Simon Cowell The Man With The Midas Touch

Today's post is a feature on Simon Cowell.

Simon Cowell was born on October 7th, 1959 in Brighton, England but was brought up in Elstree. His father was a music industry executive as well as being involved with property development. So Simon had a good start in life.

He went to college in Dover but left early and moved from job to job. His start in the music business was when his father got him work in the mail room of the EMI - a large music company near London.

In 1984 he met Pete Waterman previously of Stock Aitken Waterman who produced and wrote many hit records including number ones for Kylie Minogue. Simon Cowell is quoted as saying, "I learned more from Waterman in a short time than I could have in an entire career with any major label."

Things went well at first but he was forced into bankruptcy in 1989 and was so skint he had to move in with his parents. The same year he started to work as an A&R consultant. This led to a reasonable degree of success with many hit records but the real Big Time was still to come.

Big Time shows made Cowell famous worldwide. This started with Pop Idol in the UK and American Idol in the USA. His acerbic comments made headline news, created controversy and turned him into a star in his own right.

The X Factor televison show followed and then came America's Got Talent and Britain's Got Talent.

It's hard to estimate Simon Cowell's wealth, though it must be somewhere in the region of £125/$250 million. His present income could be anything up to £23/$46 million per year.

His long term girlfriend is Terri Seymour though he is said to have been unfaithful to her - according to the News of the World newspaper. In fairness though Simon has always made it clear that he does want to settle down or have children.

At the moment the man has the midas touch and will no doubt continue his amazing success.



Further reading: Paul Potts Wins Britain's Got Talent