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
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.
I think of stress as the creator of cancer and heart attacks, like a tiny little ball you feed. I believe that one of the reasons I've never got ill is that I'm not stressed.
I like to know why a video has suddenly gone viral, why a song has broken, why a TV show is suddenly rating out of pattern... I'm pretty good at understanding why things are becoming popular.
There's no need for me to get married. I live with someone; we're happy; end of story.
I'm a great believer in getting checked out because if you know you're OK, you actually feel better; your mind plays a big part of it.
The young people working for me are ambitious and hard-working. That work ethic has always been a trait of the British.
The only magazines I read are car magazines.