Simon Cowell: Hero or villain?

He is without doubt the most influential figure in the pop industry at the moment and he has the power to make or break acts with the wink of an eye or a single waspish put-down. But how much do we really know about Simon Cowell? Reality Bites caught up with Chas Newkey-Burden, who has just penned an unauthorised biography of the X Factor judge, to find out about the man behind the biggest music show on TV.

Why write a book about Simon Cowell?
"He became famous in his 40s and was unknown outside of the music industry before then. All too often, famous people are famous from childhood or adolescence, so the fact that there were these four decades of anonymity to get my teeth into was attractive. And obviously with him being a very high-profile figure I thought it would sell well!"

Do you think he always wanted to be famous?
"Whether he planned it I don't know, but he was certainly always ready for it. As a kid he watched TV talent shows enraptured by them - and he always liked the ruder TV talent judges. He was always going to be famous for being, for want of a better word, cheeky. Although he's obviously got a great touch in the commercial pop market, his real fame isn't for making Westlife a big band, it's for just being damn rude and cheeky on TV."

What sort of things did he get up to as a child?
"Simon once put up cards in the local shop windows with his family's phone number and lots of euphemisms for prostitution, so his poor mum was having to fend off calls from perverts the whole time. He then went one better and rang up the local paper as an anonymous tipster and said, 'There's something dodgy going on that house', so then she had journalists ringing!"

How easy was it to get people to talk to you about Simon?
"There were a lot of people that wouldn't talk. He demands and largely gives enormous loyalty. It's a two-way thing with him. There are people he's worked with all his career who he continues to look after. Once I did get people to speak, though, they just couldn't stop talking about him. A lot of the contestants who hadn't won the shows - and some of whom had got absolutely zero from them - still love him and spoke very highly of him."

Do you think he cares when past contestants criticise him?
"I don't think he sits and cries about it and dry retches into the paper in the morning. I think he feels very keenly that he's given people a platform, but he's also never promised them anything. So when they turn round to bite him he's very happy to bite back. I think he cares about them as people, but I think he's very clear on not owing them anything."

What do you think went through Simon's mind when he saved John & Edward over Lucie Jones on The X Factor?
"Assuming that he didn't have all the information to hand - we can only take him at his word on that - I think that he was just thinking, 'Could I?'. He was probably doing rough mathematics in his head. Lucie wasn't going to win, whereas Jedward he had plans for."

Do you think the show could carry on without Simon Cowell?
"I can't think of a single person they could put in his place. The closest he's ever had is Piers Morgan. He wouldn't be a disaster but it would always be a step down after that. I just wonder whether he'd be tempted to leave and just put someone crap in just to have the last laugh."

Does Simon actually enjoy music?
"As a kid he used to drag a knife across his mum's records and put them back in the cover because he hated the music that she listened to. A lot of people would say he's been doing the same to music ever since! I do think there was probably an irony in Alexandra Burke singing that line in 'Hallelujah' - 'And you don't really care for music, do you?' I think to really like music you've got let yourself go and I think he finds that very difficult."

How did Simon come out on top in his spats with Pete Waterman and Simon Fuller?
"I think he really doesn't give a toss about credibility, he just wants success. When that's all you want it puts you ahead of the game. Also, he's he's very good at separating the personal and the professional. He and Simon Fuller had this huge legal battle and were going out for dinner and laughing while their lawyers were squabbling over a lot of money and really high stakes."

What will Simon's legacy be?
"If we never find another Simon Cowell, I suppose the legacy will always be to do with rudeness. Even if we do, he'll still be the man who revolutionised British entertainment - or the man who killed it. There'll be people who believed he destroyed everything and there'll be people who believe he's the best thing since sliced bread."

Which are you?
"I think he's really cool. I think people are very rose-tinted about TV and the pop charts before 2001. Saturday night TV was Gladiators and Blind Date. Even Britain's Got Talent at its worst is better than those. I understand that the Teletubbies or Shayne Ward aren't to everyone's tastes, but what went before them wasn't great either."

Has Simon got any major ambitions that he's yet to fulfil?
"I think he would like to turn the X Factor/Britain's Got Talent treatment on to the political sphere. As such he would be like a kingmaker. David Cameron and Gordon Brown have been courting him a lot over the last year very openly and behind the scenes as well. He's a megalomaniac, he's an egomaniac, he makes no secret of that. Even if he did find another Leona Lewis and crown her, he's done that, but if he could feel that he'd crowned the Prime Minister..."

Is Simon Cowell a musical mastermind and business genius? Or is he an ordinary bloke with a passion for singing Teletubbies? Leave your opinions in the box below!