Simon Cowell

Simon is probably the most well known of all of the judges on X Factor., he is notorious for his disparaging comments, being incredibly rude and his bluntness to contestants and their lack of ability, and is loved by viewers for it.

He started his career working in the mail room for EMI and gradually worked his way through the ranks dabbling with setting up his own companies along the way and creating a successful working partnership with Pete Waterman of Stock/Aitken/Waterman fame, eventually he became one of the top executives at Sony BMG.

He started his TV career by being the judge everyone loved to hate on Pop Idol this was then repeated in American Idol, The X Factor, and Britain's Got Talent, Simon has also created and produced shows such as Grease is the Word, American Inventor and Celebrity Duets.

The X Factor

Along with Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh, Cowell was a judge on the first series of X Factor that was created by Cyco TV which is his own production company. 

The winner of The X Factor 2006, Leona Lewis, is signed to Cowell's label Syco and has had number one singles and album sales around the world other X Factor artists signed to this label are Shayne Ward, Leon Jackson, Rhydian Roberts, Emma Tran and Same Difference, Syco Music automatically signs the winner of The X Factor and Sony BMG has first choice on all contestants who make it to the live shows.