Sting had some choice words for Simon Cowell and his show The X Factor, including the “appalling”, “bland” and “soulless”. The singer said “It’s a preposterous show, and you have judges who have no recognizable talent apart from self-promotion. Basically I was looking at televised karaoke where they conform to stereotypes. It is a soap opera which has nothing to do with music.” Simon shot back with a jab of his own followed by a joking invitation for the singer to appear on the show. Sting couldn’t take a joke and replied with “I wouldn’t get on The X Factor because I don’t sound like anyone they’re after. I sound like myself. I think they are basically aping pre-existing stereotypes of what singers should do and they’re not being themselves.”
Posted by Sam on 16th November 2009 in Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell’s sister June has said her brother is so ‘incredibly busy’ that meeting up for a chat is ‘virtually impossible’.
June, 59, now lives in Spain after marrying a Spanish officer in the merchant navy and she admitted that her brother Simon’s successful career means it is difficult for his family to get to speak to him.
June said to UK newspaper Daily Mail: “His wealth and fame are so beyond any sort of normality. He is busy in a way that even very wealthy people with high-flying careers are not.
“Simon is lovely, very family-orientated and I know he likes nothing better than to go home to his mum for a roast dinner. It is hard not to remember him as the cheeky, boisterous and mischievous little boy he once was.
“But these days it seems difficult for even family like myself to get to speak to him.
“He is surrounded by layers of people and so incredibly busy that even if I rang him to suggest meeting for a chat his schedule would make it virtually impossible.”
John and Edward Grimes, aka Jedward, have been moved to make an apology to rival X-Factor competitor Lucie Jones, a report claims.
The twins, whose performance on the latest round of X-Factor saw them narrowly pushed ahead while the Welsh singer Jones fell out of the race, have said: “We feel bad.”
The comment comes after the flood of protest that hit the ITV network after Simon Cowell’s deciding vote gave them the round. “We’re so, so sorry that you didn’t get through, you are an amazing singer. We think you are going to have a brilliant career and we hope you won’t blame us. It’s been incredible to perform on the show, but the last thing we want to do is upset anyone,” said Jedward.
Jones for her part had commended the Jedward act for its ability after losing out. She said:”They felt guilty and unnecessarily so. It is not their fault, they didn’t say to Simon ‘pick us, pick us’. They handled themselves very well. They were lovely and didn’t need to apologise.”
Co-judges Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole had supported her with their vote and Minogue, her mentor, was said today to be fuming with Cowell over the upset.
Cowell has lately found fault with Minogue and Cole for their judging and urged them to stop worrying about their fashion and on-screen image and start dishing out some constructive criticism. He maintained he had no idea what the public vote was when he made his deciding Jedward vote. He did say, however, that he knew the move would make him unpopular.
X Factor judge Simon Cowell has been called “Mr Coward” on an advertisement written on a van parked outside the X Factor house.
A van has been outside the house in north London where the remaining contestants are staying while they compete in the show.
It reads the message: “Is The X Factor turning into the Deadlock Factor Farce, Mr Coward! Singers need not apply… Let the studio audience decide in the future!”
Cowell has come under fire from fans of the show after he refused to send twins John and Edward home and put it back to the public vote.
The twins were then saved, and fellow contestant Lucie Jones was voted out.
Posted by Sam on 5th November 2009 in Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell’s mum Julie has said she would love to see her son reunite with ex-girlfriend Terri Seymour.
Julie, 84, admitted she was a fan of Terri, 35, whom Simon, 50, split with last year after dating for six years.
Julie admitted that Terri is her favourite out of her son’s ex-girlfriends: “Top of the class is Terri. She is down-to-earth and a lovely person.
“Terri loved Simon purely for the person he is, unlike some of the others. She and Simon still speak every day and Terri calls me every 10 days to say hello.”
Asked if she would like to see them get back together, she said: “Yes! I wasn’t well a few weeks ago and Simon told Terri, who immediately called to see if there was anything she could do.
“She was my favourite, but sadly, Simon is married to his work!”
Former Britain’s Got Talent winner George Sampson says he feels let down by Simon Cowell just a year after winning the show.
Dancer George reportedly said he feels Simon has forgotten him after he made a loss on his DVD.
The 16-year-old thinks he has taken a backseat to music acts such as Alexandra Burke and superstar Leona Lewis.
And the youngster said he has ended up owing money to Cowell’s company for his dance disc Access 2 All Areas.
He told British newspaper The Sun: “Things aren’t going so well with me and Simon. I suppose he’s realised he can make more money out of other people. But I thought we were tight. I had one of the best-selling DVDs at the start of the year. We sold loads of copies.”
He added: “But I’ve just found out that Simon’s company takes 90 per cent of the revenue. I get 10 per cent. But I have to pay the production costs out of that. So I ended up owing them money.
“I’m not quite sure how it all works, but that can’t be fair, can it?”
It was recently announced that American Idol host Ryan Seacrest has tripled his pay check with the reality show after he signed a new three year contract, making him exclusive to CKX for any TV work. CKX is the parent company of 19 Entertainment, which produces American Idol. If you are wondering how big triple is, it’s to the tune of a cool $15 million. If you do the math with the contract, Ryan just signed a $45 million deal! That may seem like a lot, but then again, he still isn’t making anything near what Simon Cowell rakes in. There’s still no word on the contracts of Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi or Paula Abdul though.
Music mogul Simon Cowell is reportedly teaming up with retail boss Sir Philip Green to create a new TV network that could rival Disney, according to reports.
The deal would reportedly see the two men owning the rights to successful shows such as Britain’s Got Talent, X Factor and American Idol.
It is claimed the deal could be worth billions and could make the company bigger than Disney.
Simon sold his share of shows X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and American Idol to Sony a few years ago and it is claimed he could get a share of their profits through the new venture.
A pal of Simon’s said: “He doesn’t have any shares in them, he has nothing of the content. They are all owned by Sony or 19.
“All his contracts are up for renewal next year and he’s decided he wants to develop his own content – he will be onstage as a panellist, he will be the producer and he will also be the developer, right across the world.”
Simon is the man behind the hit reality TV shows and the new venture will enable him to take a more hands-on role on the shows.
A source said: “He’s [Simon] a genius behind the camera as well as in front of it. He’s just started filming the next series of X Factor in the UK.
“He edits the programmes himself, often staying up half the night to get them absolutely right, sitting in the editing suite himself.”
Talent show judge Simon Cowell will boost revenues for himself and others by millions of pounds by keeping the X-Factor voting lines open for an extra 24 hours, it has been reported.
The results show will be extended to Sunday night.
An insider reportedly said: “Lines will open during the show on Saturday and won’t close until the results on Sunday, which means lots of extra cash.”
ITV, Talkback Thames and SyCo, Cowell’s production company, will split the profits, it is said.
Other celeb judges on the show, Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue, bring in hefty sums and will command an extra £100,000 from the deal.
A rivalry between Cole and Minogue has drawn viewers, but Cowell recently said the two are now mending their feud.
Cole is said to be earning £900,000, while Minogue gets £750,000.
Simon Cowell reportedly left a lapdancing club with red lipstick across his face.
The recently-single American Idol judge was spotted leaving Stringfellows, which has a strict rule that clients can look but not touch.
Cowell was spotted out with American Idol host Ryan Seacrest. A private chauffeur picked them up at 3:30am and took them back to Cowell’s posh London home.
Cowell refused to confirm he had kissed any of the girls and reportedly said: “It’s just a rash.”
Meanwhile, it was recently reportedly that Cowell has put Britain’s Got Talent contestant Susan Boyle up in a converted convent in London while she performs on tour.
Janice Thibideaux, the woman who attacked Simon Cowell’s ex, Terri Seymour, after last week’s American Idol finale, has come out to talk about the motive behind her attack. She said “I wasn’t cool with Simon Cowell choking Paula Abdul on the show last week and with her crying-out ‘help’ as he did so. Nobody said anything about that so I wanted to confront him about it because that is not appropriate behavior, is it? She was taking some photographs with her camera and I knew she was his girlfriend so I went up to her to tell her how I felt. We started arguing and then I put my hands around her neck and started choking her just like Simon had done with Paula. Then I walked away and I was tackled by the police but I don’t regret what I did because of what Simon did to Paula, nobody seemed to care about that.” Crazy!
