Simon Cowell
- Read an interview with Simon Cowell
Charisma, enigma, opinion-former, workaholic, Noughties icon, ultimate entrepreneur, commercial alchemist and Great British talking point. Just a few descriptions plucked from the air that one might attribute to the force of nature that is Simon Cowell.
Ten years ago his name was passed around only as the music industrys bellwether for success. Now there is not a household on either side of the Atlantic that doesnt know what he does, where he does it and, most intriguingly, why
Simon Cowell has become a useful shorthand by which other British music men (other British businessmen, period) must be gauged.
The statistics speak for themselves:
- Over 150 million records sold worldwide
- Over 100 number one records in the UK and the USA
- 40 million till receipts for Il Divo
- Global sales of 7 million for Leona Lewiss debut album
- The biggest selling debut album of all time in 2007 (Leona Lewis,
Spirit)
- A record breaking run of success with Westlife (first 7 singles to
reach number 1)
- His own record and TV production company: SyCo Entertainment
and SyCo Music
- Over 50 million American Idol record sales
The commercial success is only one side of the imprint Simon Cowell has left after tracing his fingerprints across popular culture. His straight-talking candour and unflinching eye for precisely tapping the public temperature has turned Cowell into an adjective in himself: to say that something is very Simon Cowell implies a directness of vision and a cruel-to-be-kind honesty that has turned him, more than any other British businessman, into a star in his own right.
His star power is the key in the ignition of the most successful TV shows of his epoch. He is the only person ever to appear as both producer and as talent on the biggest TV shows on both sides of the Atlantic. As judge on Britains Got Talent, American Idol and The X Factor his stature is immense. His leading UK-based media and entertainment company SyCo along with FreemantleMedia recently became the first companies to simultaneously have the No.1 programme in the UK and U.S. as Britains Got Talent and Americas Got Talent topped the TV charts in the same week in 2007.
Simon Cowell is the celebrity judge by whom the others are judged. His success behind the scenes, as producer and creator of Americas Got Talent and American Inventor, are eclipsed by his own talking point critiques as judge on American Idol, The X Factor and Britains Got Talent. You can see it in the eyes of the talent and other judges alike. Simon Cowells is the approval they all seek. He has become the egalitarian eye of populist taste. No small achievement for the old post-boy.
In the UK, The X Factor has been garlanded with critical and commercial success. It has been recognised by The BAFTAs (best entertainment show, two years running) and the National Television Awards (Entertainment show of the year). The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is one of many notable fans.
Britains Got Talents first series in 2007 reached record viewing figures of 12 million and saw its winner Paul Potts elevate himself from a mobile phone salesman from Wales to reaching number 1 in 14 countries worldwide with his album One Chance selling 4 million copies..... Got Talent is Europes leading entertainment format and was the fastest selling format worldwide, of 2007 and 2008 and is now aired in over 40 countries. SyCo Entertainment currently has numerous new series in production and development for Television worldwide and The X Factor is also shown in 26 countries.
Cowell was recently ranked 3rd on the Forbes TV Faces list and 21st on the 2007 Forbes Celebrity 100 Power List. In 2006, Cowell was named 2006 UK Personality of the Year by Variety, and in 2004 was named one of the Top Entertainers of the Year by Entertainment Weekly. He has been cover of Rolling Stone magazine in the US and the Radio Times in the UK. His personal rollercoaster continues apace.
