Simon Cowell or Simon  Philip Cowell was born October 7, 1959 is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality.  He is known  in the United States and United Kingdom for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and American Idol.  He is also the owner of the television production and music publishing house Syco.

Cowell was born in Lambeth, London and brought up in Elstree, Hertfordshire by his father, Eric Philip Cowell who was an estate agent developer and music industry executive, and his mother Julie Brett who is a former ballet dancer and socialite.  His father died at home in 1999 of a massive heart attack on the very day that Simon got his first Number One with a then-unknown band called Westlife who his dad had predicted would become big.  He has 3 half-brothers, John, Michael and Tony Cowell, a half sister, former child actress June Cowell, a biological sister, Lindsay Elizabeth and a younger brother Nicholas Cowell.  He is of English Jew and Scottish descent.

Cowell attended Radlett Preparatory School and the independent Dover College as did his brother, but left after taking GCE O levels.  He passed in English Language and Literature and then attended Windsor Technical College where he gained another GCE in Sociology.  He dropped out of school at the age of 16.  At the age of 17, he dated model Paula Hamilton.  Cowell took a few menial jobs including working as a runner on Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining according to Tony, but did not get along well with colleagues and bosses, until his father who was executive at the recording giant EMI Music Publishing, managed to get him a job in the mail room.  He made his screen debut in 1990, on the UK TV series ‘Sale of the Century’, his prize for winning – Kitchen Utensils.

As a judge, Cowell is known for his blunt and often controversial criticisms, insults and wisecracks about contestants and their abilities.  The first time he gave criticism was reportedly at the age of four when he looked at his mother’s white fuzzy pillbox hat and remarked that she looked like a poodle.  He is also known for combining activities in the television and music industries, having promoted singles and records for various artists, including television personalities.  He was most recently featured on the seventh series of The X Factor and the fifth series of Britain’s Got Talent.  In September 2011, he began featuring as a judge on the first season of The X Factor USA.  In 2010, the British magazine New Statesman listed Cowell at number 41 in a list of “The World’s 50 Most Influential Figures 2010″.

Simon has been involved in charity works for many years.  He supports children from The Association Of Children’s Hospices and invites them backstage to the screenings of The X Factor.  He also supports animal rights and has appeared in a video for PETA in which he reminds drivers of the cruelty to animals that can occur when their pets are locked in cars in the summer.  Cowell became engaged to make-up artist Mezhgan Hussainy in February 2010.  They met on the set of American Idol.

In December 2003, Cowell published his autobiography titled I Don’t Mean to be Rude, but…. In it, he told the whole story of his childhood, his years working in music and experiences on Pop Idol, Pop Stars Rivals, and American Idol, and finally, his tips for being successful as a pop star.

In May 2009, in the Daily Mail tabloid newspaper, Cowell revealed that he is often plagued by dark moods and miserable thoughts.  He claimed that he has considered seeking therapy for this, stating that it would be a long session.

Simon Cowell Photo Gallery

The Tuesday episode (October 18) revealed the top 16 of the Fox singing competition, X Factor USA.  The remaining 31 contestant of the competition were trimmed down to 16 during the two-hour episode.  Next week, the remaining contestants will face off in the live episodes and ultimately try to claim the show’s $5 million recording contract.  In the last minute twist, one extra contestant was allowed through the finals making a top 17 after Simon Cowell Proclaimed I hate this job sometimes.

Simon had an uneasy feeling when he cut Melanie Amaro and send the 19-year-old Sunrise, Fla., singer home.  He thinks he made a massive mistake after saying that he felt fine an hour ago but in hindsight, he can feel it in his gut and repeated he made a mistake.  The judge immediately corrected his decision and jumped on a plane to bring some good news to Melanie.

The judge was quick to remedy his decision and hopped on a plane to deliver some good news to Melanie.  Simon told Melanie that he had come there to tell her something, he said he wanted to personally come and apologize to her family for the mistake that he made.  The apology comes from him and the other three judges and asks her to come back into the competition wanting her back on the live shows.  Melanie immediately said yes, as she was overwhelmed with emotion.

Judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and L.A. Reid pick their top singers respectively.  Each judge has four specific groups of contestants that he/she will mentor throughout the rest of the show.  The X Factor returns on Tuesday October 25 on FOX.

The Official 2011 Top 17 X Factor Contestants are:
Simon’s Group (Girls)
-Melanie Amaro, 19, Coral Springs, FL/Sunrise, FL
-Simone Battle, 22, Los Angeles, CA
-Rachel Crow, 13, Burbank, CA
-Drew Ryniewicz, 14, Chino Valley, AZ
-Tiah Tolliver, 20, Bremerton, WA
L.A.’s Group (Boys)
-Astro, 15, Brooklyn, NY
-Marcus Canty, 20, Bowie, MD
-Phillip Lomax, 22, Seattle, WA
-Chris Rene, 28, Santa Cruz, CA
Nicole’s Group (Over 30s)
-LeRoy Bell, 60, Tacoma, WA
-Stacy Francis, 42, Los Angeles, CA
-Dexter Haygood, 49, Chicago, IL
-Josh Krajcklk, 30, Columbus, OH
Paula’s Group (Groups)
-The Brewer Boys:  Justin, 17, and Nathan Brewer, 14, Temecula, CA
-InTENsity: Nick Dean, 15, Rochester, NY; Francesca Duncan, 17, Brockport, NY; John Lindahl, 15, Travuco Canyon, CA; Emily Michalak,13, Pine Brook, NJ; Austin Percario, 15, Warren, NJ; Arin Ray, 16, Cincinnati, OH; Lauren Ashley Redmond, 17, DeSoto, TX; Ellona Santiago, 15, San Lorenzo, CA; Ma’at Bingham Shango, 12, Houston, TX; Emily Wilson, 15, Warren, NJ
-Lakoda Rayne: Cari Fletcher, 17, Wall Township, NJ; Dani Knights, 22, Santa Clarita, CA; Paige Ogle, 18, Baltimore, MD; Hayley Orrantia, 17, Highland Village, TX
-The Stereo Hogzz: Kregg Gibson (aka KG), 25; Jonathan Glenn (aka Jon Glenn), 25; George Jenkins III (aka Trae Badd), 25; Leeland Stephenson (aka Trace Kennedy), 24; Justin Williams (aka Just’n), 25; all from Houston, TX

Renowned judge, Simon Cowell is apprehensive of the future of his talent show US ‘X Factor.’   Spending £100 million in launching of the American version of the pop star search show, the music tycoon was anxious about the ratings hitting only 12.4 million viewers in the opening night and fearing the project might end if it loses a substantial percentage of the rating.  Simon Cowell previously said that viewing figure of less than 20 million would be a failure and now he said, “I wasn’t opening any champagne on the first day because now we had set everyone’s expectations. The worse thing was in the second day because if you have a 30 or 40 per cent drop off, you’re dead.”  “And in fact somebody said to me, ‘If this drops off 30 per cent Simon, it’s probably going to be all over.’ That is when I was tense.”

Last month, the Mail revealed how viewers were left furious by the colossal number of ad breaks in ITV’s flagship period drama Downton Abbey.  There were a total of eight promotional breaks during the two-and-a-half-hour show, which meant viewers had to put up with more than 30 minutes of adverts and trailers between 7.30pm and 10pm.  While the 52-year-old judge accepted that there is a ton of people that did not want him to succeed in the show, he was confident that the ratings would increase.  The former UK ‘X Factor’ judge said to Daily Star newspaper, “As much as people want you to succeed, there’s a ton of people that want you to fail and I took a bit in the neck that first day.  But I always trust the public and I get a feel for the show and it’s been positive and starting to grow now.”

Simon Cowell on a part regrets his prediction of 20 million viewers for his show.  He is the creator, executive producer and a judge of the show.  Other stars included in the show are L.A. Reid, Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger acting as judges.  He told EW.com: “I’m not going to lie. I wanted 20 million when we launched.  But now I’m kind of back in the real world and I’m seeing this grow naturally. I’m as happy as I’ve ever been.”  Acknowledging the tough competition in the reality TV talent show market, Simon finds it exciting adding, “We’re not in Russia where you have one show. This is life. If you’re competitive and it spurs you on, I kind of get excited by it.

Simon is a former judge of American Idol and leave it to fulfill a better duty.  Ahead of the launch of his ‘X Factor’ show, Simon shared his idea about his former show.  “I was making a lot of money out of American Idol but I did X Factor because I genuinely thought it was a better show,” Cowell said to TV Guide. “Because I produce X Factor then it has more of my character. I’m sure some performers will prefer to do Idol or The Voice but you’ll see the ones we backed sit better with us.”