Simon Cowell (born 7 October 1959) is a British artist and repertoire (”A&R”) executive for Sony BMG in the United Kingdom and a television producer, more commonly known as a judge on television programs such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, American Idol and Britain’s Got Talent.

He’s 48!

Cowell is notorious for his unsparingly blunt and often controversial criticisms, insults, and wisecracks about contestants and their singing abilities, or lack thereof. He is often parodied in pop culture, in which all of his judging is neither constructive nor positive. He is known for combining activities in the television and music industries, having produced singles and records for various television characters.

Simon Cowell was born in Brighton, East Sussex in the United Kingdom and brought up in Elstree, Hertfordshire. His father, Eric Philip Cowell, was a property developer and music industry executive, and his mother, Julie Brett (née Josie Dalglish) is a former dancer and socialite. Cowell’s paternal grandparents, Joseph Cowell and Esther Malinsky, were English Jews, and his maternal grandfather was Scottish. He has three half-brothers; Michael, John (millionaire business development and marketing consultant), and Tony (co-author of Cowell’s autobiography), and a half-sister, June (who lives with her Spanish daughters in Majorca, Spain), and younger brother Nicholas Cowell who is now a millionaire property magnate.

Cowell attended Dover College as did his brother, but left early before Sixth Form. He took a few menial jobs, but did not get along well with co-workers and bosses, until his father who was executive at the recording giant at EMI Music Publishing, managed to get him a job in the mail room.

Cowell in Pop Culture:

Cowell has appeared as a guest voice in an episode of The Simpsons (”Smart and Smarter”), in which he gets beaten up by Homer Simpson (while criticizing Homer’s punches), and made an MTV Movie Award-winning cameo appearance as himself in Scary Movie 3, where he sits in judgment during a battle rap (and subsequently gets killed by gunfire for criticizing the rappers). He also appears in Shrek 2 as a judge in Far Far Away Idol, and also provided the voice.

He appeared on an episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (the British version) and Saturday Night Live in 2004. Cowell has also guest-starred (filling in for Regis Philbin) in the popular talk show Live with Regis and Kelly during American Idol’s finalist week in early 2006.

Personal Life:

In late 2002, Cowell started dating longtime friend Terri Seymour. In 2006, British newspaper News of the World reported that he had cheated on Seymour with model and socialite Jasmine Lennard, and printed photos of her leaving his home. Photos of a visibly irate Seymour (who was in the US when the story broke) being met at the airport by Cowell were later published in Heat Magazine. However, both Cowell and Lennard, who was also in a relationship, denied that anything untoward had occurred, and attributed the meeting to business.

Upon his appearance on Top Gear, it was revealed that Cowell pays more than 21 million per year in income tax, suggesting that his taxable income is over 54 million per year with income tax at the time approximately 40%.

He is the godfather of pop singer Sinitta’s baby.

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