Fuller's pop fortune
He is the former record company scout who created the Pop Idol phenomenon and the man behind charttopping bands such as the Spice Girls and S Club 7.
Now the extent of Simon Fuller's fortune has emerged in new figures revealing he is worth nearly £200million, putting him almost in the same league as Harry Potter author JK Rowling and the Queen.
In the last year Pop Idol - which created Will Young and Gareth Gates - has become an international sensation, making more than £ 625mill ion worldwide. The main beneficiary has been Fuller, who runs 19 Entertainment, based in south London.
With a staff of more than 200 and offices in London, Paris and Los Angeles, Fuller, 42, spends much of his time in a modest rented flat in LA, where he is developing new projects. Unmarried, he shuns the publicity Pop Idol thrives on and avoids photographers whenever possible.
He created Pop Idol after 15 years managing artists such as the Spice Girls. Figures obtained from 19 Entertainment show that in Britain alone, sales of both Will Young and Gareth Gates's debut albums brought in at least £24 million, with singles adding another £15 million.
They also show Fuller is worth almost £200million. Last year the Sunday Times Rich List put him on £40million. Boosting his bank balance is the US Pop Idol format, American Idol - Fuller sold the rights to Fox TV for £35million. He also benefits from his cut of up to 20 per cent of the earnings of Pop Idol winners.
Last month, he became the first UK manager to have artists at numbers one, two and three in the US charts since Brian Epstein, with the Beatles in 1964. Colin Robertson, news editor of Broadcast magazine, said: "Fuller's talent is finding what people want and squeezing every last drop out of it on a financial level. But he also knows when there is nothing left to squeeze. A Simon Fuller production is rarely anything with lasting value."
In a recent interview, Fuller said his critics "probably don't like me because I'm so nice. I'm articulate, thoughtful and moral. I want to be known for doing something good."
