Cowell back on TV with `X Factor,' hopes of a hit (AP)

LOS ANGELES – Simon Cowell, a man who thinks big, is picturing his new singing contest "The X Factor" as America's No. 1 series.

The British music industry executive, TV star and producer wants to prove that the U.K. and international TV hit can play on what he considers the world's top stage, America.

For Fox, home of "The X Factor" and Cowell's former stomping ground "American Idol," his new show offers the chance to extend to the fall season the ratings domination reliably provided by veteran "American Idol" from January to May.

The test starts this week with the debut of "X Factor" at 8-10 p.m. EDT Wednesday and Thursday. Joining Cowell as judges are Antonio "L.A." Reid, Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger. British TV personality Steve Jones is the host.

The goal is never "the silver medal. You want to be No. 1, and over the next few months we're going to throw everything at this to make this the best show on TV," Cowell says.

Like a movie producer with his eye on a box-office hit, Cowell has attempted to fashion the ideal cast — featuring himself, of course. Could he have a blockbuster in store? Roll credits for "The X Factor" and let the public vote.

• THE STAR: Cowell, a proven brand with "American Idol" and the role model for every other talent show's smart but rudely blunt British judge.

He's a gunslinger, ready to shoot down the off-key and the annoying, and make the world safe for his brand of hit pop music and performers, whether that's Leona Lewis or Susan Boyle. On screen, he can be charmingly sincere or a curmudgeonly wit and knows how to fill out a tight T-shirt.

Behind the scenes, he's master of his fate. Peter Rice, Fox network chairman, gave him final vote on "X Factor" decisions, Cowell says, with this ringing endorsement: "If we're going to trust you with this much money, we're going to trust you."

He's a man of the people, dismissing those who question the wisdom of giving a $5 million prize along with a record contract to a winner who is likely unused to such a windfall. "It's patronizing that middle class and wealthy people say that anyone who hasn't got money can't have it. I love the idea."

• THE BUDDY: Reid, the elegant, Grammy-winning producer and executive who has helped guide Usher, Justin Bieber and Mariah Carey, and is now dedicated to helping Cowell find voices that will dazzle and invigorate the music industry.

Reid is nobody's second fiddle but knows how to keep leading man Cowell in the spotlight. He knew the Brit was a "superstar" at their first encounter. They've bonded over business and breaking the rules by filling an office with cigar and cigarette smoke: "I loved everything about him," Reid says.

Cowell's response: "It's a mutual admiration society." Such heartfelt bromance can be winning.

Reid intends to use "X Factor" to find the kind of "great singers" he sees as absent from the music scene, citing Adele as an exception and a guiding light. "Shows like this are designed for talent like hers. ... Pure, pure singing. That's what's missing, and this opens the door for that."

• THE OLD FLAME: Abdul, the singer-dancer and former "American Idol" judge whose on- and off-screen adventures and off-kilter chemistry with Cowell make her a predictable component of the show's promised unpredictability.

"It's nice to be back in a demented relationship. It's like home," Abdul says fondly of reuniting with her old sparring partner and now boss. He's turned into a "pussy cat," she contends, but knows the kind of insights that will really score points.

"This is a real reality show, and you are going to get a real inside view without manipulation. ... You are going to see `what you see is what you get' and the good, the bad and the ugly, and I think it's a show that really gets behind the scenes as well," she says.

Music to Cowell's ears. But he was sold on Abdul, he says, when she showed up to discuss joining "X Factor" and was fit, healthy, informed and "didn't rely on the existing relationship."

• THE INGENUE: Scherzinger, a former member of the Pussycat Dolls who brings youth, J-Lo-style glamour and her own reality TV credentials to the table as a onetime contestant on "Pop Stars."

"I've been there. I can empathize with them," she says of the contestants. "I come from a different place of compassion and understanding."

She may cry, following the Abdul model. But even a softy such as Scherzinger knows the score. When she served as a judge on "X Factor" in the U.K., she was initially reluctant to say no to contestants, recalls Cowell. But she's wised up.

"I'm impressed by her professionalism and her ambition. She's a very, very ambitious girl and I like that in people," he says.

__ THE ROOKIE: Host Jones, a onetime model who segued to TV host on British programs including "101 Ways to Leave a Game Show" and "Drop Zone," and is making his U.S. series debut.

The Welshman, who furthers the diversity of accents on U.S. TV, has yearned to make the leap to America, home of such Jones favorites as Stephen Colbert ("The funniest man on American TV") and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" ("It's so deliciously inappropriate").

Cowell courted him but Jones then had to endure "jumping through hoops," passing muster with Fox and the show's other producers. He let other offers slide while he waited for "X Factor, the one he wanted.

"I really rolled the dice," says Jones.

He won. Will "The Factor" and Fox?

___

Fox is a unit of News Corp.

___

http://www.fox.com

Yahoo! News

Simon Cowell show boots contestants after background checks (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Crime doesn't pay on Simon Cowell's most recent game show. At least, not anymore, it doesn't.

British network ITV, which broadcasts the Cowell-developed series "Red or Black?" confirmed to TheWrap that it has dropped three contestants, after it was discovered that the show's first big winner had served time for assaulting a man.

Nathan Hageman, who won 1 million British pounds (roughly $1.6 million) on the series September 3, served 2 1/2 years for assaulting another man, British newspaper the Sun reports.

Hageman claims that the man he assaulted, an associate of an ex-girlfriend, had first threatened to beat him up in front of his mother and young niece. Out of frustration, Hageman says, he broke into the man's house and beat him up.

"I was an idiot for doing it, I know," Hageman admitted to the paper.

Hageman was allowed to keep his winnings, but in response to the publicity generated by Hagemen's story, ITV has taken a second look at the current contestants' background checks.

Apparently, ITV didn't like what it found, because the network chose to have three competitors taken out of the game.

"ITV has reviewed the background checks on remaining contestants from 'Red or Black?'" an ITV spokesperson said in a statement provided to TheWrap. "As a result of this we have asked producers to remove three contestants from this week's shows. 'Red or Black?' will continue on these two occasions with seven, rather than eight, contestants."

The casino-style game show, which premiered on September 3 and airs twice nightly, features contestants going through a series of rounds, guessing between red and black in order to advance to the next round. The final round features a giant roulette wheel that's divided into red and black sections.

Despite the theme, it doesn't sound like ITV is willing to gamble anymore when it comes to where they pull their contestants from.

Yahoo! News

Simon Cowell predicts "X Factor" will thrash rivals (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Big, brash and confident as ever, Simon Cowell said on Friday that his upcoming "The X Factor" would thrash the competition on U.S. television and topple "American Idol" as the nation's most-watched show.

Cowell, both executive producer and acid-tongued judge on the U.S. version of "The X Factor" called the singing contest a "game changer" and said it was "completely different" in style and content from his old vehicle "American Idol".

Asked whether he thought "X Factor", with its unprecedented $5 million cash prize for the winner, would beat "Idol" in the TV ratings when it debuts on Fox in September, Cowell told television journalists.

"If I didn't think we could -- and its not just 'Idol', it's any show -- we don't enter something for the silver medal. You do it because you want to be number one, and for the next few months we are going to throw everything at this to try and make it the best show on TV," the British producer said.

"I wouldn't have made the show unless I thought it would be different...we see this as a game changer," he added.

Fox, which broadcasts both talent shows, said it believed "X Factor" would reverse the network's historically "patchy" ratings in the fall TV season.

"If 'X Factor' can do half of what we hope it will do in the fall, Fox is going to be really difficult for the other guys to reckon with," Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly said.

"X Factor" marks the return of the abrasive but popular Cowell to U.S. television after quitting "American Idol" in 2010 following 10 years in the judges' seat, and reunites him with his old "Idol" sparring partner Paula Abdul.

The new show debuts in a now-crowded market for TV talent contests that includes the surprise success of NBC newcomer "The Voice" earlier this year, and established favorites like "America's Got Talent" and a capella contest "The Sing-Off", as well as a revamped and resurgent "Idol" which airs from January-May.

"X Factor" welcomes contestants 13 years-old and up, as well as singing groups. It turns the judges into competing mentors and has contestants auditioning before vast stadium audiences.

"We will show the good bits, the bad bits, the ugly bits -- and there are a lot of ugly bits," Cowell said, saying there was room for more than two or three hit TV singing shows,

While the revamped "American Idol", with new judges Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, increased audiences last season with a softer and kinder attitude toward its aspiring young stars, Cowell has clearly abandoned none of the sarcasm and biting wit that helped make him a star on U.S. TV.

Asked how it felt to be working again with Cowell, Abdul told reporters, "It's nice to be back in a demented relationship. It's like home."

"I think its more like 'The Exorcist 2'," retorted Cowell.

But he confessed that he had met his match in some of the younger contestants auditioning for a spot on the show.

"We have had to say to some of the 14-year-olds 'please be kind to me'...I was quite traumatized after some of the auditions." Cowell said that one young rapper had "absolutely chewed me apart. But I quite like that."

"The X Factor" arrives on Fox on September 21 with a two-hour premiere, and ends with a two-part finale on Dec 21 and 22, where a winner will be chosen by public vote and scoop up a $5 million cash prize, as well as a recording contract with Cowell's Sony Music-owned record label SyCo.

Yahoo! News

Cowell talks Cole's exit at 'X Factor' auditions (AP)

NEWARK, N.J. – At auditions filmed Thursday before a live audience for "The X Factor," Simon Cowell seemed to want people to move on from the shakeup on the show's judges panel replacing British pop singer Cheryl Cole with American counterpart Nicole Scherzinger.

"It wasn't really such a big deal as everybody thought. ... Truth is you've got to move on. It's about the contestants. They've got no interest in us bickering," Cowell said at the auditions in New Jersey.

Earlier in the week, Fox and producers announced Cole was out and Scherzinger, who originally was signed on to co-host the show, would slide over to the judges table alongside Cowell, Paula Abdul and LA Reid.

He said the show will not re-tape episodes already filmed that feature Cole.

"Show it. I mean it's reality TV. There's no point in lying about it," he said. "It is what it is."

Cowell said it was a no brainer to slide Scherzinger over to the judge's table when the position opened up.

"I've worked with Nicole before. I think she would have killed me if I had given the job to someone else. She's very good at this. You know, she knows what she's doing and so it was an easy transition."

Cowell left "American Idol" in May of 2010 after its ninth season. He said the absence from American TV has been good.

"I realized how much I missed working here in America. I really, really love making shows here," he said. But "the gap's been good for me because I appreciate it more now."

It seems as if distance has also been good for Cowell and Abdul's working relationship. Abdul sneaked up behind Cowell as he greeted fans at the Prudential Center and in turn he gave her a hug and a kiss.

"(The honeymoon period) is still going on which is really frightening," Abdul said. "It's kind of weird and awkward ... he's actually, kind of, shall I say nice?"

The U.S. version of "The X Factor" will premiere on Fox in September.

___

Online:

http://www.fox.com/thexfactor/

Yahoo! News

Cowell says he tried to keep Cole on 'X Factor' (AP)

LOS ANGELES – Simon Cowell said he made a good faith effort to keep Cheryl Cole on either the U.S. or the U.K. version of "The X Factor" and regrets losing her and, possibly, her friendship.

Dismissing reports that Cole was dropped from the U.S. show because of a lack of chemistry with fellow judge Paula Abdul, Cowell said he "genuinely" felt Cole would be happier back home in England and on the original "X Factor."

"I hate seeing her hurt. She's one of — I hope — she's one of my closest friends, and this was a decision we made which we thought would be beneficial to her, funny enough," Cowell said in an interview Monday from London.

"Not many people will believe that, but that's the truth," said Cowell, the former "American Idol" judge who created "The X Factor." After the U.K. deal stalled, an effort to retain Cole on the upcoming Fox TV show also failed, he said.

Earlier Monday, Fox and producers announced that Cole was to be replaced on the network's version of the singing contest by another British pop star, Nicole Scherzinger, who will shift from co-host to judge on the show debuting this fall.

Cole's representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

Scherzinger, last year's "Dancing With the Stars" champ, is a former member of pop's Pussycat Dolls and has appeared on the British "The X Factor," while Cole found fame with the group Girls Aloud.

Previously announced co-host Steve Jones, a popular British TV personality, will fly solo, Fox and "X Factor" producers FremantleMedia North America and Cowell's Syco Television said in a brief joint statement.

Cowell and Antonio "L.A." Reid join Scherzinger and Abdul as judges. Cole, who had already taped two audition shows, will be seen in some series footage, Cowell said.

Cowell called inaccurate the swirl of rumors about her, including the suggestion that she didn't mesh with the other U.S. judges or that her Newcastle, England, accent was difficult for American viewers to understand.

"She was good on the American show," Cowell said. "I personally thought she was missing her family and friends. She just looked a little bit, I wouldn't say uncomfortable, but just not as happy as I've seen her on previous shows."

Cole was offered a pay boost to leave the Fox's "X Factor" and return as a judge on the hit British show, Cowell said.

Cole's representatives quickly responded that she was interested and negotiations began, he said. She seemed excited, he said, adding, "It was even to the point she'd asked if she could have my dressing room" in London.

But talks were derailed when word leaked to the media and her side went silent, he said. With production nearing for the U.K. "X Factor" (its new season began last week), the panel had to be locked without Cole.

Cowell said he and the other producers of the Fox show determined it would be "fair" to offer Cole the chance to return. Despite reports, he said, she was could reject the offer without breaching her contract or losing any pay.

Cowell has been in touch with Cole, telling her in one text message that he takes "full responsibility" for what happened and doesn't lay blame on Fox or Fremantle. She's sent only one message back, he said.

"She told me she wasn't happy but that she also accepted it was a business decision and she wished the show well. Typically, in Cheryl form, she was disappointed but charming at the same time," said Cowell.

"I always, always would hold the door open to work with her again," he said.

However the "The X Factor" fares on Fox, it's already provided a bounty of gripping off-screen drama with Cole's exit and Abdul's announcement as judge last month following protracted will-she-or-won't-she speculation.

Is there a third act coming?

"I'm going to ax me," Cowell joked.

Fox is counting on the new series to extend to the fall the ratings domination provided by "American Idol," which airs from January to May. For Cowell, "The X Factor" is a chance to add to his U.S. portfolio that includes the summer series "America's Got Talent," airing on NBC and produced by Syco and FremantleMedia North America.

___

Fox is a unit of News Corp.

Yahoo! News

Cowell still in talks over U.S. "X Factor" judges (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – British music and TV mogul Simon Cowell has been pushing for Cheryl Cole to be chosen as a judge on the upcoming U.S. launch of talent show "The X Factor," despite reports she had been ditched, his publicist said.

Cowell's spokesman Max Clifford told Sky News that talks were ongoing between Cowell, Fox television which will air the show and FremantleMedia, which is producing it along with Cowell's Syco Television.

"He wants her on the show, he put her forward," Clifford said on Sunday in televised remarks. He was not immediately available for further comment on Monday.

"Now people at Fox, people at Fremantle that are obviously a hugely important part of this triangle, are not so sure. So there's discussions going on, negotiations going on."

Last month it was widely reported that Cole, who rose to fame as a member of British girl band Girls Aloud, had been dropped as a judge on the new show just days after being hired.

The move was attributed by some news sites to Cole's northern English accent which producers feared U.S. audiences would struggle to understand, while others said she had failed to hit it off with fellow judge Paula Abdul.

Representatives for Cole, 27, and the show's producers have declined to comment on the reports despite persistent press speculation about what was happening behind the scenes.

"We have no comment to make about Cheryl Cole," her London representatives said on Monday.

Cole's own website was last updated on May 6 when it was announced that she would be joining the U.S. show, and on Monday she still appeared on Fox's website as one of the judges alongside Cowell, Abdul and Antonio "L.A." Reid.

The X Factor is a big title in Britain, where it commands large audiences and is a major earner for broadcaster ITV. Cole raised her profile by appearing on the television singing show, although she is not on the 2011 judging panel in Britain.

In the potentially much bigger U.S. market there is much at stake, particularly for Cowell who faces competition from similar formats like "The Sing-Off," "American Idol" and his own "America's Got Talent."

British media have branded the ongoing uncertainty over Cole's participation as "farcical."

Some said Cole was still undecided over whether she should join the U.S. version of The X Factor after the humiliation of reportedly being dropped. Time was running out, they added, with the next auditions due to begin in New Jersey on Wednesday.

Other commentators pondered whether the row was in fact an elaborate PR stunt to raise the profile of The X Factor and Cole, who is little known in the United States.

"The U.S. TV market is a lot bigger and more chaotic than in the UK," wrote Los Angeles Times television writer Scott Collins in a blog over the weekend.

"And there's a risk that Americans might be turned off by a show that looks like a big, over-orchestrated media con before it even premieres."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

Yahoo! News

Abdul, Cowell getting along on 'X Factor,' for now (AP)

SINGAPORE – Paula Abdul said Friday her reunion with Simon Cowell on his new talent show is going great, for now.

"We're still in the honeymoon phase, which will probably only last another minute," the 48-year-old Abdul told reporters in Singapore. "Simon and I ended up having a wonderful, exquisite, challenging and frightening relationship."

The two famously bickering former "American Idol" judges will be joining forces again to assess would-be singing stars on Fox's "The X Factor," which taped its first judging session earlier this month and will debut this fall in the U.S.

Abdul is looking to bounce back from "Live to Dance," a talent competition series she starred that premiered on CBS in January and was a ratings disappointment.

The tension and teasing between Cowell and Abdul helped make "Idol" one of the most popular television shows. She left the show in 2009 over a contract dispute after eight seasons.

"This little show is probably going to be ginormous if it's anything like what Simon is capable of doing," Abdul said.

The American pop singer and dancer is in Singapore to promote a Universal Studios theme park.

Abdul, who was the leader of the Los Angeles Lakers dance troupe in the 1980s, said watching the basketball team lose in the playoffs earlier this month "hurt like pouring Tabasco sauce in an open wound." But the L.A. native predicted a swift return to glory for the Lakers, who have won 10 championships since 1980.

"The Lakers organization is fantastic," she said. "I never give up on them, ever."

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Fox banks on dinosaurs, Simon Cowell in new TV lineup (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Fox Broadcasting is calling on the hitmaking power of Simon Cowell and Steven Spielberg to sustain its standing with younger viewers, with one offering up another splashy talent show and the other bringing a prehistoric world to network TV.

Fox will also add four new comedies, two animated and two live action, along with another two dramas to its 2011-12 prime-time TV schedule, already anchored by hits such as "American Idol" and "Bones."

Network executives, in unveiling their new schedule on Monday, said Cowell's "The X Factor" would run this fall on Wednesday and Thursday nights, mirroring the midseason strategy is uses for "American Idol."

"We feel we have the gold standard in both 'Idol' and 'X Factor,'" Fox Networks Group Chairman Peter Rice said on a conference call. "In Simon Cowell we have the absolute star of the genre at the pinnacle of his game."

Based on the British hit, "The X Factor" is yet another in the growing list of talent shows that are spread across broadcast television. It will comprise a judging panel of Cowell, British singer Cheryl Cole, record producer Antonio "L.A." Reid and Paula Abdul, who quit "Idol" two years ago in a contract dispute.

Fox's other new tentpole show -- the sort that, when successful, can get entire families to gather around the television set -- is a far cry from Fox's talent shows.

Called "Terra Nova," the Spielberg-produced drama is an account of a family that travels back 85 million years, confronting dinosaurs and assorted bad guys. The show, which was previewed for advertisers a year ago, will debut on Mondays this fall ahead of the medical drama "House."

Broadcast television struggled last season in introducing big, broad dramas, almost all of which failed to win audiences, and the costly "Terra Nova" will be under pressure to perform.

In discussing the show, Kevin Reilly, who heads up entertainment at Fox, called it "one of the most ambitious undertakings we've been involved in" and "unlike anything you've seen before."

Fox, a division of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, will introduce its new lineup to advertisers later Monday. Comcast Corp's NBC, Walt Disney Co's ABC and CBS, owned by CBS Corp, are also taking the wraps off their 2011-12 schedules this week.

The industry then will get down to the business of negotiating the bulk of the advertising time for the season, an annual event known as the upfront market.

Fox comes to the negotiating table with a prime-time lineup that is already tops with younger viewers -- those most prized by advertisers -- and with few holes to fill in its schedule.

Other than its "The X Factor" and "Terra Nova," Fox will roll out four new comedies in 2011-12, including two animated series: "Allen Gregory," featuring a precocious 7-year-old, and "Napoleon Dynamite," based on the popular movie.

Its other comedies include "New Girl," starring Zooey Deschanel, who has appeared in movies such as "500 Days of Summer," and a comedy about single moms called "I Hate My Teenage Daughter."

At midseason, Fox will introduce the "The Finder," a crime drama about a former military cop with a special power, and "Alcatraz," from producer J.J. Abrams, the executive behind "Lost" and "Star Trek."

(Reporting by Paul Thomasch. Editing by Robert MacMillan)

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Simon Cowell blames lawyers for Abdul delay (Reuters)

By Shirley Halperin and Kimberly Nordyke Shirley Halperin And Kimberly Nordyke – Sun May 8, 11:57 pm ET

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Simon Cowell blames attorneys for the fact that Paula Abdul's deal to serve as a judge on Cowell's "The X Factor" closed at the eleventh hour Sunday -- just as the judges' rounds of auditions were about to start.

He even said there was talk of using a guest judge, but he ultimately would have called off Sunday's auditions if Abdul's deal hadn't closed.

"I would've canceled today (if deal hadn't gone through)," Cowell told The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday at the University of Southern California's Gaten Center before the judges auditions began.

"The issue was that these conversations had gone on long enough. It's not like I sprung this on somebody. I just thought it's time for everyone to do their job and get the deal done. I couldn't have sat in front of you lot and said (Paula) wanted to do the deal and we couldn't."

Cowell added that it was important for Abdul -- who served as a judge alongside Cowell on Fox's "American Idol" -- to be a part of "X Factor," which debuts on Fox in September.

"I could just sense that the public would've been disappointed without Paula," Cowell said. "You see how we are; we get on really well."

One issue, according to sources, was an option that CBS had on Abdul based on a deal for her to participate in its short-lived competition show "Live to Dance." That deal, according to two sources close to "X Factor," contained language that could have prevented Abdul from joining the new show.

Said Cowell: "She's Paula Abdul. Nothing's ever easy, but I'm used to it."

Abdul serves as a judge alongside Cowell, Antonio "L.A." Reid and Cheryl Cole.

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Simon Cowell blames lawyers for Abdul delay (Reuters)

By Shirley Halperin and Kimberly Nordyke Shirley Halperin And Kimberly Nordyke – Sun May 8, 11:57 pm ET

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Simon Cowell blames attorneys for the fact that Paula Abdul's deal to serve as a judge on Cowell's "The X Factor" closed at the eleventh hour Sunday -- just as the judges' rounds of auditions were about to start.

He even said there was talk of using a guest judge, but he ultimately would have called off Sunday's auditions if Abdul's deal hadn't closed.

"I would've canceled today (if deal hadn't gone through)," Cowell told The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday at the University of Southern California's Gaten Center before the judges auditions began.

"The issue was that these conversations had gone on long enough. It's not like I sprung this on somebody. I just thought it's time for everyone to do their job and get the deal done. I couldn't have sat in front of you lot and said (Paula) wanted to do the deal and we couldn't."

Cowell added that it was important for Abdul -- who served as a judge alongside Cowell on Fox's "American Idol" -- to be a part of "X Factor," which debuts on Fox in September.

"I could just sense that the public would've been disappointed without Paula," Cowell said. "You see how we are; we get on really well."

One issue, according to sources, was an option that CBS had on Abdul based on a deal for her to participate in its short-lived competition show "Live to Dance." That deal, according to two sources close to "X Factor," contained language that could have prevented Abdul from joining the new show.

Said Cowell: "She's Paula Abdul. Nothing's ever easy, but I'm used to it."

Abdul serves as a judge alongside Cowell, Antonio "L.A." Reid and Cheryl Cole.

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Simon Cowell tops Jagger, Sting in UK music rich list (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – "The X Factor" and former "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell jumped to number 6 in the British music rich list in 2011 after his fortune hit 200 million pounds ($330 million), Britain's Sunday Times newspaper said on Thursday.

That was a 35 million pound rise on 2010, when he was 11th in the annual rankings published by the newspaper, and took him above Elton John and Mick Jagger whose fortunes were estimated at 195 million and 190 million pounds respectively.

Cowell, also a music producer with an entertainment company called Syco, has signed a new deal with Britain's ITV channel and is preparing to launch "The X Factor" in the United States. But he was still some way behind his arch-rival Simon Fuller, creator of the talent TV "Idol" franchise, who ranked 5th in 2011 with personal wealth of 375 million pounds.

British-based record executive Clive Calder, who sold Zomba Records in 2002, took over at the top of the music rich list with 1.3 billion pounds, unchanged on the amount in 2010.

He regained his position at number one after Warner Music boss Edgar Bronfman moved back to New York from his temporary home in London.

Musical composer and theater owner Andrew Lloyd Webber was second with a fortune of 680 million pounds, musical producer Cameron Mackintosh was third (675 million) and ex-Beatle Paul McCartney fourth (495 million).

In the Irish music rich list, U2 boosted their wealth to 455 million pounds from 429 million in 2010 to remain comfortably on top, followed by dancer Michael Flatley with 214 million pounds.

Following is a list of the top 10 British music millionaires. (all figures in pounds)

1. Clive Calder (1.3 billion)

2. Andrew Lloyd Webber (680 million)

3. Cameron Mackintosh (675 million)

4. Paul McCartney (495 million)

5. Simon Fuller (375 million)

6. Simon Cowell (200 million)

7. Elton John (195 million)

8. Mick Jagger (190 million)

9. Sting (180 million)

10. Keith Richards (175 million)

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Jill Serjeant)

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Simon Cowell talks about his mum and dad

For all of those nasty folk who like to imagine that Simon Cowell was hatched rather than born, the high-waisted one has been on the telly this week talking about how much he loves his mum and misses his dad. Simon was a guest on Piers Morgan’s CNN show on Tuesday discussing all sorts of touching personal issues about his parents. Dad Eric died of a heart attack in 1999 and, Simon said, "I can't lie, it was the worst day of my life. A horrible horrible time."

Luckily Simon still has his doting mum Julie, 84, around to keep him in line and appreciate his success. If we had a son who was worth as much as that we’d expect to be eating sushi at Nobu every day, but it seems things work a little differently in Casa Cowell. Simon said,

View the Original article

Simon Cowell sulks like a 12-year-old

Simon Cowell might act like he’s the most terrifying man in showbiz, but when he’s in the company of his mum Julie, Simon reverts back to being a sulky 12-year-old. His words, not ours.

Simon gave the bratty insight during an interview on Piers Morgan Tonight, where he also revealed he likes to demand his mum cooks him lunch.

Describing a recent fight, Simon said,

View the Original article