Simon Cowell
American Idol’s Mr. Mean comes clean By BILL NEWCOTT
MILESTONE
BIRTHDAYS
SEPTEMBER
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Twiggy
Age 60
Mattel’s 1967
Twiggy doll
was a mod rival
to Barbie.
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Bob Newhart
Age 80
Mr. Button-
down’s
fave comic:
iconoclast
Richard Pryor.
Marie
Osmond
Age 50
Days: Tapes
Onstage
with Donny.
Emeril
Lagasse
Age 50
This first-rate
drummer
nearly went
to study at a
conservatory.
Tai
Babilonia
Age 50
Gold-medal
skater mentors
U. S. national
champs Keau-na McLaughlin
and Rockne
Brubaker.
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OCTOBER
Jason
Alexander
Age 50
Won $500,000
for a New
Orleans
charity in a
poker tourney.
HE SEEMS A TAD TOUCHY about turning 50—even shushing American
Idol host Ryan Seacrest when he brought it up on-air—but we’re not
about to let off the hook the man who makes $50 million a year dishing out tough
love to would-be pop stars. Still, he does look pretty darned good with all that hair
and a sculpted body that fairly pours into the tight T-shirts he favors. (We’d mention his admitted Botox regimen and heel lifts, but that would be mean, right?). Fact
is, Cowell knows all about humble beginnings. He started out in the mailroom of
music-publishing giant EMI, showed a flair for producing novelty records (
including for the Teletubbies), and produced a long string of hit UK pop singles in the
1980s and ’90s for top UK acts such as Curiosity Killed the Cat and Sonia Evans.
It was in his 40s that Cowell became an icon, first in Britain and then here, as the
acerbic dealer of Idol judgments. Never married, no children; his pet charity is the
Association of Children’s Hospices. In his spare time, the guy who makes grown
men tremble slips into these facilities to share moments with critically ill youngsters—to whom Simon Cowell, scourge of amateurs everywhere, is surely an idol.
October 7
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Grace Slick
Age 70
No Jefferson
Starship reunions for her:
“Get out while
you’re ahead!”
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31
John Cleese
Age 70
A noted wine
connoisseur,
he particularly
appreciates
French white
Burgundy.
PHOTO CREDI TS ON PAGE 75
76 AARP SEPTEMBER&OC TOBER 2009
