Born on October 7, 1959, Simon Cowell is a British music producer who has made a name for himself in the United Kingdom as well as in the United States. Prior to achieving success, however, he had to take several menial jobs and even worked in the mail room at EMI Music Publishing, where his father worked as an executive. From there, he worked his way up to the corporate ladder and eventually formed E&S Music. He also worked with Iain Burton at Fanfare Records where he got his big break as a partner at the record label. Cowell eventually launched the label Syco Music.
Aside from working as a music producer, Cowell also served as television producer to several British programs such as The X Factor, the Got Talent franchise, American Inventors, Celebrity Duets, Grease is the Word and Rock Rivals.
In 2002, Cowell joined American Idol, where he earned worldwide fame as the blunt judge. After nine seasons, he decided to leave the show for good in order to pursue yet another reality competition series on FOX, The X Factor, where serves as judge and executive producer.