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.
In 2020, Fuller signed an exclusive agreement with tech firm TikTok to create new TikTok creative talent and 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. 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. Fuller received the 2,441st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 23 May 2011. 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". The 2020 Sunday Times Rich List estimated Fuller's wealth at £445 million.
Biography
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. In 2008 the company delivered a profit of $92.5 million (£66m) into the parent company. 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.
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.
TV production, formats, technology
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-orientated television musicals that followed, including Glee and High School Musical.
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". 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. 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.