Unlike the best tearjerker X Factor backstories, Cowell's upbringing was relatively normal – even affluent. His father Eric was a wealthy real estate agent who managed the real estate portfolio of the record label EMI. his mother Julie was a ballet dancer. The family lived in the posh town of Radlett in Hertfordshire and Cowell was sent to the private Dover College.

From a young age, Cowell was determined to make a lot of money. As a boy, if a game of Monopoly got away from him, he would turn the board over. At the age of seven or eight, he would go to neighbors' houses and ask if he could clean their cars or mow their lawns or anything that would give him some pocket money.

“My parents' policy was that you live in the house rent-free, we pay for vacations, but when we go on vacation you should earn your own pocket money,” Cowell said in 2007. “And I loved having my own. ” Money. During school holidays I would always apply for jobs, in warehouses, at petrol stations or on a farm – I was always happier working than just messing around.”

So he was happy to leave school at 16 and, with the help of his father, got a job in the EMI post office. He worked his way up to record producer and left six years later to start Fanfare, an independent label. The company had moderate success, most notably with Sinitta's “So Macho” in 1985, but went bankrupt in 1989. The chastened Cowell was forced to sell his Porsche and return to his parents.

He managed to get his career back on track at BMG, where he signed artists such as Westlife, Five and Robson & Jerome. Under Cowell's leadership, he beat Pulp and Oasis to number one in 1995 with a cover of Unchained Melody.