Childhood & Early Life
He was born on 17th May, 1960 in Hastings, East Sussex in England. He has two siblings named Mark and Kim.
His father was a pilot at the ‘Royal Air Force’ in British Overseas Territory on the island of Cyprus.
Later, the family relocated to the Accra, Ghana where his father joined the ‘British Military School’ located in Burma Camp as the headmaster.
The family again shifted to Hastings, East Sussex and his father became the headmaster at the school where Simon was enrolled at.
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Career
He worked for the ‘A&R’ division of the record company ‘Chrysalis’ and in 1981, he was the one who signed singer Madonna for the song ‘Holiday’ under the label.
In 1985, he founded the management company ‘19 Entertainment’ which was named after the song ‘19’ by English artist Paul Hardcastle.
Later, he showed his management skills in the field of sports and helped football player Steve McManaman join the ‘Real Madrid Football Club’.
In 1991, singer-songwriter Annie Lennox’s first album ‘Diva’ was released and from then on, Fuller began to manage the artist’s career. Other artists whose career Simon has managed include Cathy Dennis, who has risen to number one position as a female songwriter in the UK.
He was also instrumental in the managing the career of English pop girl group named ‘Spice Girls’, and helping them achieve success. He guided them in such a way that within three years this group sold around 37.5 million records, and also topped the music charts.
Later, the group decided to part ways with their manager and handle their band themselves, but they were not able to manage their career and this resulted in the band’s dissolution.
The group’s member Emma Bunton and Victoria Beckham embarked on solo careers and sought that Fuller be their manager.
In 1999, he entered into the television business with the launch of the show ‘S Club 7’. He also formed a pop group by the same name. The show was aired in more than 100 regions around the world. He made some other shows, based on the same format, such as ‘S Club 8’ and ‘S Club Juniors’.
The show has picked some talented artists such as Jon Lee, Holly Willoughby, Rachel Stevens, Ben Barnes, Rochelle Wiseman and Frankie Sandford.
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In 2001, his television venture ‘Pop Idol’ which was a music talent hunt show was launched and soon after it became a huge success. The winner of the first season of this show was Will Young. His debut song was ‘Anything is Possible’ and it became a huge hit soon after its release.
Fuller’s company ‘19 Entertainment’ found the talented artist Amy Winehouse and helped the newcomer bag her first music contract with the records label ‘Universal Music’.
Simon vended the show ‘Pop Idol’ to the United States’ broadcasting company ‘Fox’ and the show was named ‘American Idol’. This show has received highest ratings since its launch, and is regarded as one of the successful shows of American television.
In 2005, he sold the company ‘19 Entertainment’ to the ‘CKX Inc.’ (now known as ‘CORE Media Group’). Subsequently, he joined the company as one of its directors, and in this right he had creative control over many of the company’s possessions.
The same year, he and director-producer Nigel Lythgoe joined hands to create the reality dance show called ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ which airs on the ‘Fox’ network.
During the period 2005-07, the bestselling music acts were by Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry and Carrie Underwood, and Simon was behind the success of all these artists.
He embarked on a business venture in fashion in 2006 with the launch of his initiative ‘19RM’, in collaboration with designer Roland Mouret. A few years later, they inaugurated their first retail outlet in Carlos Place, London.
In 2007, he collaborated with sports personality David Beckham and initiated the footballer’s shift into the ‘LA Galaxy’. He was the person who introduced Beckham to one of the members of the group ‘Spice Girls’, Victoria, who later on became Beckham’s wife.
He entered into a contract in 2007, to guide comedians David Williams and Matt Lucas for their show through the American version of their show ‘Little Britain’ known as ‘Little Brain USA’.
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In 2008, he launched a dress collection at the ‘New York Fashion Week’ and named it after David Beckham’s wife’s name as ‘Victoria Beckham’. He has been associated with the Beckhams’ in many of their business ventures like perfumes and fashion.
He bought majority of shares of the model agency ‘Storm Model Management’ in 2009.
In 2010, he founded the company ‘XIX Entertainment’ and at the same time was engaged with the ‘CKX, Inc.’ as a consultant and also acted as the Executive Producer of the ‘19 Entertainments’ shows.
In 2012, he collaborated with the founder of Island Records’ Chris Blackwell and initiated the venture named ‘Blackwell Fuller’. The same year, his company ‘XIX Entertainment’ collaborated with the retail-clothing company ‘H&M’ and launched the body wear brand named ‘David Beckham’.
Personal Life & Legacy
In 2006, the ‘GQ’ magazine named him as the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’. The following year, he was enlisted among the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’, by ‘Time’ magazine. He was also entitled as the ‘Top Trend Setter’ by ‘Forbes’ magazine.
In 2008, the American music magazine entitled Simon Fuller as the ‘most successful British music manager of all time’.
In May 2008, Simon married Natalie Swanston and the couple is blessed with a daughter.
The ‘University of Sussex’ presented him with an honorary degree in 2014.
