Cowell often makes blunt and controversial comments as a television music and talent show judge, including insults and wisecracks about contestants and their singing abilities.

His mother, Julie Brett (née Josie Dalglish, 1925–2015),[9] was a ballet dancer and socialite, and his father, Eric Selig Phillip Cowell (1918–1999), was an estate agent, property developer, and music industry executive.

[15] Cowell took a few menial jobs—including, according to his brother Tony,[16] working as a runner on Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror film The Shining—but did not get along well with colleagues and bosses, until his father, who was an executive at EMI Music Publishing, managed to get him a job in the mail room.

[18] He then formed Fanfare Records with Iain Burton, initially selling exercise videos, and music from acts such as the Italian orchestra Rondò Veneziano.

[21][22] However, in 1989 the company went under, with Pete Waterman forced to put a freeze on Fanfare's assets, and taking Cowell's Porsche as compensation for outstanding production and royalties payments.

[26][27] He restarted his career in the music business by creating novelty records with acts such as the puppets Zig and Zag, Power Rangers and World Wrestling Federation.

[29] The recording by the duo, now named Robson & Jerome, quickly reached number 1 in the UK, staying at the top of the chart for seven weeks.

[34] "On Tuesday 13 February 2001 TV veteran Alan Boyd saw two men he had never met before in his London office and the meeting changed the face of Saturday night entertainment.

Pop Idol, as it became, attracted mass family audiences, sold around the world, and it would also act as a template for a host of new shows set to transform Saturday night entertainment, with a mixture of live judging and public voting all in the initial pitch".

With his notoriously critical reputation, Cowell has been likened to TV personalities such as Judge Judy and The Weakest Link host Anne Robinson.

[38] His closest predecessor was British TV critic Nina Myskow who, in the 1980s, became known for her harsh put-downs in New Faces, a talent show that Cowell cited as an influence.

[39][40] Cowell's prominence grew, fed by his signature phrase, "I don't mean to be rude, but ...", inevitably followed by an unsparingly blunt appraisal of the contestant's talents, personality, or even physical appearance.

Inspired by the success of Il Divo, Cowell created a child version, Angelis, made up of six 11 to 14 year-olds from choirs across the UK, with their debut album released in November 2006.

One year after Cowell left American Idol, the show eventually completed eight consecutive seasons of leadership amongst all primetime programmes in the United States, marking the longest annual winning streak in the ratings in U.S. television history.

[50][51] In 2004, with Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh, Cowell was a judge on the first series of the British television music competition The X Factor, which he created using his production company, Syco TV.

Leona Lewis, the winner of the third series of The X Factor, was signed to Cowell's label Syco and has had number one singles and album sales around the world.

Cowell returned for the fifth series in 2008, with Walsh, Minogue, and new judge Cheryl Cole, as Osbourne had decided to quit before the show began.

After placing third in the seventh series of The X Factor in the UK, boyband One Direction signed to Cowell's label in 2011, and the group has gone on to top singles and album charts worldwide.

[62] Australian The X Factor launched in 2005 on Network Ten, and it featured Mark Holden, Kate Ceberano and John Reid as the show's judges, but it was cancelled after just one season due to poor ratings.

It was originally announced that he would be a judge both on the UK and US editions of the show, which aired at similar times of the year,[67][68] but MTV officially reported on 17 April 2011 that this was not true.

Cowell and Reid returned for season 2, while Demi Lovato and Britney Spears joined the judging panel as replacements for Abdul and Scherzinger.

[76] In 2015, Cowell returned to the X Factor for its twelfth series, along with veteran judge Cheryl Fernandez-Versini and newcomers Rita Ora and BBC Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw.

[79] Following the success of the Idol and X Factor franchises, Cowell, his company Syco, and its business partners developed a talent show format open to performers of any kind, not only singers, but also dancers, instrumentalists, magicians, comedians, novelty acts, and so on.

The show was a huge success for NBC, drawing around 12 million viewers a week and beating So You Think You Can Dance on Fox (produced by rival and Idol creator Simon Fuller).

[89][90] Having a similar format to the BBC's Dragons' Den, a show on which Jones was one of the investors, fledgling entrepreneurs from across the United States competed to see who could come up with the best new product concept.

The musical theatre casting concept had already been introduced by the BBC with the ratings hit How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria?, but Cowell's show was not the hoped-for success.

"[96] Cowell collaborated with UK production company Shed Media to produce 2008 ITV drama series Rock Rivals, which is based on an X Factor type show.

[104] In view of his charitable works, particularly the production of the charity single "Everybody Hurts" in aid of victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, as well as his services to the music industry, there was considerable media speculation as to whether Cowell would receive a knighthood in the Queen's 2010 Birthday Honours, a proposal allegedly put forward by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

[121][122] At the 2012 Pride of Britain Awards on 30 October, Cowell, along with Michael Caine, Elton John, Richard Branson and Stephen Fry, recited Rudyard Kipling's poem "If—" in tribute to the 2012 British Olympic and Paralympics athletes.

A panel of seven academics, journalists and historians named Cowell among the group of people in the UK "whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and given the age its character".