Simon Fuller

Simon Robert Fuller (born 17 May 1960) is a British entrepreneur, artist manager, and film and television producer.

He is the creator of the Idols TV format, including the UK series Pop Idol and the US series American Idol.

Fuller was born on 17 May 1960 in British Cyprus, though later the family moved to Accra, Ghana where his father was the headmaster of the British Military School, Burma Camp.

The family moved back to Hastings, East Sussex, where Simon's father became headmaster of the school he attended.

He has two brothers, Kim and Mark.

Fuller began his career in 1981 at Chrysalis Music Limited in the UK, where he signed Madonna's first hit 'Holiday' to the company.

He started his own management company in London in 1985, 19 Entertainment, eventually selling the business to CKX, Inc. in a cash and stock deal worth over $200 million in March 2005.

Fuller came to prominence in the 1990s for managing the pop group the Spice Girls.

He has managed acts including Victoria Beckham, Annie Lennox, S Club 7, Now United, Steven Tyler, Amy Winehouse, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Will Young, Emma Bunton, Any Gabrielly, The Future X Lisa Marie Presley and many more in addition to sports icons Lewis Hamilton, Andy Murray.

In 2001, Fuller created Pop Idol, a Saturday night prime time TV show on British television that Maggie Brown in The Guardian states "became a seminal reality/entertainment format".

In 2005, Fuller, along with co-creator Nigel Lythgoe, launched So You Think You Can Dance on the Fox network in the US.

The show grew over 16 seasons to become a regular summer hit.

In 2008 the company delivered a profit of $92.5 million (£66m) into the parent company.

In February 2008, Fuller was presented with the PGA Award by the Producers Guild of America in Hollywood.

At the event he was praised for his creativity, entrepreneurship, and charity work by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and current King Charles III, who was still the Prince of Wales at the time, who also thanked Fuller for his support of the Prince's charity The Prince's Trust.

Fuller's first broadcast venture was Miami 7, a scripted teen TV drama starring the British pop group S Club 7 screened by BBC/Fox Kids in 100+ territories around the world.

Miami 7 launched the careers of several stars including Rachel Stevens, Jon Lee, Holly Willoughby, and Ben Barnes, and the show created a blueprint for the teen-oriented television musicals that followed, including Glee and High School Musical.

Over 30 million viewers saw David Cook win the seventh season of American Idol in May 2008 and when Fuller re-launched the show in 2011 for its 10th season ratings climbed 20% for the finale event.

122.4 million votes were cast, a record for a reality TV show.

Fuller became a director of CKX, a position which gave him creative control over all of CKX's assets including the Elvis Presley Estate, Muhammad Ali's business interests, and other rights properties, until January 2010 when he started a new firm, XIX Entertainment, while continuing to work with CKX/19 as a consultant and executive producer.

XIX Entertainment was given a valuation of $100 million and is run from offices in London and Los Angeles.

Fuller received the 2,441st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 23 May 2011.

The show produced instant No 1 chart hits, including for Will Young, whose single "Evergreen" was named by NME magazine in 2012 as the "biggest selling single of the century" in the UK.

Fuller sold Pop Idol around the world, and he has been credited with creating the world's most valuable TV format with a value of over $8 billion made up of revenue from sponsors, merchandising, telephone, music sales, broadcast and advertising sources.

In the US American Idol became a No.1 rated show.

The show made stars of its presenter Ryan Seacrest as well as Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul as well as many of its performers including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and others.

In 2012, Simon Fuller's XIX Entertainment created a new international format with Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, and Jamie King named Q'Viva!

The Chosen, and described as a celebration of Latin culture that screened in 21 territories reaching over 30 million Spanish-speaking TV viewers.

In 2014 he was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Brighton in his home county East Sussex in recognition for his "contribution to business, entrepreneurship and philanthropy".

In 2016, Simon Fuller persuaded Swedish quartet ABBA to reunite to explore working in virtual reality, which led to the ABBA Voyage project.

Time has named Fuller one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

He has been certified as the most successful British music manager of all time by Billboard.

In December 2016, Norwegian state broadcaster NRK announced that it had concluded a deal with Simon Fuller to produce the English language version of Skam; Fuller later announced a deal with Facebook to launch award-winning drama format SKAM Austin in the US in 2018.

In 2017, international news media reported on auditions being staged by Fuller's business XIX for Now United, a real time access global pop group being cast in 14 cities around the world.

In 2019, the London Evening Standard confirmed that BBC One would broadcast Serengeti, a wildlife drama created by Fuller.

Since 2020, Fuller has been working with tech firm TikTok to aid development of new TikTok creatives and in the same year he announced a partnership with Verizon Communications to develop 5G content.

In 2021 Pearson PLC announced a partnership with Simon Fuller to create a new global education business in Performing Arts.

The 2020 Sunday Times Rich List estimated Fuller's wealth at £445 million.

In July 2020, US media reported that "Serengeti", voiced by Lupita Nyong'o, created by Simon Fuller, was nominated for a Primetime EMMY Award

In February 2023, Fuller created a fictional anthropomorphic animal band/dance troupe The Meeps, with their debut single "Love Louder".