Simon Cowell - Modern Media Mogul
Created | Updated May 21, 2010
On the day before the 2010 UK General Election - officially the last day of the election campaign - The Sun newspaper carried a front page story with the headline 'BRITAIN'S GOT TO CHANGE'. In it UK voters were urged to carefully consider who they were voting for, claiming an election with no clear outcome would be disasterous for the country.
The author then set out his vision for a new Britain, a new Britain that would never get off the ground if we avoided a hung parliament and had a majority Conservative government. But who was this prophetic speaker with the authority to make what amounted to be last-minute, state of the nation address? Prime minister-in-waiting David Cameron? The Sun editor? Uber-proprietor Rupert Murdoch?
No, this polemic came from pop svengali, television executive and talent show panelist Simon Cowell. The man who, in the 1990s, was responsible for twin, nay triplicate, musical evils of Robson and Jerome and Mr Blobby. Proof that the music promoter has truly come a long way in the last two decades.
The Cowell Factor
When someone asks who the winner of last year's X Factor was, it doesn’t matter which particular series of the phenomenally successful ITV1 singing contest you're talking about, or which of the seemingly endless production line of doe-eyed moppets took the final prize on the night, the answer from the cynical among us will always be the same. There's only ever one true winner of The X Factor. And that person is Simon Cowell.
Cynicism aside, as creator and executive producer of The X Factor, Cowell is one of the main beneficiaries of the success of the show which has been a mainstay of ITV's Saturday night schedules since 2004. As well as a stake in the (almost) inevitable Christmas No 1 from the winning artist that follows. Staked a claim as one of the decade's most powerful and influential operators in both the music and television industries. When news hit of the Haiti earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and left thousands more homeless and and in need of aid in January 2010, it was Cowell the papers turned to to raise awareness and funds. He duly answered their call by arranging an all-star charity single.
