Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
IN NUMBERS: Simon Cowell
As Britain’s Got Talent continues (8pm, ITV), we look at some facts and figures relating to the man behind this light-entertainment phenomenon…
16
His age when he left school. Simon, now 57, was still a teenager when he landed his first proper job in the music industry – in the mail room of entertainment giant EMI. His father, Eric, was an executive at the company.
2
The position in the UK charts reached by So Macho in 1986, the hit single by Simon’s then girlfriend, Sinitta, for Fanfare Records, the label founded by Simon and dancer Iain Burton. Fanfare folded in 1992.
1995
The year he made his first million pounds, as the man who persuaded actors Robson Green and Jerome Flynn to record Unchained Melody after performing the song in their drama series Soldier Soldier.
12.5
The number of viewers, in millions, who tuned in to see Will Young crowned champion of Pop Idol in 2002 – that show launched Simon (left, as he looked then) as a TV personality, one of the four judges, who famously clashed with Will on air. Pop Idol ran for two series; in 2004, Simon launched his own TV singing contest – The X Factor.
2
The number of seasons Simon has been a judge on America’s Got Talent – the first version of the show to air, back in 2006 (Britain’s Got Talent launched in 2007). Although he created the franchise, Simon didn’t join the AGT judging panel until 2016.