£60 million
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'''Simon Philip Cowell''' (born October 7, 1959 in Brighton, England) is an artist and repertoire ("A&R") executive for BMG in the UK, but is best known as a judge on the television programmes ''
Pop Idol'', ''
American Idol'', and ''The X Factor'', where he is notorious for his unsparingly blunt and often controversial criticism of the contestants. He is known for combining activities in the television and music industries, having produced singles and records for various television characters such as the Power Rangers. Cowell would later find pop acts who had acted on television shows.
Biography
Early life
Cowell was brought up in Elstree, Hertfordshire
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0767917413 Amazon - "I Don't Mean to Be Rude, But..."]. His parents are Eric (real estate agent and music industry executive) and Julie Cowell (socialite). He has three half-brothers (John, Michael and Tony) and a half-sister (June), as well as sister Lindsay Elizabeth and younger brother Nicholas who is now a millionaire property magnate. He also has two nieces and a nephew from Lindsay named Tanyette, Melissa and Joshua. Simon and Nicholas were raised by nannies throughout their early childhood before both were sent to boarding school. Simon had to transfer several times as a result of misbehaviour and bad conduct. He had been to a total of 16 schools before leaving at the age of sixteen.
Cowell started out in 1979 as a mail room clerk for EMI Music Publishing, where his father was an executive. He eventually worked his way up to record producer, but left during the early 1980s to form E&S Music, an independent music company. Within a year, the company imploded and Cowell was forced to return to EMI. Along with fellow EMI clerk Iain Burton, Cowell again left EMI a short time later. They formed an independent record label called Fanfare Records.
Fanfare Records and S Records
An interview with ''Extra'' later revealed that Cowell owed a bank about USD$1 million. However, in 1984, he met Pete Waterman, a former DJ-turned-producer and founder of the then-aspiring Stock Aitken Waterman trio, who helped him regain success during the second half of the 1980s, starting with his first act, notably with singer (and-then girlfriend) Sinitta Malone. Cowell would later describe in
