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A&E's Biography: Simon Cowell – Beyond “Mr. Nasty”by Betsy Wasser -- 01/30/2004
View Printable version of this article Let me start by making a confession. I love Simon Cowell. He is, in my opinion, one of the best things about American Idol. His criticisms may be blunt, but they’re almost always accurate. He is also quick, clever, and entertaining. So when I saw that A&E’s Biography was doing a profile of Simon, I had to watch it. Won’t you join me in learning a little bit about the man behind the mouth? American Idol, according to the narrator, is one of the nation’s “guilty pleasures.” It’s netted huge ratings, hit records, and spin-offs all around the world. Idol aims to find stars, but it can be argued that its biggest star is Simon Cowell. A fan calls Simon “obscenely honest.” Nancy Miller of Entertainment Weekly says that Simon is so popular because he tells the contestants what we’re all thinking, even if it isn’t very nice. Simon himself says that he feels no guilt whatsoever about being so honest. Simon was born on October 7, 1959, in Brighton, England. Simon’s mother Julie says that Simon was a difficult child, very opinionated and very naughty. His brothers Tony and John put it a little differently, saying that Simon was funny and outspoken. In an interview, Simon remembers his first honest criticism. His mother had a fur coat and matching hat that she wore for special occasions. She put it on one day and asked young Simon, “Does Mommy look pretty?” The boy looked her up and down and said, “No, Mommy looks like a poodle.” As a student, Simon’s mouth continued to get him in trouble. He recalls taking a music class in which the teacher required all of the students to learn instruments. Simon says that he told her that she was wasting her time, because they all sounded dreadful. The teacher did what many American Idol hopefuls wish they could have done – she kicked him out of the class. Simon might not have liked the music put out by his class, but he did love rock music. When his family moved to Elstree, a suburb of London, Simon got a glimpse at a more luxurious lifestyle. From the time he was a little boy, Simon wanted to make money. He did chores and odd jobs because, as he tells us in an interview, “If you want to make money, you’ve got to work for it.” At the age of fourteen, Simon was sent to Dover College, a boarding school. He absolutely hated it and wrote dramatic letters to his parents complaining of the harsh conditions. In an interview, Simon’s old headmasters say that his main interests were drinking and smoking with his friends. Simon says that he was always in trouble. At sixteen, Simon finished his required schooling. He wanted a job in music, so he took an entry-level position at EMI. After working there for two years, he met an aspiring singer named Sinitta. She wanted to be a pop star, and Simon wanted to go out with her, so he agreed to help her produce a record. That single, “So Macho,” was a smash hit in the UK. Simon knew that he needed to learn more about the music industry to be a success, so he met famous producer Pete Waterman and, as Simon puts it, “followed him around like a dog.” With Waterman, Simon produced another Sinitta hit. By the time he turned 28, Simon was doing very well. But a series of bad investments caused him to lose all of his money. He was forced to move back in with his parents. In an interview, Julie Cowell says that Simon did not let that setback defeat him. Simon is philosophical about that stumbling block, saying that it ended up leading to new things. Indeed it did – BMG records hired Simon as a consultant. Simon was looking for a hit and noticed how popular WWF Wrestling was with young boys. Simon suspected that if those fans would pay to watch professional wrestling, buy videos, and buy t-shirts, they would also buy a WWF-themed record. He was right, and his album by the WWF Superstars was a monster hit. Simon went on to produce more hit records. In 1995, pop music began to make a huge comeback. Simon tried to get a contract with The Spice Girls and failed. Undaunted, he signed his own pop group, a boy band called Westlife. Once Simon convinced the other studio execs to replace the less attractive members of the band with cuter boys, Westlife had a number of hit songs in the UK. Music critics hated Simon’s brand of pop music, but Simon didn’t care. He continued looking for the next big thing. That next big thing turned out to be reality TV. Simon was offered the opportunity to be a judge on the show Popstars, a show about putting together a pop band, and to produce the winning band’s record. Simon declined, saying he felt that there should be a mystique about how a band comes together. When the show – and the band it created – became huge hits, Simon regretted his missed opportunity. Determined not to let the reality TV trend pass him by, Simon came up with a new idea. He teamed with producer Simon Fuller to create a new show. Pop Idol was a national talent search for a pop singer. Audiences would vote each week to determine the winner. Simon himself was on the panel of judges. Early Pop Idol contestants found a very different Simon from the one we know today. Simon was very polite to the contestants, even when he thought they were awful. In an interview, he says that he found the whole thing false. It wasn’t like a normal audition, or he and the other judges would never be so kind. They were too conscious of the cameras, so they weren’t honest. He vowed to tell the truth and immediately felt better. Audiences loved Pop Idol and loved Simon’s brutal honesty. They immediately dubbed him “Mr. Nasty,” and he became a huge part of the show’s success. Julie Cowell says in an interview that it was hard at first for her to listen to Simon’s harsh words, but that she got used to it. Simon’s brothers say that people hated Simon at first for his bluntness, but came to realize that his criticism was dead-on. 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