work harder.