It has been revealed that X Factor creator Simon Cowell has a fortune worth £200m and this year joins Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sir Paul McCartney in the Sunday Times Music Rich List Top Ten.  Simon Cowell has made the Top 10 for the first time, positioned at No 6, up from 11 last year. The ongoing success of the X Factor in the UK, combined with the recent deal to launch the show in the USA, have undoubtedly boosted his wealth.

Clive Calder, co founder of Zomba Records and its subsidiary Jive, tops the list with £1.3bn, with Andrew Lloyd Webber in second place with £680m. The rest of the top 10 consists of Sir Cameron Mackintosh (£675m), Sir Paul McCartney (£495m), Simon Fuller (£375m), Sir Elton John (£195m), Sir Mick Jagger (£190m), Sting (£180m) and Keith Richards (£175m).

Ben Cardew, news editor of Music Week, questions whether Simon Cowell should be in the music list at all – “I’m slightly dubious about any of these lists but whatever his actual ‘fortune’ may be, it’s clear Cowell has done well financially over the past few years. For all his success with selling music, I would imagine most of his money comes from TV.” ( Quote from Guardian newspaper ). This attitude is typical of the prevalent opinion within the music industry, where Simon Cowell’s X Factor is frequently criticised for dumbing down pop music, and generally undermining the credibility of the music industry. Infact one of  Simon Cowell’s fellow Top Ten Sunday Times Music Rich List members, Sir Elton John, is one of the biggest critics of the X Factor. In fairness, he is entitled to express his opinion as one of the UK’s one successful and creative music acts!!

However the X Factor format is by no means a unique or new creation. Those of a certain vintage will remember Hughie Green’s “Opportunity Knocks” in the 1960s and 1970s, and it’s later spin off, ATV’s “New Faces”. Although neither talent show were purely and exclusively about championing music acts, they both spawned musically dubious groups that were to have chart success. Most notable were Paper Lace who had three hits in 1974, including “Billy Don’t be a Hero” which reached No1, keeping the sublime and superior “The Air that I Breathe” by the Hollies from reaching the summit of the charts ( a scandal and a crime for which they should have gone the same way as their hero, “Billy” who lost his life in the song!! ). Also in that year, New Faces winners Sweet Sensation reached No1 with “Sad Sweet Dreamer”, which is not a bad soul song – something that could not be said for the New Faces winners, Liverpool’s Our Kid, who reached No2 in 1976 with “You just might see me cry”. And indeed how we cried and shed tears at the appallingness of that particular song!!

Simon Cowell has also part modelled his X Factor pantomime villain personae on New Faces panelists, songwriter Tony Hatch and Rak Records owner and producer Mickie Most. Both were similar to Simon Cowell in terms of their scathing arrogance and caustic, dismissive put downs, but unlike Simon Cowell they had a better track record in producing enduring pop hits, outside the programme!!

However whether Simon Cowell should technically be in the Sunday Times Music Rich List, or whether the X Factor has any real musical worthiness, credibility or integrity are pretty irrelevant – twenty odd million viewers for last year’s X Factor Final are what really counts, and it is they that determine whether the show carries on, and Simon Cowell’s success continues!!

For those that can remember the nostalgic era of “Opportunity Knocks” and “New Faces”, you can permanently re-live the memories and the good times of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, by ordering your favourite vinyl record or CD, framed and mounted, by clicking on…….. http://www.myfirstrecord.co.uk/ …….. and this way your favourite song can be immortalised on your living room wall in 2011!!

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