Celebrity Simon Cowell

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Simon Cowell

Birthday:

7 October 1959

Birth Name:

Simon Phillip Cowell

Height:

174 cm

Biography

[writing a letter to his future self] you're a complete idiot, could you be any worse? you're as bad an example of 80's success as you can possible be, your overconfident, far too cocky and dressed from head to toe in expensive designer gear, own nothing but the best for yourself, it hasn't dawned on you yet, you idiot, that you can't afford any of this stuff.

[2011] Having nothing is better than being in debt.

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 couldn't care less if people think I'm gay because it's nothing to be ashamed of. If I was living 200 years ago in a coal mine, maybe, but I work in possibly the gayest industry in the world! Music and TV! It would make no difference to my life or my career.

A good manager is an absolute necessity.

An entertainment career requires ridiculous amounts of hard work and difficult sacrifices. But the rewards, if you're lucky enough to enjoy them, are also huge, but getting there is almost impossible.

TV is the most important factor in selling pop music.

Pop was what I liked and understood. Pop for me would always be the future.

The day I met Pete Waterman was easily the most important day of my career.

I really can't think of anybody who I've dated who I hate or who hates me. Just because a woman isn't your girlfriend, that doesn't mean she can't stay in your life.

I preferred the time when the pop market was less crowded but had bigger stars. When acts like Bros, Take That and Spice Girls made it big, they were out on their own and it was a far more exciting time.

More PR people are spinning stories to cover failure than actually doing the song they're supposed to do.

The future of the music business depends on how quickly we adapt to things going wrong. If sales are down we're not giving the public what it wants.

[on Peter Andre] I would rather crawl through a maggot box than listen to his album.

A good voice and a personality to match are hard to find.

If you're too confident the voting public thinks you don't need its help.

People need to be ruthless to make it to the very top.

When rubbish stories are printed by the press, the public begins to believe them and the damage is done.

A recording artist is probably the best job anyone could hope to have. The business is unpredictable and ruthless, but the rewards are huge. And it could be you, if you can sing.

Entertainers do not rise to the top of their craft, or even the middle, without determination. Determination is an overused word, and the idea has become something of a cliché, but it's vital and true. Madonna's determination and confidence turned her into a pop star; her idea of herself as superior that separated her from the rest of the pack.

Justin Timberlake is a force to be reckoned with. He understood the point of springboard appeal. He evolved into a fully-fledged star.

Barbra Streisand can be out of the news for five years, but if she announced tomorrow that she was holding a concert, it would sell out faster than any concert on Earth. She's like a film star from the '40s--she lives in the mansion on the hill, the public knows little about her private life, but she's not plastered all over the tabloids everyday. She's not like 'Madonna (I)', who gives it all away in each incarnation and then has to remake herself to replenish her mystique. Barbra Streisand keeps her distance, is a little cooler, but no less respected.

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If I was 17 and a glamour model knocked on my bedroom door, I'd have definitely invited her in.

Artists are so perfectly handled and manicured that they don't have anything to say except careerist babble. I don't see any personalities anymore.

Oasis made bad behavior newsworthy.

Being #1 in the charts used to mean something. The pop charts have lost the plot that made them so exciting to watch.

The artists who endure are the ones who stay focused even after they have reached the top of their profession. In this business, there's always someone younger and hungrier coming up behind you. Staying famous is by no means guaranteed.

If you forget about the people who put you on top, you'll become unglued.

Don't pay too little attention to what people say about you.

Pop music is a youth market, and a business.

Writing a hit song is one of the hardest jobs on Earth. If you can find an artist who is a gifted songwriter - hallelujah! They're as rare as the Loch Ness Monster. Take a picture to prove they exist.

Pop culture distorts fame and breeds a certain sense of entitlement.

Many stars fall from their perch so rapidly they lose their dignity along with their reputation.

Entertainment careers are all about momentum and courage.

Someone with experience in the music business might be able to see something in you that you don't see in yourself.

Food is fuel.

Most stars aren't nice, trust me.

Eye contact is a sign of confidence. Grovelling is an act of desperation.

Don't sing and dance at the same time; it smacks of cabaret.

There was only one Michael Jackson, thank God.

Once you devote yourself to a pop career, you'll spend much of your time in audition rooms.

[on Mark Owen] Nice guy, bad instincts.

Genius is strange.

When you meet Elton John, you're meeting a star with a capital S. He is what pop music is all about.

I love anyone who can reinvent themselves. You can reinvent yourself not just through image, but through great pop songs.

There's a myth in this business that if you don't hit by the time you're 25, you'll never make it. No one is governed by age.

I have little patience for anybody who isn't prepared to put in 15-hour days.

New artists need to be smart about their careers and take the path of lesser resistance when first establishing their names.

I tend to think its the song that's more powerful than the performer. It's a ""Catch-22" situation: without the hit songs, artists don't have careers, but without careers, they won't have access to the hit songs.

[on Michael Jackson] He's the equivalent of a Victorian freak show.

I am never just looking for a talent, but rather a talent with a head start.

It helps if you can write your own songs if you want to be a singer. If you can't it's all the more harder.

Having worked in the music business for 35 years, its probably the funniest business on Earth. When I watch Top of the Pops (1998) now, I don't find anything funny in it anymore. Our main job is to make an entertaining TV show, which honestly reflects the pop music industry. If we ever get it totally right, though, no one will watch.

[on Pete Waterman] He speaks his mind and doesn't give a shit.

A bad singer who believes in himself has a different look in his eyes from that of a bad singer who comes in to make a mockery of the audition process. The latter has a funny little smile, or a weird kind of bravado.

On the first day of any show you are conscious of the lights and cameras and the fact that you are on TV. By the second day, after listening to 160 wannabes who can't sing quite in time, you don't care. You just want them to leave the room.

We now live in a fame epidemic. There has never been another time when so many young people sought celebrity status. Every magazine available portrays a lifestyle that looks great. My job is to point out to all the hopefuls the reality of what they're after. If you want that lifestyle you have to have talent. And you have to realize you may have to work for it.

There's a world of difference between a winner and a runner-up.

Freedom of the press is a good thing.

[on Lionel Richie] He had a fantastic sense of humor, was as smart as a whip and was as musically astute as anyone I had ever met.

[early auditions] I was sure the audience would respond to that, because it showcased what's inherently funny about the industry - the egos, the delusions, the tantrums, and of course, the singers who were horrendous but believed they were the Second Coming.

I am a very good judge. We look for those with the greatest potential; the singers and performers who could be molded and encouraged.

Personality makes a massive difference.

I hate office politics because its so boring.

The Sex Pistols' appearance on "The Bill Grundy Show" v) was the most cynical, brilliant piece of TV I've ever seen.

[about the music business] The real sexy job in this business was to work for a record label. This was a business you had to teach yourself, and if you were going to succeed, you had to take risks.

The people on the bottom rung look up to those at the top, and the ones at the top invariably look down on those at the bottom.

As far as kids are concerned, I'm brilliant with them, as long as they belong to other people and I don't have to be with them 24 hours a day.

Like so many artists, I felt [Paula Abdul] was a mix of arrogance and insecurity.

As a record executive based in England, I was trained to think of America as the ultimate market.

[what it takes to win] We need someone who has the potential to be a star around the globe. Someone who is focused, talented, and a hard worker in every respect. You know when you're in the presence of a star.

America does glitzy events better than any other country.

Performances without the critique just doesn't work. It heightens the appeal of the show.

America is a huge country with a wonderful tradition of superb singers.

Auditions are a very difficult, one-sided process.

The difference with US contestants is they fight back.

90% of the people are awful and 10% are good. Since 100% of the contestants believe they're destined to be big stars, 90% are deluded. Its an epidemic.

[his second thought when he saw Paula Abdul] Small.

[his first thought when he saw Paula Abdul] Cute.

Many comedians aren't funny when they're offstage.

Tom Jones has that ability to appeal to both kids and older people.

[at 4 years of age] I may not have been able to read, but I knew precisely what music I didn't like - and my parents had a sizable collection of it.

[Elvis Presley] and his management team were the first to recognize the power of television as the most powerful method of selling millions of records.

The world I was born into was very different from the way the world is now. No McDonalds, no color TV, and luckily, no Paula Abdul.

In her day, Madonna was one of the most innovative artists in the world. She had that instinct to know what producers to work with, and how and when to reinvent herself. She is a legend, but now she's a mother and a wife, she's respectable.

First impressions count in this business. Even if you have a voice like Barbra Streisand, you won't get very far if you're ordinary.

Nobody's perfect.

No matter how bad things are, if you've got the guts and the determination, you can fulfill your dream.

One minute, you're driving the 8:15 from Crewe to London, and three months later, you're on stage in front of millions of people.

If the public don't warm to your personality, you're out. The music industry requires that you have a larger-than-life personality.

As a judge of talent, Pete Waterman is one of the best, because he's not sitting there as a record producer. He's sitting there as a true lover of music and talent--a fan. Pete is TV gold.

It would have been good if Dad could have been here to enjoy at least some of my success.

The disco era was one of the best times for pop music - ever. It was an era that encouraged fun, glamour and excess.

Sometimes there are performers that hook you from the first time you see them.

A new artist costs 2 to 3 million pounds to launch properly. That's an expensive shag.

Whether you're Elvis Presley or Frank Sinatra, you're remembered for your songs.

I'm as competitive with somebody who works for my company as I am with somebody who works for another label.

Be patient and wait for the right thing to come your way.

Jennifer Lopez embodies the pop dream. Her rags to riches story proves that anyone can do great things with hard work, talent and a little luck.

Many celebs make the fatal mistake of reading their press, absorbing it and changing their ideas about themselves on the basis of what fans and critics say about them, e.g. Michael Jackson.

The music industry is a culture awash with sycophants and yes-men.

I have become famous for being rude. I'm the honest one.

If I knew what made [Cheryl] special, I would bottle it and sell it.

Because I'm not shy, I let my feelings be known in the press.

When you see a hundred singers a day, it's amazing if you can remember even a handful of them.

[what asked by people what they need to do to break into the music industry[ Don't bother.

People are intuitively aware of a front-runner or a leader.

My favourite contestant is the one who tells us I've given up everything for this. I've sacrificed a lot to live this dream. How old are you I ask? 17 they reply. In other words, this is an accurate representation of life today. Make me famous. Make me rich. I want it all. Now!

I'm often asked if I can take criticism, and I always think back to those days when the tough feedback of someone who knew more than me helped me so much more than fake praise.

[on Pete Waterman] He was arrogant, conceited and rude--and a genius. My kind of guy.

Never over-negotiate your initial salaries. If things work out afterwards, the money will follow. Ask for too much at the beginning and you may not get the job.

Nothing is more demoralizing than a bad set of contestants. And nothing is more invigorating than seeing a real talent emerge.

Most good songwriters are whores. They go where the money is.

[about the day that his band Westlife went to #1 and then his father died] The best day of my life had suddenly become the worst day of my life.

The minute you start to compromise on a band or an artist, you're finished.

Mariah Carey is the epitome of a diva.

If you have the opportunity to get a part on a TV show, no matter how small it seems, take it.

[about Los Angeles] It's a very difficult place to try and make it from the bottom up. It only works if you're dealing from a position of strength.

If I want art, I'll buy it.

Success rarely changes anyone. Rather it gives them the power to be what they always were.

[on Piers Morgan] He is sensitive to criticism, much more so than I am. This is the sort of person who will Google himself 20 times a day to find something positive.

We've never had a runner-up like [Susan Boyle] before. She won over a lot of fans with her voice and graciousness.

[to Susan Boyle] I absolutely adore you.

[Susan Boyle] could become the biggest star I've ever discovered. Susan is the biggest entertainment story this year [2009]. It's the biggest phenomenon I've ever seen out of any of my shows [Britain's Got Talent (2007)]. Broadway and Hollywood are possibilities for Susan. I would love to sit her down for five minutes and say, "Susan, you proved a point. You turned us around in five seconds, I apologize for ever doubting you". She is one of the most famous people in the world. If nothing else happens she has acceptance and for whatever reason, I don't think she had that before.

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[on Britain's Got Talent (2007)] It gives the underdog a shot, and I think it's brilliant. The great thing about it is when you start seeing it in places like China and Afghanistan. It's democracy. We've given democracy back to the world.

Come as who you are, not who you want to be.

[His first thought when he laid eyes on Susan Boyle] This will take five seconds and then I can go have a cup of tea.

[after hearing Susan Boyle's performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" on Britain's Got Talent (2007)] Susan, you are a little tiger, aren't you?

People need an escape and this is what I provide - an excuse to laugh and forget your problems. We change people's lives.

[His reaction to Susan Boyle wanting to sing "I Dreamed a Dream" in 2009] Big song.

[His first words to Susan Boyle] Alright, what's your name, darling?

Was Susan Boyle right to dream a dream? Yes. Susan Boyle was good for all of us. She was certainly good for me because I look at me in that audition and saw something I didn't like, which was incredibly judgmental. Susan will help an awful lot of people who didn't have the confidence to do this.

[when Susan Boyle lost to Diversity] I could see the fear in her eyes--it's all over.

[thinking back on Susan Boyle's star-making audition] I felt the audience getting restless, smelling blood even. And that changed after the singing. After the chorus, her life had changed forever. That was a magical audition, like no one else's.

[on Susan Boyle] She's like a great underdog story.

Many stars prefer their own company.

I'm not going to waste my energy on focusing what others do.

I'm enjoying daytimes now.

I've got to become uncluttered.

My life is a night shift.

Once I've gone off someone, that's it for life.

One Direction are my best calling card.

We have to find a star who is the equivalent of Manchester United.

X-Factor (2006) has become the underdog.

Britney Spears is the Greta Garbo of pop.

Will Young is a fake, sniveling little drama queen.

Give me one day to make a pilot [episode] and I'll show you that it works.

When you're having hits, you're set on a new path.

[in 2012] I've never been happier.

One Direction are the success story X-Factor (2006) acts should aspire to.

Pudsey is the act I've been waiting for all my life.

Talking to celebrities is too much effort. They all think the same.

Embrace the madness.

Work is my mistress.

Marriage is an outdated contract.

[about money] If it could pour on me every day like a shower, I would lie in it for an hour. I just love it.

We'll speak about general matters for the first five minutes and the rest of the time we'll speak about me.

Cruelty is good television.

I read The Sun to see what people want.

I will never borrow money again.

I have an absolute hatred of losing. Even losing at Monopoly as a kid. I just want to beat the competition.

It's not our intention to be mean. That's just within us.

I only play to win.

[About Cheryl] The hardest thing to accept is that everyone has painted me as a monster because I embarrassed her. But the truth was I was protecting her. I just want people to be in the best place at the right time. It wasn't that she was terrible. She was good. I just thought she'd be happier in the UK.

[on Botox] Of course I have had it. I mean, for me, it's like cleaning my teeth, you know? Something makes your teeth whiter or something stops you having lines.

[on plastic surgery] I think you've got to be very careful as a guy, in particular, that you can end up looking really, really weird.

What is there to be excited about turning 50? Can't we just pretend it is not going to happen?

If I went to a psychiatrist, it would be a long session. I've always thought that I do have a number of issues that probably need dealing with, because I am quite odd in some ways. I get very dark moods for no reason. Nothing in particular brings it on. You can be having the best time of your life and yet you're utterly and totally miserable. I get very antisocial, depressed and irritable with people. I don't have time for them. I can't make phone calls and stuff. I just sit on my own for days. I'm not sitting in a darkened room rocking. Things might have gone really well and then I torture myself. I cannot believe it. I have to find something to make me miserable. Someone said to me recently, "You're like a human buffet table. Everyone comes and takes something from you and, at the end, there's nothing left". The last time I felt that way was when I looked at my diary and realized I had the next 18 months planned. I could tell you where I was going to be every day--which city, what time and almost what I was going to eat. That really depressed me.

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I don't want to marry anyone, because whoever marries me will end up hating me.

What luxury would I take to a desert island? A mirror. It's true. I'd miss me.

Music videos have become the equivalent of moving wallpaper. You notice them, but you can't remember them.

[about American Idol: The Search for a Superstar (2002)] Sometimes it's mind-numbingly boring and it shows on my face.

[About his father's death and his band's reaching #1 on the charts on the same day] The ultimate irony. The worst thing that could happen, and the best--all in the one day. It just shocked me to the core. I just never thought my dad wouldn't be around. I phoned him to tell him about the #1, because that's what I did. When something good happened, I called my...

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[about Taylor Hicks] They [Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson] loved him. I couldn't stand him. I didn't get it. At the end of the day you have to find a bona fide recording artist. Just because you win the show doesn't mean you will sell a lot of records. Chris Daughtry is the one who sold the albums, not Taylor.

[on Michael Jackson] The guy is off his rocker.

I don't take myself seriously and I don't consider myself a star.

I don't want babies the same way I wouldn't want a puppy. It's too much responsibility.

[To the infamous Keith who sang a horrible rendering of "Like a Virgin"] "Keith, last year I described someone as being the worst singer in America. I think you're possibly the worst singer in the world . . . I've never, ever heard anything like that in my life, ever.

If you would have asked me what I thought of America before I came over here I would have used the word "corny". And then you come over here and you find that it's not corny at all. British people are very cynical, they cannot bear someone else's success. Americans embrace other people's success. Everything in America is larger than life.

Sit in these auditions for three weeks and hear "I Believe I Can Fly" out of tune for the millionth time, YOU try and be nice.

We've done three seasons of [American Idol: The Search for a Superstar (2002)] and by now it is safe to assume that most people know that you have to be able to sing. But people turn up who can't sing a note and yet they believe they are the Second Coming.

[Asked if he feels guilty about what he says to American Idol: The Search for a Superstar (2002) contestants] No, what I am doing is kind by telling people who are useless, "Do something that you're good at". So I would only feel guilt if I misled somebody who was terrible.

[to a Pop Idol (2001) contestant] Let me throw a mathematical dilemma at you - there's 500 left, well how come the odds of you winning are a million to one?

I'd accept an honour but I don't think I'm likely to get one. The Queen once described me as a dreadful man.