Hell Hath no Fury Like an Ignorant Scorned
Hell Hath no Fury Like an Ignorant Scorned by Roxanne McDonald
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You’ve heard it a hundred times—less informed auditioners, as they are stomping their rejected way out the door, challenge Simon’s credibility, authority, and veracity, asking what he knows about music or what makes a good singer. |
Little do they know, obviously, that he not only knows good music but knows what makes for good sales.
You might have seen the “60 Minutes” piece on Cowell. You might have seen, a couple of years back, the full docu-bio on Cowell. But if not, you might be interested to know the remarkable industry experience and approach Simon brings to what he has been doing for all of his adult life:
Born in Brighton, England on October 7, 1959 to property developer/music industry properties exec Eric and socialite Julie Dalgleish Cowell
Raised in Elstree, Hertfordshire
At one point, lives next door to the head of MGM Studios in England, and (tells ExtraTV, years later) admired the man, wishing to do what he does.
Quits school at 17
Works several odd jobs, but not getting on with bosses or peers, takes a job his dad gets for him—in the mail room of EMI Music Publishing
Gets assistant to artist and repertoire (A&R) executive position
Makes record producer post by early 20s
Leaves to establish independent music company, E&S Music
With the closing (folding) of E&S, returns to work at EMI
At 25, begins to connect with people like Pete Waterman, producer and founder of Stock Aitken Waterman. Waterman will become his most revered mentor.
At 26, leaves EMI, forms second independent label, Fanfare Records, with former co-worker Iain Burton
Girlfriend Sinitta Malone a recording artist success (and Cowell’s girlfriend) for Fanfare, until the company folds and caves to bankruptcy
Deep in debt, Cowell has no choice but to move back home
At 30, he shows he has the ear for talent, and is offered A&R consultant position with BMG. Is credited for signing signs several artists/shows becoming big successes—“WWF”, “Zig & Zag,” “Robson & Jerome,” “Teletubbies”, and “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” among others….
At 42, with success of shows he was producing such as the “Popstars” series, Cowell collaborates with Simon Fuller to create the parent Idol show, “Pop Idol”—which draws over 11 million viewers (biography.com), while the first season’s winner debuts with an album that is the biggest single seller ever [Will Young, “Evergreen/Anything is Possible,” brings 1.8 million in sales.]
By 43, he is setting up a third recording company, S Records, a label which would later be taken up by Columbia Records and Sony BMG and which would release The X Factor and America’s Got Talent recordings, among many others. S Records will reportedly pull in profits from sales of “over
25 million albums, over 70 top 30 records, and 17 Number 1 singles” (according to Biography.com) in a ten-year period.
By 47, he is signing deals that make him the Simon Cowell we know today: a new contract with Sony BMG; a renewed contract for his returning as American Idol judge (for $38 million a season); an agreement with FOX to greenlight his broadcasting of America’s Got Talent and American Inventor on alternate networks, provided he does not represent on either; and deals in the UK, giving ITV rights to The X Factor as well as a musical X Factor (estimated at $13 million a year for 3 years)
While the critics and comics and others may mock him, as they do in fun on “60 Minutes,” when he tries to take a race car drive and the other professional drivers tease him that it is “sad how badly [he] wants it, like an alcoholic going for more [booze],” Cowell reminds us that he is not humiliating anyone who auditions for American Idol. And he adds, “I think they’re humiliating themselves. No one dragged them kicking and screaming into that audition room.”
Even if they have to be dragged kicking and screaming their way out.
Celebrity Spider Simon Cowell links
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